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.

4. Arrival

Scene 1 – August 1, 1986, Morning

Once I woke up that morning, when I had grown to accept the fact that I was being stuck in this summer cabin for the rest of the summer, due to the stuff that had been going on, I decided to just take a walk. In fact, I was feeling like I just needed a fucking break from everything that had been going on, and I was hoping that I could make things better for them before too long.

The entire time I was walking around, the more that I started to realize that I was never going to be able to get justice for Yolei. She loved me, and I was feeling like I let down that love, and I feel like she would have had every single right in the world to hate me if she saw the fact that I had made so many promises, and so many choices, that I hated, and that I felt like only served to let her down, and make things worse for everybody.

I felt like at least with Davis, he wasn't stuck at the summer camp, and therefore he was actually allowed to continue investigating this shit, and I felt like he actually could be useful. While I was just sitting here, I couldn't fucking do much, and I was feeling like I was as useless as ever while doing this. It fucking killed me to know that this was happening.

I just felt like the one time I was actually on track to doing the right thing, this fucking happens, and I wished that I knew how I could be able to make it work. I thought that Tobias knew that I was doing the best that I could. I thought they all fucking knew that I was doing the best I could. It turned out that maybe my feelings were all fucking lost, and I was useless here.

I felt like maybe I should talk to Matt again, make him see what I had been doing, and I could get him to just see that I never intended for any of this to happen. Life just sort of happened. And by the time that Yolei died, I genuinely felt like I had no choice on the matter. She was the woman that I loved the most, and this all got turned into utter shit.

I felt like when Yolei died, there was genuinely a part of me that felt like it had died as well. I know it is cheesy to say shit like this. That nobody would fucking believe… But I feel like that was the biggest issue that I fucking had. The fact that Yolei was one of the few people who were always at my side, so seeing her death, and seeing how much it just put everybodys life to a spiral, hurt me.

I genuinely also hope that Leo, a wonderful, wonderful, kid would be able to fucking move on from this. That he would be able to just pretend like this never happened. I feel like that was the only thing that would make me feel at least slightly better about what happened. Leo never deserved any of this, and he never deserved to be thrown into something that made him almost lose his living situation.

I also felt like after what happened with him learning that Brad Carbunkle was his father, and the statements about Brad being a child molester, and a pedophile, that came along with these feelings, was something that made me feel like I could have done so much better. I feel like if Leo had just simply never learned that Brad Carbunkle was his father, then I feel like maybe life would have been easier for him. He would just chalk me up to some random guy a few years older than him who had been way in over his head, and that's that.

After walking for a bit, I heard a voice calling to me. I looked at him, and I was shocked to be seeing Larry Needlemeyer there. He was holding Lars with his left arm, and I was shaking my head. "I was given strict orders to keep a low profile, and not to make things twenty times worse than they already are. The one time that I am trying to do what people give me orders to do, and here we are." I said, feeling like I just needed to express my annoyance at what was happening.

"Look, T.K., I appreciate the fact that you are trying to listen to your peers for once. I respect that more than you can fucking know. That being said, I need you to look at something that I feel like will be mutually beneficial to everybody involved. And I also wanted to thank you for all the times that you were watching Lars. You have been such a big help these last six weeks ever since he was born, and I promise that I will put in a good word for you. You have my promise." Larry said, handing me a small bag, and I wondered what was in it.

I opened it, feeling like I just needed to see what it was. To my shock, I was shocked to see it was more of those crystals that Justin used to make those energy swords. "Justin told me that he felt like you were ready to carry on, and continue things. He felt like you ad made enough progress in these few weeks. Plus with your near death experience a few days ago, he understands that you need to have more. He told you to not forget about your training before summer ends." Larry said, and then I was slowly nodded, feeling like that was enough for me to roll with.

I was then thinking about what I would say to Larry. "Hey, I just wanted to say that I was sorry for the way that my friends behaved around you. I think that they were taking it way too far most of the time." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him here. Larry shook his head.

"Look, I'm not angry at what they did. They are allowed to say what is on their mind. The truth is though that I can forgive them while not feeling like I really want them at my side with Lars." Larry said, and I slowly nodded, feeling that was fair enough.

"I do want to know though, when school gets back and to living back in town again, would you be willing to continue watching Lars on certain days of the week. I promise that I will pay you money." He said, sounding like he was glad to finally make the offer. "I need to continue my job, and I need to make sure that there is somebody that I can trust at my side."

"I mean, I suppose that I can do that. I don't know if it will actually be helpful though. You know, since I might need to get permission from my parents." I said, and then with that, Larry just looked right at me, and when he was taking a look at my arm, he was then taking a deep breath.

"How much progress have you made on recovering? You probably shouldn't be hanging out with Davis anymore given what he did to you." He said, and then I sighed, not really in the mood to listen to him telling me this. What was done was done, and I did not want to constantly think about it anymore.

"I haven't made any progress at all. I haven't been able to properly rest at all this whole time, and I feel like there is only so much time I can give it a break before I am sent on more bullshit quests. I kind of wish that I never got pestered by Davis or Yolei into going to the fucking skating park. If we hadn't, then Tobias would have probably made his peace with Andrea going missing a while back, and I would have been able to be happy with .

"Sorry to hear that. I still feel like you need to be careful with that. If you need my help, I would like to give you that help. I feel like you just need to talk to Davis though, and maybe see if there is a way you guys can put it behind you." He said, and then I looked right at him, feeling annoyed that he was just not letting this go.

"Look, after everything that was going on, my arm breaking is not really all that big of a deal." I said, feeling like I just needed to end this discussion before it got too heated again. As I said that, I could tell that Larry was not buying it at all.

"Well, maybe you being at this camp for the next few weeks might be enough to recover it." He said, and I was laughing at this. To be honest, given what I knew now, I would confirm that this was having the exact opposite reaction. Given all the shit with the Digimon and the digital world, the summer camp was actually the worst thing to happen to my arm.

"Honestly, I don't really know what is going to be best for me. I think the best thing for me is not exactly going to be best for everybody else. And I will have a hard time kind of just ignoring that." I said, feeling like I just needed to be utterly honest with him here. "I wish that I knew how to describe this in any better way. Anyways, Larry, I wanted to ask you something…"

"Sorry if I already asked you this, but I just wanted to know something. What made you decide to have Lars now? You know, you're almost seventy years old, and everything. I think that maybe you shouldn't have bothered with something like this after so much time." I said, and I was aware that telling him this was going to just annoy the shit out of him.

"I was tired of not fully committing to something. I felt like by having a son, I could be able to finally commit to something that fucking mattered. So yeah, I felt like that was for the best." He said, and I could tell that he was trying to decide what he wanted to say.

"You have a job. And you are rather good at it. I feel like that is commitment enough. If you disagree, I suppose that I would want to know why you feel that way." I said, feeling like I just needed to see what was on his mind. He shook his head, sounding like he wanted me to just leave him alone.

"Yeah, but does it fucking matter if I am good at my job if nobody is really rooting for me at all? I mean, I just wanted to finally start a family. I feel like there shouldn't be any negative judgment for me doing what I felt like was best for myself." Larry said, sounding like he was wishing that I would leave him alone about it. I shook my head, feeling like I just needed to stay quiet.

"Larry, do you need somebody to help you out here? I might not be the best man in the world, but I feel like I just need to do what I fucking can…" I said, and I saw that Larry was shaking his head, sounding like he had wished that I hadn't felt the need to ask this.

"No, I don't need anybody to help me out here. In fact, no offense, but I would rather have you not worry about me too much. You seem like a nice enough guy, and I don't want to be just giving you shit for something that is not even all that big of a deal. I just feel like you deserve me being honest with you." He said, sounding like he had hoped that this response was enough to get me to just accept his words for now.

"But T.K., the offer will still stand, that no matter what happens, I will be at your side, and I will give you the help that you fucking need." He told me, and I slowly nodded. I had no idea if what he was saying was something I really agreed with. To be honest, I didn't even see the point of him telling me this, when we both knew that this was never going to work.

I then thought about Matt, and what he would be thinking if he saw me talking to Larry. I had a feeling that he would give me so fucking much shit for doing so. I was annoyed at the thought of what Matt would tell me. I then looked at Larry, feeling like maybe Larry deserved better than what people have been telling me.

"Thank you. Anyways, I feel like people would be angry if they saw me talking to you constantly. I need to probably just drop this." I said, feeling like I just needed to give him a reason to be leaving. Larry nodded, as if he had known that this was what I was trying to accomplish. As Larry was leaving me alone, I was just finding myself wishing that he had never shown up. Because him bringing me those crystals was leaving me wondering if I should do more to help with the case even when I had done everything that I could.

I then placed the crystals in my pocket, and I immediately started to head on back to the cabin. I wanted to put them in my packages, and that way I would not have to be thinking about them any longer. Besides, I had a feeling that if people saw me talking to Larry, then I would get into a lot of trouble. This would be buying me some time before I would get into any trouble.

Once in the cabin, I was seeing Izzy sitting down, and he was on some kind of laptop. He looked right at me, and I was seeing him looking like he was kind of worried about what I was doing here. "What do you fucking have?" Izzy asked, sounding scared and annoyed at the fact that I had something that I shouldn't have had. I then decided to just come clean to him.

"Larry gave them to me. Said it was his thank you gift for all the stuff that I had done for him. He appreciated everything, and I told him that I wanted to do what was best." I said, and the look on Izzy's face was him clearly trying to find a way to dance around the fact that he was kind of pissed off with the fact that I took the gift.

"Don't fucking take his gifts. You should fucking know better. Why did you think it was a good idea to even talk to this asshole to begin with?" He asked, and I sighed, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him, even if my attitude might have been rude.

"I had no fucking choice. I know him well enough to know he is one of those guys that doesn't take no for an answer. Not like it is that big of a deal. Besides, he was just simply a messenger. And I feel like ever since Lars was born, he has started to calm down a bit more." I said, and then I wondered how likely what I said was to actually be true.

"Yeah, that was only six weeks ago. People can't change sixty nine years of behavior and life choices in the matter of six weeks. He might be trying, and I think he might be wanting to… But that is not how it fucking works." Izzy told me, sounding like he had hoped that I would actually listen to him.

"Well, I believe in him. He just needed that push in the right direction… I hope that you see that this is what I needed." I said, and I shrugged, feeling like I just needed to roll with everything so far. "And I feel like he will change if for nothing else to make sure that his son actually has a chance of living his life. So it is for purely selfish reasons, but I still believe in him." When I finished, Izzy just sighed, as if feeling like he needed to ask me something else. I laid down on the bed, not wanting to admit the fact that another reason why I was fine with Larry coming here was that I was already bored out of my fucking mind.

"What did Larry give you anyways? I mean, what was so important that he had to just drop everything that he was doing to see you?" Izzy asked, partially sounding like a smart ass, but also feeling like he needed to be genuine with what he asked. I sighed, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him. I then sighed, feeling like there was no point in deflecting from the subject, and I might as well just go along with the subject.

"The crystals to make that energy sword that I had been using for a while." I said, and then I showed him the dark blue crystal, which was not the only one in there, but it just happened to be the first one that I was taking out. I looked right at him, and I was seeing Izzy looking like he was actually kind of excited.

"After the agreement that I would come to the summer camp, I was planning on giving them back to Justin." I said, referring to both the blades. To be honest, part of me felt like it might have been for the best. But I just had a bad feeling that if I tried to do so, then Justin would find a excuse in order to not take my stuff.

"How did you even find that stuff again? I remember you mentioning it, but to be honest, I have forgotten it. Will you be willing to just explain the story to me?" He asked, and I was annoyed that he was saying it this way. Then with that, I decided that I just needed to play along with this, and not make it any harder for us than it already had to be.

"I was walking home one day. The day before Yolei died, and I ended up finding it in some form of shrine. It was decided to something called Azulongmon or something. I had no clue what the fuck it was. But I went to the shrine, and after looking in it, I saw there was this like painting on the wall. Something showing like a dragon like creature. There was a chest laid down on the ground, and I ended up just checking it out, to see what I could find." I explained to Izzy, and I was regretting even telling him as much as I had, as I felt like he was only going to be just be asking for more and more, and not give me much in return.

"I just opened up the box, found this suit that you are seeing me wear, and the fucking basically lightsabers. I mean, let's be real, that is essentially what they are." After I finished up, I was wishing that I never had to deal with this discussion again. I had already felt like my interest in it had virtually run out.

"Okay. Sorry, I guess that I was just way too interested in knowing more. Sorry for asking. I just suppose that my interest has gone too far." As Izzy told me this, I felt like I just needed to give him some credit here, and not make him feel like he was just being cornered or anything like that.

"No, you have every right to know. I mean, we're going to be living together the next five weeks. I just hope that Matt, Tai, Joe, Sora, and Mimi, aren't going to be as in my face about it. I already know that they do not have much respect for anything that I have done at all, so what is the point of pressing it on them, when I know it is going to accomplish nothing at all." I said, not sure if I was really saying anything true, or if I was just pressing along.

"Well, I think we both know that Matt is not going to be leaving you alone at all, so let's not even kid ourselves there. As for the others, I suppose that we will see how things are with them." Izzy said, and I was feeling like despite the fact that he is kind of being a bit doom and gloom there, I did see what he was saying, and I wasn't too upset with this.

"I will deal with Matt when I fucking get there. He and I have always had this level of mild hostility to each other. If you think it is bad now, you should have seen it when we were still living in Onett…" I said, remembering those bad days, and realizing that now things were actually doing really well compared to that. "I'm going to be heading out tonight, and I am going to be meeting with Sheldon. I'll be polite enough to do it when everybody is asleep. But I just can't stay here, tied down, and pretending like nothing is happening, and that all is lovey dovey."

"Are you sure that Sheldon will actually be down with this? He must realize what you have been doing, and I think that there is only so much of this he is willing to take." Izzy asked me, and I was sighing, since I knew he was trying to just get me to see reason. But at the same time, I was hardly fucking caring at all. I needed to do what I needed to do, and I was going to make it work no matter what.

"I will make him okay with it if I fucking have to. I don't fucking care if he doesn't like it at all. I will do what needs to be done." I said, and I felt like that was the best thing that I would say in defense of this shit. When I said that, Izzy shrugged, and then closed his laptop.

"Sorry. I'm not going to tell you how to live your life, or do what you do… I just felt like I needed to say something that I felt like was going to be on my mind this whole time. I am sure that this is something that you understand much more than you want to admit." As he said that to me, I could tell that he was annoyed with what I had said.

"It's okay, Izzy… At least you have enough respect to know when you are going too far with this." I said, feeling like I just needed to give him that much. Then with that, I felt like there was nothing else to say here. I looked out the window, and I wondered how likely it was that literally anything I could say was going to truly sink in.

"T.K., I know that you feel like everybody is against you. Beyond the fact that you literally said it in those words once, I can tell from the look on your face that you look desperate. You look sad, and I feel like I need to do whatever I fucking can to help you out here. At least on my part, I consider you to be a friend, and I want to do whatever I can to make you feel better." Izzy said, and I didn't know what else to say to this.

"I feel like that right there is a reason why I wanted to work with Larry. He seemed to respect the fact that I was lost in space here. He respected the fact that I was willing to own up to the fact that I had no idea what the hell I was doing. And I feel like that is the main thing that makes me want to work with him here." I said, and I felt like there was nothing else to say here at all, and that I was just sort of stalling if I said more now.

"Well, I think if you told Matt what was going on, and why this was a issue to you, then he would have been willing to work with you." Izzy tried, and I shook my head. Despite how smart Izzy was, he simply did not know my brother as well as I do, and I was feeling like he needed to be careful with that before he got any deeper than he had already been.

"He would not have been that way at all. I know my brother much more than you ever will. I had to live with him for thirteen fucking years. There is no reason to try and push this like Matt is some fucking obscure person that I have no idea about." I said, feeling like I just needed to be straight up with the guy. Maybe a bit of an asshole, yes, but at least I was being straight up with him here.

"If you fucking say so… All that I was trying to do was just simply provide a new point of view on how you could be able to look at things here. If you do not want to see things that way, I literally can't force you to. I just feel like I need to make a fucking suggestion on how you can handle this." He said, and then with that, I slowly nodded, and I felt like I just needed to play along with what he said for now.

"But why do you think it is a good idea to talk to Sheldon? I mean, you know how that man is, and I think that there is only so much you are going to get out of him before he basically turns his back on you." He was telling me, sounding like he had hoped that I was actually going to listen to him here. I shook my head, feeling no real need to discuss this at all.

"I think it is a good idea to talk to Sheldon because I can rely that he will not be giving me any fucking crap. He might be an asshole at times, but at least he is an asshole that has a fucking point. At least he is a fucking asshole that isn't afraid of telling it to people straight. That is something that I respect much more than people who are polite, but don't tell it to anybody straight at all." I said, and then I felt like there was another reason.

"Plus, at least he is open about the fact that he went after his father because his father was a murdering, lying, corrupt, rapist, piece of shit. At least he is honest about this. I feel like his honest about the whole Riley thing is one of the few things that can be traced back. Honestly, I respect the fact that he has shot it to me straight. You don't have to respect that fact. But I fucking do." I said, and I was feeling like that point needed to be driven in, and I was going to make it again, and again, and again, until the point could not be made anymore…

"What if it turns out that your own father is the same way? Do you think that you will be able to do the same thing? You know, put aside everything, and do it? And even with Sheldon, he didn't get his revenge for many fucking years. He knew what Travis Lee did ever since he was seventeen or maybe eighteen years old, and he didn't get his revenge and kill Travis until he was nearly thirty." He said, feeling like that was the point he needed to make before it escalated any further.

"Well, I would not be surprised if my dad is the same way. I would be disgusted if he was, and I would want to kill him just as much as Sheldon wanted to kill his dad, but I would not be surprised… And I feel like I could kick myself in the ass for not seeing it a mile and a half way." When I explained this, I felt like there was a certain degree of peace to saying this.

"Well, I hope that when the time comes, if you need to, you will actually fucking follow through with those words. And you don't just fucking turn back, and pretend like you either never said them, or that you might be over thinking things. I just have a bad fucking feeling that you are going to do that, and I don't know if I can ever be ready for that." He said, and I shook my head. I was not going to listen to him just tear me down for no fucking reason like this.

"I gave you what you wanted to hear. Why in the world are you being such a dick right now? I have no reason to be acting this way to you, and I think you are only going to serve to make people hate you so much more." I said, and then with that, I just felt glad finally saying what I needed to say.

"Okay… Maybe what you are saying is true. But what if you're wrong, T.K.? I was wrong about Kenta Kitagawa, and I am not making that same fucking mistake again." He said, feeling like he just needed to be straight up with me, and not give me any real bullshit here. I slowly nodded, feeling like I had nothing else to lose by fighting him.

"Kenta Kitagawa is an asshole who worked with Yolei's parents. I saw that something was not so nice about him from a mile and a half away. But I guess that maybe you were too blinded by the prospects of your job to see it any other way. Sorry for being so rough on you, but I feel like you should have seen that one coming from a mile away." I said, and I was seeing Izzy looking like he wanted to hit me, but just couldn't do it.

"It all seemed harmless." He said, slightly defending himself, just kind of feeling bad for everything that happened. "Once I realized that Kenta wanted me to fucking murder a person, I couldn't be able to fucking keep doing things his way."

"Oh yeah, I was wondering if there was any follow up to that guys death. Like do you guys know what had been going on with that?" I asked, feeling like I would break out of the shadows a little bit, to see what the issue was. He shook his head, as if he was just as bothered as I was by this.

"Honestly, I wish that I fucking knew the answer to that as much as you do. There was never any fucking follow up to what happened. I still don't know who even did it. Although I have my fucking theories on who did it. I believe that it might have been Brad Carbunkle." Izzy told me, and I was feeling like I might as well just see where this was coming from.

"What makes you think Brad Carbunkle was the one behind it?" I asked, feeling like this might have been true… "I mean, I know that he has done some questionable things, and I feel like those always need to be mentioned when talking about if he is a good guy or not… But the whole fucking idea that he is somebody who would murder anybody at all…"

"I have reasonable suspicion that is not the only time he did something. I think that he is the one who killed Olive Ryder in the church all those weeks ago, and that he will continue to do things if he needs to. Just fucking listen to me." As he said that to me, I then looked down on the ground, and I was feeling like he might have been right.

"If he did those things, he must have been having every right to do so. I think that there is no way in hell that he would do something that would put people in danger for no fucking reason at all." I said, and then before we were able to talk any further, that was when Tai barged into the room, completely ending the discussion we were on right then and there.

"Guys, you need to see something. It is totally out of this world awesome." Tai said, and I looked right at him, and while I didn't want to do this, I knew from the look on his face that he was not shitting around, and that this was indeed where things were going. "Pack your things, because it will take a bit to get there in the forest." After he said that, I just grabbed the bag with the crystals since they were next to me, and when Tai and Izzy weren't around, I placed both the hilts to the sabers in the bag just in case, and then I ended up heading off with Izzy who brought his laptop in a back pack.

Tai barely told us what we were going to see every time we asked him, and he kept telling us that it would be extremely fucking cool. It took nearly half an hour to get to the part in the forest Tai told us about. It was roughly an across the street equivalent from Mimi's dads factory, and it had been another one of those meteors. Or what I would have thought would be another one of those meteors.

Instead it was seven strange devices that somehow did not receive a lick of damage in the fall. Mimi, Sora, Matt, and Joe were already there. "What made you guys even find this in the first place?" I asked, and Joe looked at us, looking like he was a bit scared, but a little bit less than he would have been if he was alone finding this.

"I was talking with Tai for a bit, when this came down, and we talked it out for a few minutes, and split up to find the others…" Joe said, and I was wondering what he was planning on doing. After a moment, that was when each one of us collectively had a thought in our minds.

"I think we should all grab one. That way nobody else who might be evil could steal it." I said, feeling like I just needed to move this conversation along in a semi constructive way that would be able to help us all out. I went down and grabbed the white one, without any forethought.

Tai shrugged, feeling like he just needed to go along with it. He grabbed the orange one. Sora was just aware that this was better than the idea of leaving them there, and grabbed the red one. Matt shook his head at me over and over again as he grabbed the blue one. Joe decided that he knew that I was right, and he grabbed the black one. Izzy seemed the most excited because it was something related to technology and he was a big sucker for that, and grabbed the purple one. That left Mimi with the green one, and I could tell that she wasn't even wanting to take one in the first place but felt forced to.

"Okay, are we going to be showing anybody this? If we are, we need to get this going as fast as possible. You know, so we don't get anybody suspicious about what we are doing." Matt said, and I was seeing him just looking extremely paranoid as he had been looking around, not even sure if he was still on board with this.

"No way in hell we should show anybody this… We are already digging ourselves deep enough as it is, and I think we need to just take a step back before we make things any worse." Tai said, sounding a annoyed at the fact that this discussion was still going on at all.

"I have to agree with Tai. If we show anybody this, then we are only going to risk everybody finding out what about this. And trust me when I say that you do not want to risk Kenta learning about this. You guys might not see it, but that man is worse than anybody else we have met here." Izzy said, sounding like he was utterly convinced that this was the truth.

"Okay, so if you guys all seem to be on the same page that we should keep this to ourselves, should we at least look into them, or should we just keep them safe, and not do anything with them in the mean time?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to move the story forward as much as I could.

"I say we just go back to the cabin, put them away, and never touch them again." Mimi said, sounding like she was finally breaking out of her shell, and coming back to some form of earth here. I was slowly nodding, feeling like this was a fair enough idea.

"I just have a bad feeling that people are going to be coming here anyways. You know, to see what they can find here. And I feel like that is the worst thing here." I said, not even sure what the hell I was going to accomplish there.

"The worst part is I know T.K. is right. I wanted to think we could live a normal and happy life, and be happy. But I guess that maybe there is a chance that this was just never fucking meant to be." Matt said, and I could tell that he was hating every word that came out of his mouth. He hated giving me the satisfaction of knowing that I was right on what I said, and that I hadn't been making shit up.

"I wonder if they already know about this. The crash landing was probably an hour and a half or so ago, and I think that there is a chance that if they haven't shown up already then maybe we have gotten a good footing." Joe said, sounding just extremely tired about this whole thing by this point.

"I say we should just go home for the night, and just try and fucking behave normally. Nobody is going to buy what happens anyways. So what is the point of making things worse for no fucking reason?" I asked, feeling like as long as I was moving this along at all, then we could all be able to put this behind us.

"That might not be the worst idea in the world. Just put this behind us." Mimi said, sounding like she was barely able to keep herself engaged in the subject at all. "This whole thing is a fucking terrible idea, and you all need to see this before it is too late."

As we were finally starting to come to our senses, and get ready to just be heading off, that was when there was a glowing light in the sky. It looked like one of the Aurora's. I was even seeing Izzy looking excited for this, because it would have been coming completely fucking new. But before he could say anything, that was when there was a bunch of yellow lights shooting down to the ground.

I think we were both just too scared and shocked to do anything. Plus it had all been happening so fucking fast, that I was feeling like none of us were even thinking much on it at all. The lights hit the ground, and that was when we were starting to try and head off.

But before we could run away or leave at all, the lights started to suck us in, and then we were all heading away into something. All I remember of the next few minutes was the fact that I genuinely felt like I was on the verge of death, and that everything around me had been taken away from me.

Then there was just pure and total blackness. As if I had died. For a bit, I thought that I did die, and I was just in a peaceful resting state. Despite everything that had been going on, in all honesty, and how much pain I must have truly been in on a physical level given everything that had been going on, I did have the most peaceful sleep that I ever had in my entire life.

I wished that I knew what happened to make this happen. What I did do know is that I was glad that this went the way that we wanted. I was wondering for a moment, if everybody else here was still alive, or if I wasn't the only one who met his end there. And in that moment, when for a brief bit, I was so confused that I had died, I was finding myself wondering if maybe Yolei was the lucky one after all. You know, considering the fact that she never had to deal with any of the bullshit that would late be going on in the world.

Before I came back to the world of the living, I was having a really deep, really vivid dream that made me utterly convinced that I was seeing a glimpse of the past. Which was something that was strange to me and in hindsight the first hint that I was still alive. But I was just slightly absorbed in the story to be too bothered by the fact that this was clearly a dream or vision of the past or something.

I was seeing a man who looked like he was in his mid twenties on his couch. He was asleep, or barely awake, and he had an extremely messy set up. He looked like he was barely scraping by, and I was starting to piece together who this man was from the stories I heard about him, as well as the general features of his body.

It was Sheldon Oswald Lee, and he woke up due to a knock on the door. He slowly was phasing himself up and at it, not exactly sure what the hell he was seeing. When he opened the door, he was seeing Todd, who was early twenties in this, and looking much healthier than Sheldon did due to the lack of taking a ton of drugs and other bodily harms.

"What do you fucking want Todd? I thought that I told you that my story in this was fucking over, and I had accepted the fact that there is nothing I can fucking do about this. I hate what is going on with Labyrinth as much as everybody else, but there is nothing that can fucking be done about it." Sheldon said, sounding like he was desperate to get Todd to get the hell away from this subject before too long.

"I want to help you take down your father. I am sorry that I was acting so scared earlier when you told me what had happened with your dad. I did believe you. I thought that you were telling the truth. But to be honest, I was fucking scared. I was fucking scared what any of this meant, and I just ran away from taking full responsibility." Todd said, and then with that, Sheldon was shaking his head.

"What is making you wan to turn back now? You were content with just putting this behind you forever, and now suddenly you have a fucking change of heart? I have a hard time buying what is happening." Sheldon said, rubbing his hair, and I was hearing him sounding like he was trying to hide the fact that he was secretly accusing Todd of having more to do with this than he thought.

"Because I regret a choice that I made. I was thinking that it wouldn't be that much of a big deal, and one time, I decided to go down there. One time, I did it. And I feel like I can't ever forgive myself. The only thing that can make me forgive myself is if I start to turn this around." As Todd said that to Sheldon, I saw Sheldon ball his fist, looking like he was ready to beat the shit out of Todd for what he had just admitted. Then with that, he just simply slapped Todd as hard as he could before he took his hand away.

"What the fuck is wrong with you Todd? I thought you promised me that you were never going to get involved with this? You promised me ten years ago that this was something you would never do." Sheldon asked, and he was sounding like he just tried to make peace with what he heard.

"I don't know why I did what I did either. I should have never fucking done it, and I am disgusted with myself. Now I know that in just a few months, a kid of mine is going to be born fucking soon, and I won't even feel comfortable being around him. Sheldon, I want to turn this around, and I want to do what is right. Why in the world are you not going to let me have this moment when I want this more than anything else?" Todd said, and then he just took a deep breath.

"I am nothing more than a simple piece of shit. And the worst part is that even when my friends left me during that investigation, you were the one person who never fucking gave up on me. You were always the one who was there for me." As he said that to Sheldon, he then just took a breath.

"I want to do what is right. I did a mistake. But I am not going to let this mistake drag me down forever. So I feel like as long as we work together going forward, then I sort of suppose that I can say that I did something right for once. Why not let me have that at least?" Todd said, and he was just sounding hopeful this would work out.

"Okay, look, we can recover from this. One time is not the end of the world… Todd, just promise me that you will not do it again… And promise me that for as long as we work together, we are going to keep open communication." Sheldon said, and then Todd held out his hand.

"On one condition, you promise me that when we work together, you are going to stay off the drugs… This has to go both way." He said, sounding like he hoped that cornering Sheldon like this was what he needed to do in order to pull himself together.

Sheldon looked like he wanted to shake Todd's hand as much as possible. Then he was looking up at the ceiling, as if knowing that he couldn't be able to part ways with his drugs, or else things would be a hundred times worse.

"Todd, I need them. They are the only thing that gives me any peace of mind. Literally anything else besides those. Please…" He said, sounding desperate to get Todd to agree to anything else. Todd looked like he was genuinely pissed off at what he was hearing here.

"I am trying to end something in this town. Something that I, in hindsight wished I did not, have a part of, and this is something that I am trying to fix despite the fact that doing so would incriminate me and possibly put me in prison for the rest of my life. That is how desperate I am to do what is fucking right." Todd said, and then he took a breath.

"The least you can fucking do is just decide to get off the fucking drugs for a while, so I can be able to work on doing what is right. You hated this case as much as I fucking did. Back in the day, you used to do anything you fucking can to make these things work together, and destroy Labyrinth… But now you just simply are too busy smoking cigarettes and drinking every day. What happened to you wanting to kill your father for what he did to Riley? Where is that fighting spirit?" Todd asked, and then Sheldon shook his head at this.

"My dad fucking won. We both know it. He did what he needed to do, what he wanted to do, for his job and for himself. I might as well let him have this. He is a monster, and I hate him more than I hate anybody in the entire world. But there is nothing that we can do about this." Sheldon said, sounding like despite how much he hated his dad, he understood that things were what they were, and that fighting this was not going to accomplish anything at all.

"Your dad did not fucking win. You just simply got complacent, and decided to let him get away with this for ten fucking years. That is what happened to your fucking father… So stop acting like there is anything more to this than you say." He said, and Sheldon just sat down, and turned on the television, and started to watch the news.

"Which case hurt you the most, Todd?" Sheldon asked, sounding like he was hoping that Todd was actually going to give him a fucking answer here. Todd looked at Sheldon, sounding scared as hell that he was even hearing this in the first place. As if he didn't appreciate the fact that this was suddenly just being turned into a competition game.

"I guess any of the ones that were related to the girls in my graduating class, both before and post graduation. If only Shari had never gone missing, then I might have never been involved in this due to the fact that she was a friend, and I was trying to help my friends out here. Or at least my interest in the subject would have taken longer to truly manifest." Todd said, and then he sat down, just sounded like he was utterly defeated here.

"I mean, I'm twenty three years old, not even old enough to run for house of representatives. And yet the only female in my extended friend group from when you started this case that is even still here is Jenny. And she believed in you." Todd said, and then Sheldon just looked like he was slightly pained at what he was hearing. As if he remembered the fact that he had failed her.

"I know she used to believe in me. I thought that she loved me at one point. But I feel like that is just all a big fucking load of horse shit." Sheldon said, sounding like there was a twinge of remorse that was coming through as he said this.

"You were the one that helped her make peace with her fucking father. She told me she will never fucking forget that… She and her father actually started to love each other again because you were the one that did the right thing…" Todd said, and then Sheldon just shrugged, and sounded like he was just kind of not sure what to feel there.

"In a way, that just proves that I peaked ten years ago when I was in high school. My absolute high light was when I was actually still a decent enough guy, who still seemed to have some fucking idea of honor and respect." Sheldon said, taking out a Winston cigarette, sounding like he was fully buying everything that had been going on.

"That is one fucking way to fucking put it, I suppose." Todd said, and he was sounding like he was not really sure what to say there since it was just letting Sheldon do more self deprecation stuff.

"Sheldon, why do you hate yourself so much?" Todd asked, feeling like there was no need to beat around the bush about it. He felt like there was virtually nothing he could do to change what had happened. Todd stood up, feeling like he had nothing else to do here.

"I hate myself because there is no other way that justice can be served. I am a terrible person, and I appreciate you trying to make me feel like I am not a terrible person. But we both know that I am, and we both know that I should take full responsibility for everything that happened." As Sheldon said that to Todd, he felt like he just needed to be honest with what he felt here.

"You are not a terrible person. That is the stuff you tell yourself to hide the feelings of anger and hatred that you have for yourself. I understand why you do what you need to do. But I am simply saying that I do not feel like you are a terrible person, and I feel like you are just simply a person who had lost your way. And maybe you are not wanting to admit it, but there is a small degree of love that you have for your father that you are too ashamed to say." Todd said, feeling like he needed to be straight up with calling Sheldon out on this.

"Maybe there is. Maybe there is something about me that just has a hard time getting over what happened. I knew him for so long as a tutor and a friend. He helped me learn discipline, and he helped me learn what it must be like to really devote yourself." Sheldon said, and I was hearing him sounding like he was disgusted at the fact that he even had to say this. Like he was feeling like he had betrayed what was basic morals and rights and wrongs knowing what was going on here.

"Sorry. That was uncalled for. I should have just let you have that. I wish that I wouldn't be so antagonistic for no reason. You deserve so much better than that." Todd said, sounding like he was wishing that he had just simply not sure what else he could say anything else.

"I just don't know what I can do. What I want to do to fix this. I feel like I just have finally accepted the fact that I never helped Wayside, and I only made things twenty times worse than I would have if I just decided to shut the hell up, and not say anything. That is what I hate about myself the most." Sheldon said, shrugging, and sounded like he was finally done with the subject.

Todd and Sheldon just stared at each other for a moment, thinking about what Todd confessed to Sheldon, and what Sheldon wanted to do. What he felt like he needed to just back up, and that they just needed to head off and be alone for a while. I think they both knew that this was the first instance where the two of them were going to be torn apart beyond repair and that nothing could fucking be done about this.

Eventually, I woke up from the dream, wondering why in the world I even had that in the first place. In fact, I was scared at what it would accomplish, and I was wondering if this was just further signs that I needed to talk to Sheldon about labyrinth and everything he knew.

I was rubbing my head, not knowing what happened. In that moment, I had never felt more tempted to just takeout a cigarette, and start smoking it, than I did in that moment. I was looking around, and at first I didn't think it was too strange. It looked like we had reached some form of forest, and when you consider the fact that we were in a forest when this whole thing started, I was just assuming that maybe I had been thrown around a couple hundred yards, and that nothing came from it.

"What the fucking hell happened?" I asked, and then I looked right around, not sure what else to say. Before I could even say anything else, that was when there was a voice that called out to me. I turned around, and I was seeing some form of flying guinea pig creature that had blue eyes, a white chest, and a orange face.

I took a few steps back, not even sure what the hell I was supposed to say. I was scared at what I saw, and I was scared that this meant that the stories of monsters and what not were fucking true, and to be honest, I was more scared of that than I had been scared of anything else at all.

"What the fucking hell are you?" I asked, not caring if I was sounding insensitive as I said this. I had to wrap my mind around this, and I was feeling like I just needed to be much more careful than I had been. Then I took a deep breath, feeling like I needed to be quieter.

"I am Patamon. I am your Digimon partner, and I have been waiting for you for several years. I was worried that we would never meet." Patamon said, and I was shaking my head. I did not believe a word of what I heard. The whole story sounded genuinely bullshit, and I was ready to tell whatever the hell this thing was that I had no interest in talking to them.

"What the hell is Digimon? Can you start with that?" I asked, feeling like maybe I just needed to see where this was going. They smiled as I asked this, because it was showing that I was still having mild interest in what was going on. I took a long and deep breath, and I felt like whatever they needed to say, they just needed to get it over with.

"Digimon are Digital Monsters who are connected to you. Every human has a Digimon connected with them, and you guys are our life force." Patamon asked, and then I looked at them, not even sure what the hell I was even supposed to say.

"What do you mean that I am your life force? Shouldn't you also be tied to my life force as well?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to see where this went. Patamon shook their head, as if feeling like they said what they meant, and I was already over thinking thinking everything.

"Well, we don't start existing until after you are born. Since you are the reason we exist, our very being relies on you far more than you rely on us. As such, if a Digimon dies, their partner will live on…" Patamon said, and then I finished the picture, knowing where this was going.

"But when a Human dies, then their Digimon dies as well?" I asked, feeling like I didn't even need them to say it. I knew where this was going, and I was feeling like I would just save them the time of trying to beat around the bush here.

"Exactly. But for both our sakes, I think it would be wise if that never happened to either of us." Patamon said, and then I laughed, as I remembered everything that had been going on, and I remembered where the name had been familiar before.

"Yeah, I'm going to be honest, I felt like I had heard that name somewhere before. I think one of the scientists of my home town had been bringing your species up for a while. I had no interest in knowing anything more about them though, since I thought that they were at least partially a fable to get people to leave their studies alone." I said, referring to Kenta, and I was feeling like a fucking dumbass for not listening to Izzy any earlier than I had been.

"Look, I need to get back to Earth. It was nice to meet you, but I need to be getting the hell out of here if I am to have any chance of making this work." I said, feeling like I just needed to be as honest as possible there. I could tell from the look on their face that they were really let down by what I had just said. As if they were wanting to continue this discussion, and I was already shooting them down without giving them a fucking chance.

"Or maybe I am on Earth, but I need to get back home. You know, where I can be able to see my family and my friends again." As I finished, Patamon looked like they were thinking of what they could say that could convince me to stay even a while longer.

"Well, you do want to find your friends… Maybe we can focus on that before anything else. Your friends would probably be missing you if they see you gone for too long." He said, and I was seeing him looking like he had hoped that this point would resonate with me. Then with that, I slowly nodded, feeling like I might as well just go along with this idea. I felt like I really had nothing to fucking lose here.

"Yeah, I do. If you think you can be able to fucking help me out here, then I suppose that I will go along with it. Not that I think there is really much that I can get here." I said, feeling like I just needed to go along with this idea for now. Not that I really thought it would have been a good idea. Then with that, we were starting to head off, and I had no clue what else I was even supposed to be saying.

"Okay, just follow me for a while, and I promise you that you will see your friends soon. In the mean time, we might as well just get to know each other a bit more." He said, and I slowly sighed, feeling like I had nothing else to lose by going along with this.

"So T.K., why do you seem so distant all the time?" He asked, feeling like he just needed to finally strike the chord where it was still hot. I sighed, feeling like I just needed to tell him what they wanted to hear. Plus, I was feeling like maybe it could give me some space.

"I don't know. I think that I just have a hard time trusting people and things. Not you specifically. I just don't want to get hurt." I said, and I felt that was a good opening, and that was all they needed from me.

As we had been walking along, I decided that I would take the bait that Patamon gave me. I would tell them what had been going on here. Some of the stuff that I had heard, and some of the stuff that was going to keep me fighting and going at this for any amount longer than I had been going. So I decided to just talk about some of the more recent things that had gone on, that were still on my mind.

That night, when I was at the cabin, and I realized what all this Patamon stuff was going to be that, that was when I ended up feeling like I just needed to follow through with seeing Sheldon once again. Seeing what that piece of work was up to. Seeing if he had any clues for me on how I could figure this mess out, and untangle it in a way that worked for all of us.

I was seeing that everybody was already fucking out cold. They were tired, and they were not going to notice if I snuck out for an hour or two. So I snuck out of the cabin quietly, heading straight towards the gas station, where I was going to see Sheldon, I was going to make it clear to him that I was going to get what I wanted, and I was going to talk with him, even if he was not wanting to talk. I grabbed my skateboard on my way out, so that way I could be able to cover ground faster while I was heading on my way over.

The entire time I was heading towards Sheldon, I was wondering if he really did actually know literally anything related to the fucking Digimon thing at all. It would not shock me at all if he was having no clue what was going on. If he had no clue what Digimon were like, which I could not fucking blame him, considering how strange the whole thing was, then I was having no idea what the hell I was even going to be doing now. I felt like I was just kind of lost and on my own here.

With the skating, I had managed to make it there in about twenty minutes. Once I was inside, to my utter lack of surprise, it was just Sheldon standing there, smoking a cigarette, and reading some type of book. He looked like he had been bored out of his fucking mind. I wondered why he was working at this job still if he clearly did not like it very much. The whole thing was just perplexing to me.

"How is the arm going?" He asked, and I looked down at it. I was shocked to be hearing him show any interest in it. I sighed, feeling like I might as well just answer his question. No need to be so antagonistic to him at this stage, when he was literally just asking a question.

"It's doing okay enough. I thought it was making some good progress to recovering until I made some stupid mistakes." I said, and then I was thinking about the fact that it hurt so much worse than it had earlier. "I feel like a fucking idiot right now. I have done so many things that I fucking regret, and I wished that I had never made so many mistakes as I have."

"What mistakes are you talking about?" Sheldon asked, feeling like he was going to just see where this was heading. I then saw from the look on his face that he was aware of the way that I was talking. The tone of regret that I was carrying. That type of talking that he was aware people who just had immense regret in their life had. The type of talking no middle school student should have.

"I didn't believe in my friend when he was saying that Digimon were real. I thought that he was making all that shit up. You know, Izzy. I thought that he was just making up a bunch of shit, and seeing that he is actually fucking right, since I have now seen them first hand, has been scaring the fucking ever loving shit out of me. And now it feels like nobody is even going to be there to support me, when I am going to be in the toughest spot of my entire life." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and make the point here. I was fucking scared out of my mind, and I really had no idea what the hell my mind was going at here. I had no idea if it was even going at anything here. I was just saying what I felt like needed to be said, and here I was instead.

Sheldon took a deep breath, feeling as if it had only been a matter of time before something like this would be coming up. He took out a cigarette, and looked like he was ready to see where this could go. "So T.K., how in the world are you somehow thinking that I will be able to fucking help you out? I mean, with all due respect, I never actually really got to know anything about that world. Only the things that I have fucking heard, and none of them sound remotely positive here.

"Look, you have been more involved in the investigation with the shit going on here than anybody that I fucking know. You know that you have been seeing. Todd fucking told me about how you destroyed one of the entrances to the hell mouth by blowing it up underneath the Wayside school. Why in the world are you so scared to do something like this right now? I promise you that if you do that right now, I will give you literally everything that you fucking need." I said, and I was hoping that by calling out to Sheldon, the work that he had done, and the good he had brought Wayside, the better that he would be willing to fucking listen to me.

Sheldon then put down his cigarette, and then he shook his head. "That was before I had my kid, and back when I didn't care if I fucking died. I only care slightly now. But that slightly is enough for me to fucking stop being a god damn idiot, and not pressing it any further than I have been. And I hope that you are willing to see that I am doing my best to keep my fucking family safe here." Sheldon said, and then I looked right at him, and I felt like I just needed to be straight up real with him here. He was probably going to be hurt by me telling him this, but I needed to just tell it to him without any beating around the bush here.

"Your kid fucking blames you for Yolei's death, I hope you fucking know that. He blames you for not doing enough when you said that you were going to actually be helping him out. He has not been able to fucking forgive you for that." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him here. The look on his face was one of utter contempt. Contempt at the fact that Cody was not seeing what he had been doing, and at the fact that he was never going to be able to actually do much to prove to people that he was meaning well, which was going to be one of a fucking fight, given how everything had been here.

"Well, he blames me for what fucking happened because he was never there to see what I had to fucking do. He was never there to see the fact that I was fighting for my fucking life on a daily basis, and the fact that it feels like nobody really understood what I had to fucking do." He said, sounding horrified that he even had to state this in the first place. He sounded like he was already having the thoughts on what he would have to tell Cody running through his head when they would see each other again.

"T.K., I have no idea what the hell you are doing. Frankly, I do not want to know what the hell you are doing. I feel like what you are doing is going to be extremely irresponsible. But I also know that deep down, you have already made your fucking mind up, and there is no point in trying to stop you. But do not instill these feelings to my fucking son. He doesn't need to be feeling these things. He already has enough negative feelings as it is. He does not need you to press them any further for no fucking reason." He said, sounding like he had hoped that this response was finally going to make a real resonation with me.

"Look, when I destroyed that pit, I thought that all the answers would be taken care of. I thought that everything that I had ever been getting involved in would be done with. I thought that the issues would be fucking over. I could have never fucking predicted how wrong I was going to be when that happened. Destroying that pit was meant to bring peace to the town. And yet all it did was just make things even worse." Sheldon said, feeling like he just needed to make the point with me here. I was then shaking my head. I did not buy it at all, and I was feeling like he was just only making things twenty times worse than it had been.

"Well, Sheldon, now that you know that you were full of fucking shit, and that nothing you were trying to accomplish actually fucking happened, do you feel like maybe you would be more willing to fucking help me with solving this issue?" I asked, and I could see that he had been seen as sort of lost here. He wanted to cry, but then he was choosing not to.

"Look, if I was full of fucking shit, shouldn't that be even more reason for me to not get involved in this shit? I mean, I only made things worse, and I didn't even give my son a good life to live when he is going to grow up here. I feel like I am fucking failure here." He said, shaking his head, looking ashamed. As I saw from how he was feeling, I knew that he was utterly ashamed, and I was feeling like I Just needed to be respectful to him, and let him have his moment, as to not make things even worse than they were.

"Because you realized what you could be doing better, and I feel like everybody who does that deserves a chance to make things right. I believe that you have earned your chance to make things right, and I feel like anybody who tries to claim otherwise are just having a hard time seeing how much you have given up for us all." I said, feeling like I just needed to tell him this, as a way to make himself feel even a smidge better here.

"Okay, if you fucking feel that way, then I suppose that maybe I can try and fucking help you out here. Not that I think any of that is actually fucking going to be helping out at all. But I suppose that I got to do what we all think is for the best." Sheldon said, sounding like he was almost glad to be hearing me give him this offer. Almost like he was then realizing that he was having a chance to redeem himself. Somebody wanted him to have a chance, and this was something that he felt like he needed to run with before he lost it.

"Thank you Sheldon… You have no idea how important something like this is to me. Especially with Yolei dying, and Cody being the boy that she used to babysit all the time. I just feel like I need to try and stay out for Yolei's memory as much as I fucking can, since I wouldn't want her to die invain." I said, feeling like I just needed to be real with Sheldon here. The look on his face had looked like he was actually genuinely feeling sad for the fact that he was hearing me tell him this. Almost like he wanted to just make me feel better here. But at the same time, he was feeling like there had been no fucking way at all that something like this could happen.

"Look, when Yolei died, all that I could think about was how it would affect Cody. How it would fuck Cody's life over. I never really thought about what it would do to anybody else here. And I am so fucking sorry for that. I thought that everybody else here would be perfectly fine. I thought that since you guys got the support systems and all, that you all would be handling things much better." As Sheldon said this, I was seeing him looking like he had really hoped that this response would be good enough. He had looked like he was genuinely scared that if this didn't work, I wouldn't want to be speaking with him or something.

"You are right to focus on your own son. He is your kid, and he needs the help that he can get. Don't beat yourself up over that. I certainly don't. All that I do say though is that when you think about things, just be a bit more careful on how you treat others before you judge them too harshly for that reason though." I said, feeling like I just needed to give Sheldon a good talking to there.

"But I think that my own son would be rather let down if he was seeing that I was putting so much focus on him, and not really any focus on you guys. You know, Cody is a good guy, who doesn't see the world for being the nuanced area that it is. He thinks that it is all easy and simple, and that everything is all right and wrong, with virtually nothing else there. He doesn't see the fact that people are struggling to fucking live here, who have been to do their best here." Sheldon told me, sounding like he wished that Cody would not be so stubborn with these things, but had known full well that was how it was.

"I think at the end of the day, Cody still respects you more than you are giving him credit for. You might not see it yet, and I don't fucking blame you. But the reality is that he does think you are probably his best bet here, and I feel like you need to take that in mind before you get too fucking carried away here." I said, feeling like I just needed to say this to him, in order for him to see that I was indeed paying attention to Cody here.

"Look, I am not denying the fact that he probably does still feel something in there, and that he doesn't want to make things harder for me right now or anything. I think he does want that for himself. But the reality is that I feel like he will never really understand what he is doing with the way that he is behaving here." He said, sounding like he had hoped that this response would really make the point here.

"Look, I don't need anybody to explicitly tell me that I have been a bit of a mess up as a parent. I have made mistakes, and I have fallen behind a lot. I understand that fully, and I feel like Cody wants me to remember that more than anything else He just wants me to know that I have some work that I need to do, and wants me to fucking put in the work to actually doing so." He said, sounding like he had hoped that this subject could work along fine enough, and I was then taking a moment to think things through.

"You said that you were still working with the men in black even somewhat recently… Would you be fine with telling me how that fucking went, and maybe we can work something out with that.' I said, and I could tell from the look on his face that he was scared of the fact that I confronted him there. As if he wished that he could have never heard about those days again.

"I was literally doing my best to set myself up for a future where I wouldn't be on the verge of constantly fucking dying all the fucking time. How else am I supposed to do anything else here? I get that people expect me to be fucking super man or something. But I'm not, I just am somebody who got thrown a bad hand, and is trying to make it work out." Sheldon said, and then I wondered what else I was going to say now.

"What if I wanted to work with them? Do you think that you would be able to help point me in the right direction? I feel like I need to do what I can here." I said, and I was hoping that he was actually going to listen to me here. I shook my head, unable to fucking believe that I had just set myself up for something like this in the first place. There was no fucking way that what I had said was actually anything close to a good idea.

"You do not want to fucking work with them. You might think that is the easy way out, and that working with them will give you the fucking answers that you need, but it fucking won't. The answers that you will get from them will only serve to make you fucking hate life twenty thousand times worse than it already has." Sheldon said, shaking his head, as if he was scared of what this was going to be leading to now.
"Just trust me when I tell you right now, that you do not understand how things can get here. Things are super fucking tough the way that they have been, and you do not want to get involved with them, and then only serve to make things worse." When he finished, I was shocked to be hearing him show some real interest in working with me here. Almost as if he was wondering why in the world I was so fucking stubborn about this in the first place.

"Look Sheldon… I want to fucking listen to you. I want to believe that you are fucking right. I really do. But to be honest, I feel like I just sort of have a hard time understanding if any of what you are saying is really true." I said, and I saw from how Sheldon looked at that comment, that he was slightly hurt here. He was hurt at the fact that I was not listening to him the one time he had wanted me to fucking listen to him, and the one time he was actually giving me some genuine advice for once, and wasn't just telling me off here.

"T.K., when I talked with them the first time, I genuinely thought that he had the answers that I needed. But it turns out that I was wrong. But maybe they would be better served with you than myself. Okay. I will show you where you can talk with them, but promise me that you are not going to agree to anything they do unless if you genuinely feel like you have no fucking choice on the matter." He said, sounding like he was utterly horrified at what he was saying. As if he was genuinely scared that he was sentencing me to death as he said this.

Sheldon went to the closed sign, and put it up. Then he put up a hand written sign that he usually did when he had to leave and temporarily close shop. He looked at the time. 11:53 PM. Then he put the "until 1 AM." And then he shook his head, feeling utterly lost at the fact that he was even doing any of this to begin with. As if this was the last thing that he had ever thought that he was going to fucking do.

"That gives us an hour. I will show you where they have their work base located, and you will fucking deal with it from there. Well, one of their few locations, if I am being technical." He said, and then he shook his head, feeling like he just wanted to get this over with for once. Once we got in the car, he started to drive me over to what I had known at this point was the Wilson Casino.

"You might not know this, but since they are under the pay roll of the Reichenbach Family, and the Wilson, Watterson, and the Needlemeyer families are under the pay roll of the Reichenbach's as well, everything that goes on with them is being protected by the men in black. Basically, they are the secret militia of the town that is funded by Rob." Sheldon said, and I was finding myself sort of impressed with how quickly he was already adapting to calling Rob Reichenbach the president of Lazarus.

"The whole thing still feels so fucking new to me. Like he literally took over the company just a day or two ago, and he is already having legislation that he is fucking trying to pass. The whole thing is fucking crazy." I said, feeling like I just could never be able to really get around to this whole thing happening right now. I thought that Rob was never going to be president of Lazarus Company. At least not for a long while. But to take over when he was fifteen years old, and barely even fucking starting high school, was something that I could never really come around to, no matter how hard I fucking try here.

"Well, I think we all knew it was only a matter of time before Shaun would eventually get his punishment. He has been doing so many bad things for Wayside, and he had been burning so many bridges, that in some ways I am shocked he lasted as long as he did." Sheldon said, in a totally careless voice. Almost as if he was glad that this fucking happened, and he was glad to finally be clearing this up here.

"I always knew that he was flying way too close to fucking sun most days. I mean, I still respect what he was able to try and do before the project ended." He said, pointing to the silver monorail system that had not been worked on in a really long time. I took a deep breath, since I was feeling like I would want to just ask him why that project never really got finished. Because it just felt like so much could fucking be done here.

"I thought that you guys were wanting to do what was best for the town. You guys something so good here, and then you guys fucking throw it away here." I said, and I was aware that I was sounding like a fucking asshole here. I needed to just be honest with him though. Especially since I felt like nothing else fucking mattered at all at this rate. I was going to just run along with the fucking plan, and I really had nothing else to fucking lose here.

"Well, I think that Shaun just decided to stop working on this once he realized how fucking expensive this whole thing was. He only started to care about his pocket, as much as I fucking hate this. That is the only thing that Lazarus fucking cares for, and I feel like nothing else fucking matters anymore." As Sheldon said this, he was then taking a deep breath.

"You know, I was trying to look into the missing girls case for months before I found out the truth of what happened to Riley. And you want to know what the terrible truth is? You might not want to hear it… But the fucking reality is that for 90 percent of the time when I was looking into this, the only changes that would happen was that the sun would set, and I would be another fucking day older than I had been twenty four hours ago. I would maybe have a real break through like once every two weeks or so. I think that you must see that for yourself already. You are thinking that changes can fucking happen, and you wish that they would fucking happen. But deep down, you don't think that they will fucking happen for shit. And honestly, I feel like you are needing to not let this get to you too much, or else you are going to be in for a fucking rough ride. I believe in you, and I like you. That is why I am willing to handle your stuff for the time being." He said, and then I was seeing Sheldon looking like he was glad to be saying what he said. He was glad to finally be making the point that he had felt like he needed to fucking make, and now that it was made, he was feeling like there was nothing else to fucking do now.

"Sheldon, I want you to know that I really do appreciate every single thing you have fucking done here. I appreciate all the work you do in Wayside, and all the work you continue to do in Wayside. I hope you understand that I never wanted anything to happen to you. I never wanted to cause any fighting with you, or anybody else that I fucking know." I said, feeling like I just needed to tell it to him straight up. "And I am very proud of the work you have done for Cody over the years. I need to follow my own path though. And fucking talking with the men in black, and working with them, I feel like will be my best path forward. I hope that you aren't too angry at this."

Sheldon looked right at me, and I was seeing him looking like he was finding himself a bit confused at what he was even hearing. As if he was feeling like I was taking this way too fucking seriously, and I needed to calm the hell down before things just suddenly jumped up to being some fucking wild ass fight for no god damn good reason.

"I don't need anybody to be proud of me dude. It's not that fucking big of a fucking deal." He said, sounding like he was a bit confused where this was going. As if he was feeling like he was being led up on something. I looked down since I was feeling like there was not even all that much to say there. I told him what I wanted him to know, and if he wasn't going to run with it, then I suppose that this was going to be on him at this rather than on me.

"But you would like to hear that affirmation sometimes. You might not be willing to straight up admit it, but you want it." I told Sheldon, knowing how it was like to want to have a family that would admit that you did a good job sometimes. To have a family that showed you that they did care about you, and what happened to you, rather than constantly judging you for everything that is happening here.

"You don't really understand what I would like. But I guess I would be lying if I said that I didn't want to hear some of that affirmation once or twice. Okay, you fucking win. I suppose that hearing something like this would be fucking nice once in a while." As Sheldon told me this, I was smiling, and I felt like I just needed to kind of go along with this.

After a point, we reached the Wilson Casino, and Sheldon looked at the time. "It's twelve twenty already. I will need to be heading back to the job site at around 12:35, but I can give you fifteen minutes with the guy, show you who you need to talk to, and then I will be heading off." Sheldon said, sounding like he had hoped that this going to be good enough for me to work with. I slowly nodded, feeling like I might as well just work with this, and I had hoped that I was not going to regret getting myself into this situation.

Once we were inside the casino, I was already seeing Harold Wilson standing on the top flight of stairs, staring down at people, and watching them play. He was smoking a huge cigar, and looked like he was seeming to genuinely consider what he was going to be doing now. Sheldon started to head over to Harold, and as I was thinking for a second, I was then feeling like I just needed to go ask him something else that would get him to fucking come down to reality here.

"Wait, hold on, what makes you think he would be willing to work with me here? I mean, he barely even fucking likes me when we talk to each other." I said, feeling like I just needed to ask him this straight up. He looked right at me, and the smile on his face was kind of concerning to me, considering what had been going on.

"Because he and I were friends, and he will have a favor to return to me. I will make him aware that he needs to follow through with his favor, after all the help that I have given him over the years. And if he tries to shoot it down, then I will keep pushing and pushing until he feels like he has no choice but to fucking tell me." He said, feeling like this was going to work out for the best. I sighed, feeling like I just needed to let him have what he wanted, and I would go along with this, for no reason other than the fact that I was feeling like I had no choice.

"But that shit was over twenty years ago. I feel like there is no point for him to keep following through a promise that he made so long ago. I mean, I hope that I am wrong here. But I just feel like realistically, you are setting yourself up for nothing here." I said, feeling like I just needed to tell it to him, straight up, and if he was going to be offended here, then this asshole was going to be on his own here.

"Trust me, he will follow through. He wouldn't even be alive today if it weren't for all the things that I have fucking done. I will force him into this, even if he doesn't like it." He said, and I was shaking my head, since I really had no idea what I was going to accomplish.

Once we were at the top of the stairs, Sheldon looked right at Harold, and I could tell from the look on his face that he was instantly regretting everything that he was saying earlier. He was already running through his mind how this was going to go wrong in a million different directions.

"Long time no see. I never thought that you would enter the casino again. You know, ever since our last big blow up that we had." Harold said, sounding like he was kind of regretting the fact that this had happened in the first place. Sheldon then clapped his hand together, feeling like for the time purpose, he had to get this moving along quick.

"Well, I have to get back to the station at one in the morning. And I barely have much time left. So I have to wonder, how many of the favors do I still have left?" Sheldon asked, looking right at Harold, and I was seeing Harold looking like he had actually had to take a moment to think about it. "Because if I have any left, my sons friend here wants to join the men in black. He found something related to the Digimon, and he is afraid that the training that he has received from Justin Ryder will not be enough to keep him and his friends safe. You know, especially with fighting Digimon, and with him trying to find Andrea and avenging Yolei's death. God damn, this guy has a lot of shit going on for somebody as young as him. Anyways, he wants help to be able to defend himself." As Sheldon said this, he shrugged, hoping that this would actually work out for Harold.

"Well, let me see here, you started off with five. And I think you have used three of them. The first one was for me to have a permanent residence in that hotel room you ran to after you ran away from your fathers place. Very expensive one, and you have no idea how hard it is to talk to people about why somebody has lived in a hotel room for so many years. Second was you wanted permanent protection for Jenny Wakeman, never to even be risked to go missing. And then you wanted me to cover up what you did with your father. You know, I agreed that you did the right thing, but covering up a murder like that to such a high caliber was something that I could never really do. So that should mean that you have two left over. If there's one I forgot, then I suppose that we can count this as an unofficial sixth one. I don't really like him very much, but I understand he is a very busy man, and he has been working hard on helping his friends. So I guess I can put that aside, and be willing to work with him." He said, and then he looked right at me.

"You got one more left after this. After that, you got no more favors from me, and you will have to find something else." He said, and then Harold was starting to walk off. As he took a few steps away, he looked right at me, and I could tell that he was barely wrapping his head around the fact that he was even agreeing to this in the first place. "Come back here tomorrow. I will set you up. Please, for the love of god, do not make me fucking regret this."

I slowly nodded as he was leaving, and I looked at Sheldon. "I better be heading back now. Have some fun with whatever you are fucking doing." Sheldon said, not believing in a single word of what he was saying. I could tell that he was not buying a single word of what he was saying. He sounded like he was actually finding the whole thing to be complete fucking bullshit.

I was feeling like Sheldon was basically admitted that he did not believe in me at all. In all honesty, he felt like I was only going to be making things twenty times worse. And knowing Sheldon, and knowing how he knows the politics of Wayside, part of me hates to admit that he might actually fucking be right. I feel like he was just trying to tip toe around this fact because he was scared of offending me or some shit like that.

After a few seconds of thinking about it, I took a deep breath, balling my fucking fist, hating the position that I was in, and then I was starting to leave the casino. I was feeling like everything that I had been doing was a fucking mess, and I was only making things twenty times worse for things. I hated the fact that Sheldon did not really support me, despite acting like he was, and I hated the fact that I was trying to do the right thing in Wayside, and literally nobody was at my fucking side at all. Even the people who were stuck in summer camp didn't fucking believe a word of what I was saying at all.

I left the casino a minute later, and I was staring at the building, and I was having a sinking feeling, even in that moment, even within that summer break, this would not be the last fucking time that I would be in this casino. I fucking knew that I was on a knives edge already. But I just could not fucking help the fact that I was having a terrible feeling that this was escalating the way that it had been.

The entire time that I was heading back to the summer camp, I had been thinking about what I was going to tell the others. What I wanted to tell the others. I was going to have to let them know that I wanted to actually be able to hold a fucking fight, and that I needed to fucking double down on everything that I had been doing all these weeks.

I was feeling that once I got deeper into the training, which I would take as seriously as I possibly could, I would show Sheldon and the others that I knew what I was doing, and that I didn't have anything else to show for it. I knew that my friends at camp, if I could call them that, would refuse to support me because they would be thinking that I was just making a bunch of fucking mistakes here. They would be thinking that I was just trying to do this for glory or something like that.

God, dealing with people this way could be fucking exhausting, and I had no idea where the hell I was even going with this. All that I did know was that I was wanting to help out with the Digimon more, and I was wanting Patamon and the Digimon to see that they weren't alone in what was happening.

Once I was back at the camp though, I was seeing that Izzy was sitting down on a chair. When he looked right at me, I was seeing him looking like he had wanted to say so many things. He wanted to fucking tell me off, tell me that I was being a fucking idiot for what I was doing. But I didn't want to make any mistakes here by talking to him. I just wanted to go home, and be done with this.

"What were you fucking doing? I'm not going to report you or anything… I just want to know what is going on, that way if some shit happens, I know not to get myself into any more trouble." He said, sounding like he had hoped that I was going to actually. "I will say, you better be fucking glad that no one else is here to see this. If they believed for a fucking second, that you were actually doing anything dangerous, then you would be in so much trouble."

"I was talking with Sheldon. I was trying to see what he knew about the Digimon. That fucking went nowhere, and then I was trying to basically just tell him that I wanted to be able to help him out with some of his personal endeavors." I said, feeling like he needed to just take that, and leave it alone. He looked right at me, and I could tell that he was a bit shocked to even hear me doing this in the first place.

"Whatever the fucking hell you are doing, I genuinely want nothing to do with it. I feel like you don't want the others to have anything to do with it. You want to get yourself killed to prove yourself or something? Then go ahead, and have some fucking fun. I'm not going to stop you from that. But I certainly do not need to be a part of it either." He said, and then with that, he was heading off, and I was slowly nodding. I kind of deserved that one, and I was feeling like he just needed to tell me more straight up, what was happening.

"Good. Because, frankly, I am not sure if I want you to be helping me out either. I feel like that might be a bit of a fucking mistake here." I said, feeling like I just needed to be straight up with him. From the look on his face Izzy was looking like he was mildly offended at the fact that I was just blowing him off, and not giving him much to work with. I suppose that in his eyes, I must have been a fucking asshole.

As I was heading back to the cabin, I was feeling like whatever I had to deal with, I would deal with there. I was tired of everybody, and of everything. I was tired of feeling like nobody was helping me out. I was tired of Izzy pretending like he was going to be my fucking boss when he was not. The whole thing was fucking tiring, and I really did not want to deal with anybody here.

At the end of the day though, I was just happy that unlike everybody else, I was actually doing something good with my time. I was actually being serious about the fucking situation, and I hoped the others would before too long.

Part 3: The Psychic, August 3, 1986, Morning

It was about thirty six hours after the first time my team and I went into the Digital World, and and around eighteen hours after Tai and Agumon had to fight Shellmon and Agumon digivolved into Greymon. I was feeling like I just needed to go out and find out more about how some of my friends were doing before I went into the Digital World again. Something, for some reason, was telling me that I needed to meet up with Shawn Spencer again, and see what in the world he was up to. I knew that even if he hid it, he had some fucking idea what was happening, and how I was able to fucking avoid something like this escalating to be even worse.

I was at Shawn Spencer's house, and I knocked on his door, and I was sitting down. I knew full well that his father did not really like me, but to be honest, I didn't give a shit. I was doing what I felt like I needed to fucking do, and I was feeling like if he was going to be upset with me for doing what I felt like was best for the town as a whole, then maybe that would further prove my point lately that the police were not always to be trusted.

When his father, Henry, saw me there, I could tell from the look on his face that he did not look like he was happy with us at all. In fact, he had looked like he was genuinely furious at the fact that I was here to talk to Shawn in the first place. "T.K., you know that I don't want you to be spreading shit around my fucking son. You know how hard the police have to fucking work, in order to do our fucking job. And then you have people like yourself going around, and telling us that we are not doing our job enough. It is so fucking ridiculous that people like yourself claim that you know what people are up to more than we do…" Henry said, and I was sort of understanding why he was so upset here. But truly, I was still feeling like he was over blowing this whole thing out of proportion.

As he was ready to kick me off, that was when Shawn spoke up. He walked out of the house, and he was wearing a normal T-Shirt. Nothing like the stuff related to him trying to pretend to be a super hero or anything. In fact, he was looking like he had accepted the fact that if he kept doing that, then he was only bound to get into trouble, and he was not really wanting to fall down that path.

"We're just hanging out. Fucking relax. Don't be making such a fucking deal out of something that really doesn't matter all that much." He said, sounding really annoyed at his dad for trying to impose too much. I was having a feeling that this was him starting to slowly see where we had been coming from.

"Shawn, what did I tell you about swearing?" Henry asked, and this was the first time in a really long time that I heard somebody actually reprimand their child for wearing. Shawn looked a bit shocked at this, because he knew exactly as well as I did that this whole thing was silly of him to get so fucking upset over in the first place.

"Just because everybody else swears in this town all the time doesn't mean that you should either. Anyways, I am trying to explain to your friend that he is not the right influence for you, given all the stuff that he says about my job, and how we handle things. I feel like you are better off hanging out with people who actually know how to respect the law and government here." He said, sounding a bit annoyed at the fact that this was even brought up in the first place. "And I don't want you hanging out with a person who shows no respect to the job that I do."

Shawn took a deep breath, and I was seeing him looking like he was trying to find a way to appease his father without making it too much worse than it had been. "Dad, you told me that the best thing that I should do is always keep my mind open. So I am doing just that right now. I am not asking you to like this. But I am literally doing what you told me that I need to do." He said, and I saw Henry looking like he was actually kind of proud of the fact that Shawn was finding a good way to throw his comment back at Henry.

"Okay, fair enough. You have a fucking valid point. Okay, I did tell you to keep a open mind no matter what happens, and I suppose that you are doing right by listening to me. That being said, I need you to understand that I want to make things right for you. I am working my ass off on finding where that one girl who your friend over here is talking about. Andrea Wilson. I am looking for her. And I am also busy trying to deal with that Zoey case that came up recently." He said, and then I was holding my hand up, feeling like I just needed to get involved in this discussion here.

"Wait, what fucking Zoey case? Can we back up a bit, and talk about that?" I asked, him feeling like I needed to just give him something to work with. Henry sighed, feeling like since he already mentioned it, he might as well just get this over with, and tell me what I wanted to know, and maybe that would be enough to appease me for the time being. "And I hope that you know that I still have a hard time forgiving the cops after everything that has happened with Yolei. You were supposed to keep her safe, and now she is dead."

"Look, I had nothing to do with Yolei. Teenagers die too young on a yearly basis. Her death is fucking tragic, and there is no denying that. But there is nothing that we can fucking do about that. What's done is done, and the best thing for you to do is just accept this." Henry said, and then with that, he looked like he just felt bad for saying that, but also felt like he had needed to say that in order to not make things worse.

"As for the Zoey case… She went missing yesterday afternoon. The grinding noise that went off two days ago?" Henry asked, and then he looked right at me, and then I ended up shaking my head. I was in the Digital World two days ago, and I was in the Digital World when Zoey went missing. There was nothing that I could fucking do about that. And now here I was, a day later, just learning about something that I should have been more on top of here.

"Thanks for letting me know. Do you have any clues on that?" I asked, feeling like I might as well see where this was going. Henry had a fake smile on his face. As if he was suddenly noticing how much I was willing to fucking suck up to him now, when I had been previously brushing him off earlier. He must have been rather happy to see that I was at least pretending like this was all chill all of a sudden.

"No, not yet. Her parents were out yesterday, and I had to talk to the school principal over half way through summer what they fucking knew about her and her friends. He didn't have much, but he did mention there was one person she liked to hang out with a lot. He also mentioned that she was having trouble with her grades. Like not outright failing her classes, but all just like average grades." He said, and then with that, he looked at Shawn, feeling like he was already finding himself opening up just a bit more.

"Look, why don't you let the police do their real jobs, and you do not need to get yourself involved in things that are beyond your understanding. Trust me when I say that doing this is the best thing that we can fucking do." . I promise you that by the end of the summer, you guys will have enough information on these cases that you will see an arrest." He said, sounding like he was most so convincing himself than he was convincing us. I was seeing from the look on Shawn's face that he was not buying a single word of what his father said. In fact, he had seemed like he was thinking that his father was not even sure of himself.

"Are you sure, or are you just simply saying that because you want to believe in yourself?" Shawn asked, sounding like he was just trying to see what his father was really thinking. Not even trying to fight. He was just genuinely not sure if he was seeing where this father was coming from, and he wanted to see if his father was seeing the bigger picture here. Which in all honesty, I was feeling like he was kind of on the right track.

"I will be speaking with her parents when they get back. They are going to be back on the fifth. When I do, I will see what they fucking know, and then I will continue from there. You need to give your old man some credit. Now I have no idea why you are refusing to believe in me, when I have been giving you no reason to ever doubt me." Henry said, and then Shawn just looked right at me, and I was seeing that he was regretting ever telling me where he lived, because he was regretting ever having to deal with his father acting in this way.

"I think you might just need to be heading out. I think that you being here might just make things harder. Sorry T.K., but I feel like this is just not really meant to be." He said, and then I was slowly nodding. I felt like he needed to do what was best for him. It did kind of hurt, and I would never pretend like it didn't. But deep down, I wanted to do what was best for Shawn, even if it was not what was best for me. And dealing with his father just telling me these things, in this way, was not the best way to handle this at all.

"Well, I guess I know how people fucking feel about the truth. They are too scared to fucking see it for what it is." I said, and then I shook my head, feeling like I just needed to keep my feelings to myself. If this was how things would go, then I suppose that he was going to get what he wanted. It really pissed me off, but I was no longer going to fight something like this either.

I was starting to head off, and then Shawn started to follow me, not giving a single shit what his father was thinking, since he was feeling like he just needed to see how he was able to make me feel better. Once he caught up to me, he then placed his hand on my shoulder, as if to get my attention. "T.K., sorry about my dad. He is somebody that really enjoys working at procedures, and I think that he has a hard time showing anything else. Please understand that he has never really meant anything bad with you, and I feel like you aren't the problem in his eyes."

"Look, I understand if you have a hard time liking him, but I think you will see that he has good intentions." As Shawn said that, this was when Henry's police partner pulled up at the side walk, and then got out of the car. I was seeing Shawn looking like he was scared out of his mind when seeing this guy. As if he was feeling something about this guy, but for some reason just can't really place it.

"What's his name?" I asked, feeling like I might as well just try and get to know the scenery here. Shawn smiled, glad to notice that I was showing some interest in his own personal life.

"Jerry Carp." The guy sad for Shawn, as he must have heard my question. I wanted to laugh at his name, which I was sure Shawn would totally do. You know, given the fact that Shawn always liked to laugh at things, and I always felt like Shawn was just somebody who liked to ease up, and have a good time.

"Is this a new friend of yours?" He asked, and we both looked at each other. It was strange because we didn't really know each other that much, but there was no reason to not be calling each other friends, given everything that had been happening here. I felt like we had seen enough to justify that label at this rate.

"Yeah, you can say that. I met him this summer, and we have been talking about things for a while." Shawn said, and then Jerry looked at Henry, who just shook his head a moment, and walked inside his house, feeling like he just needed to let Jerry take care of things now. Jerry then looked at the two of us, and I was seeing him looking like he was trying to find something to say to make the subject a bit less uncomfortable for everybody here.

"Jerry, I know this is going to sound fucking random, and I would not be shocked at all, at all really, if you tell me no, but do you know about Digimon? Or the monsters in this town, I suppose." I said, and then the older guy looked like he was really confused as to why I was bringing something like this up. I was almost seeing him looking like he was trying to decide to tell me that none of this ever happened, and that I needed to stop talking about things that were obviously not real.

"No, not in any official capacity. I have heard of something like that at the office like once. But I just think it is kids making up stories to sound cool. I think you would be better off not worrying too much about this…" He said, sounding like he was kind of scared of where this was going to go now. "Look guys, I think you need to fucking not worry too much about this. If Digimon are real, we will take care of them, and you will never have to raise your hand in battle at all." He said, sounding like he was genuinely scared of what he was telling me here.

"Sorry, I know that you are probably right. I am probably over thinking this." I said, lying, because I did not want to make him aware of the fact that I knew what he was saying was bullshit, since I did not want this to be getting any worse here. "Sorry for asking about that. I know you guys are dealing with real cases."

"Wait a fucking second. What are Digimon?" Shawn asked, and then at that, Jerry looked at me, and I was seeing him looking like he wanted me to take this conversation with the way that things were going to not be sounding like it just wasn't heading anywhere, you know. I sighed, feeling like maybe this was fair enough, considering how strange it all must have sounded.

"They are things that I have heard a lot about. I believe that there is a very strong chance that they are real, and I think we are making a bunch of mistakes by not just fucking admitting it right now." I looked right at Jerry, and I was aware that doing this was throwing away all the good will that I was building at this moment. But at the same time, I needed to be one hundred percent honest there. He needed to just hear that I was not budging on this at all.

"Look, I am sorry Jerry. I know that you were probably just trying to talk to Henry, and I am taking up a ton of your time. I promise that it was never intentional this way. And I really do have a ton of respect for you and everything you have been forced to do for the name of Wayside." I said, feeling like I just needed to just try and save face by telling him this.

The look on his face was clearly showing that he was not buying it at all. But at the same time, he was feeling like he might as well just see what he could say to make me feel better here. "What is your name anyways?" Jerry asked, as if feeling like he needed to just see where this was heading. As well as the fact that he, like Shawn, must have picked up on the hints that I was related to Kazu.

"T.K. I have an older brother named Matt. Shawn brought it up the first time we hung out, but my dad works at the radio station." I said, and I was seeing him looking like he was willing to take that answer, and then he looked like he wanted to just be straight up honest with me here.

"Yeah, you just look exactly like the fucking guy. He and I have had a lot of fucking debates with each other in the past. But the one thing that I think we both agree on is that there are a ton of fishy things here. But he is just too busy spending twelve hours a day holed up in there, dealing with the broadcast station, and not being able to really do anything that he would otherwise enjoy.

"Well, I mean, I'm not exactly like the guy. He looks much older, and he looks like he hates everybody he has ever met in his life." I said, and then I laughed at that, because there was a twinge of truth to this, and also because to be honest, I felt like whatever dad was like, he just always found a way to make a controversy for no fucking reason at all just for the sake of it.

"Anyways, thank you guys for being willing to talk to me, but I do need to talk to Henry Spencer, and see what he needs to talk to me about." He said, sounding like he actually felt a little bad for what was going on here. It was sounding like despite the fact that he did not want to exactly admit it, he did actually enjoy talking to us a little bit, and did not want to end things because it was getting a bit hard to handle.

When Jerry Carp left us alone, I looked at Shawn, and I was seeing him looking like he was wanting to talk to me about something. Something that I knew was bothering both of us, and I felt like we just needed to get this across. "Look, I am sorry for the fact that I told you that I knew your dad was the guy at the broadcast station. I know that it must have been odd having me throw that on you when you probably don't even really want to talk about that." He said, sounding like he was almost regretting even bringing this up in the first place.

"You're a psychic. It's your job to know these things. I'm not going to say anything to make things any harder for you. And so far, I have no reason to fight your claims." I said, and I was feeling like I just needed to play along with this. He was very smart, perhaps too smart. But the idea of being psychic? I have no fucking idea… But it just seemed too good to be true, and I was feeling like I just needed to be straight up honest about it.

Shawn then put his fingers to his head, and then he was thinking of what to say. He looked at me, and then took a moment to consider what to tell me. "You are telling the truth about Digimon, and the stuff in the Digital World. You are just trying to simply pretend like it is not true, because you don't want people to be freaking out. I get it…" He said, sounding like he was then wondering if I would be impressed with this. I wasn't so much impressed as relieved to hear that he was believing in me, and that he was aware that I was no longer anxious to be talking about this for the time being.

"Yeah, but to be honest, I don't really want to talk about that." I said, feeling like I just needed to find a way to make him not feel responsible to carry a discussion that must have been rather hard to have right now. And I was feeling like I just needed to be able to give him some fucking peace of mind here. "I have an idea. You might not be interested in it, but I have something that might interest you. Maybe we can listen to the station together, and see what we might find." I said, feeling like I just needed to give him this to roll with. He might have not been in love with this idea, but I was feeling like he needed to sure as fuck go with it as a way to give us something to work with. "And then after that, maybe I can show you some other friends here, and see where to go." I said, feeling like I just needed to make this work. He slowly nodded, feeling like he might as well just go along with this, and not make the matter any worse than before.

We started to head off, and the entire time we were talking, while I was heading over to the café where Joe worked at, under his brothers ownership, I was thinking about what I was going to tell him. I did not realize that was what my mind was thinking as a good place to take him, but when was thinking about it, I realized that it was the perfect place to be going to, and would give me a chance to show Shawn one of Matt's friends.

"Why are we heading this way? You don't live anywhere near there." Shawn said, and I was sighing, feeling annoyed at this whole thing in the first place. Shawn was clearly not seeing that it would make literally no sense for us to be going that way in the first place, and I hated the fact that he was even asking me such a thing.

"Because I wouldn't want my parents to be hearing what we are talking about. There would be no fucking reason for that to happen. They would be going down, and telling me how I should be doing everything, and it would get really beyond annoying." I explained, and I was feeling like the fact that I had to explain this to Shawn at all, was a sign that he was not seeing the bigger picture here.

"Who cares what your parents think? You listen to your fathers broadcasts? So what? Why in the world would that make any form of a fucking difference?" Shawn asked, and I could see what he was saying, in terms of the small picture, but in the bigger picture, Shawn was a fucking idiot, and I was going to be proud to tell this asshole that if I was feeling like I needed to.

"I don't want my parents to find out that I am listening to his shit because I am trying to potentially incriminate him for being a fucking asshole. Look, Matt told me that he had a feeling that dad was in some way involved in what happens here, and the more that I look at it, the more that I think that there is a chance that Matt might be right. As much as I fucking hate to admit it." I explained to him, and then I felt like I needed to continue my point, and him understand where I had been coming from.

"What is making you believe that your father is involved in the things that happened here?" Shawn asked, suddenly shocked that he was hearing this. "You and Leo are both accusing your fathers of being involved here, and I don't even know what you are accusing them of being involved with. You guys are just throwing this shit around, expecting me to understand where this is coming from." Todd said, sounding like he had hoped that I was going to actually listen to him here. And I was feeling like in a matter of speaking, what he was saying was fair enough.

"I don't think he is involved in the way that Brad is. Brad is straight up doing like illegal shit. My dad just simply is being given all this information, and he doesn't think to change it, or fight it, or make a deal out of it. He just reads the intel, and doesn't so much as bat an eyelash at this shit? I think that is the true issue that I fucking have with my dad here." I explained, partially to make my father sound slightly less bad, and because I was feeling like I just needed to try and make Leo feel a bit better about what is happening here.

"What illegal shit are you talking about? What do you mean, and why are you just throwing this shit around, and then not giving me any fucking clues what is happening here?" Leo asked, sounding just like he was tired, and wishing that for once, we would actually shoot it to him straight. I sighed, feeling like that was fair enough, even if I did not exactly enjoy this.

"Look, sorry for mentioning it. Look, I just want to listen to the broadcasts that my father are making, and then I promise that we will be done here. I just feel like there is something going on here." I said, and then with that, I really had no idea what we were going to discuss now.

"Look, I think that if your father is half the man that he says he is, then all I need to do is just find literally anything that I can tell him, and I can get him to finally listen that shit is going on down here." I said, and then I was seeing Shawn looking like his entire perspective on the case was changing around, since he was seeing that this was his chance to finally do something right.

"If you really mean it, then I am totally fucking down here." Shawn said, finally feeling like this was a chance that he could be able to prove that his dad was actually a good guy. For some reason, that was the only thing that really mattered at all. In a way, despite how much I was annoyed at his insistence that his dad was a great cop and everything, I had to admire the fact that he was sticking to his guns so much, an dnot turning around and making any excuses at all.

Eventually, we made the café, where we were seeing Joe and Jim talking with each other about some casual stuff. I was then thinking about what I was going to say in order to get them to both agree to my desire to want to watch their material, or listen to the broadcast station.

"What the fuck are you guys doing here? Does Matt know that you guys are here in the first place?" Joe asked, sounding like he was slightly concerned, and I was smiling, thinking about how I could get this man to listen to us, and actually be willing to talk with us.

"He does not. In fact, I do not want him to be telling us this. I would think that doing this is the worst choice that we could make. Instead, I am here to talk to you about my dads broadcast station." I said to Joe, and then Joe was pushing his glasses up, as if feeling like he just needed to hear what I was saying now.

"Who the fuck is this eleven year old kid you are bringing here today? I mean, can you explain that before you start just popping off here?" Joe asked, and then Shawn took a deep breath, sounding like he was probably proud of himself for having this speech down a thousand times, and proud of the fact that he had done it so many times that people were now actually believing in him when he was giving the speech.

"My name is Shawn Spencer. I am a psychic, who has the ability to see things for what they are…" He said, putting his finger to his head, and then looked right at Jim, trying to find something that he could say that would make Jim fall for the fact, for the time being at least. "I believe that you have been talking to Brad Carbunkle more often than you have let on. You are scared to admit it, because you know that your brother is friends with some of the people who do not appreciate and respect him. You have also been recording all the broadcast station reports on audio cassette tapes, and have to get a new one put in there every ninety minutes. You also record everything in this café on VHS tapes, but you don't like people to know this because you know that people will not want to come here if they knew what you do. You make four six hour tapes a day to make sure that this place is properly recorded at all times." He said, and then he looked at Joe, looking like he needed to find something else to say.

"You didn't want to live with your parents anymore. Combination of fighting with them all the time and you wanting to branch out. But you have a hard time making ends meet. So you compromised. After your eighteenth birthday, you were able to get Jim to agree to let you stay at the attic in the café, up those stairs on the condition you did the dishes before bed every night so he could cook right away." Leo said, and then I was seeing both guys looking like they were really shocked that this eleven year old kid got this figured out after just a moment.

"Okay, what do you fucking want?" Joe asked, snapping and feeling like he just needed to get right to the point, since he did not want to be constantly called out anymore. In a way, I felt kind of bad for him. He was being forced into something that he probably had no real interest in, and he was already wanting to kick Leo out of this place.

"I want to listen to those broadcast station reports. The ones that my father fucking does, and I want to see what my father says in them. And I want to see some of the discussions that your brother might be having with Brad, if that is true." I explained, slightly annoyed that I was having to even tell him what I wanted in the first place.

"Okay fine, go ahead. Anything to make those psychic visions not happen here. I don't need those to be happening when there are customers coming here, and they might be scared out of their fucking mind what is happening here." He said, feeling like he needed to make Shawn listen to him.

"I know that you were friends with Yolei… Here are the tapes that happened during the day that Yolei died." Jim said, pulling out a box labeled "June 18, 1986." It had 4 standard VHS tapes of six hours, and twelve cassette tapes of two hours. "I was going to have to bring these to storage soon anyways. Let's say sixty bucks, and that days box is yours to keep." He said, and I sighed, and threw down my weeks allowance without hesitation, and walked the box up to the attic where Leo and I could watch them there. In the sixty seconds we were in the room before Joe came up, I was appreciating the fact that Shawn was able to piece together the recordings with the fact that in the closest at back, there were about two months worth of daily boxes labelled there, that Jim would bring to the storage when full every couple months, although I did not know how he did the Brad thing.

Once Leo was already starting to head to the cassette player, that was when Joe walked into the room, and he looked rather annoyed at what we were doing. In fact, I would say that annoyed was the nice version of how Joe looked right now. Joe actually looked like he was downright livid with what was happening, and he looked like he was ready to throw down show down a bit here.

"What the fuck are you guys doing here? This is ridiculous. I know that my friend is your brother and all, but this is insane. I am half way considering going down there, and just paying the money myself and getting you your sixty dollars back." He said, and then he looked at Shawn. "And what is with the whole pretending to be psychic thing? Just say you're a really smart kid and people would go along with you."

"Because frankly, I genuinely believe that my dad is hiding stuff from us. Matt brought this up, and I am sure that he has mentioned it to you…" I said, and then Joe nodded, feeling like he would give me that. It was true after all, he was feeling like he needed to cut the act. Then I decided that even if I did not really like Henry that much from my limited interactions with him, I needed to get Joe to hear that Shawn believed in his dad still, and I needed to pretend like I did, in order to make Shawn listen to me more.

"And Shawn has a feeling that his father is the one cop that I should always trust. So what I am trying to do is find something that shows that my dad is slipping up, then I can show it to Henry Spencer, and then if Shawn is right, then he could show the town what is happening." I explained, and Joe looked like he was wanting to strangle me for even bringing this up in the first place. As if he was wishing that I had kept my mouth shut, and learned when I needed to shut the hell up sometimes.

"Look guys, if you want me to be totally honest, I think you guys need to just drop this subject. Your dad just literally reads the scripts that he is given. That is what Matt told me. He said he was greatly annoyed at the fact that your dad isn't given much to work with, but that he is used to something like this." He said, sounding utterly annoyed at the fact that he was even having to explain any of this in the first place.

"Joe, are you trying to tell me that you aren't at least a little bit curious about what is happening here? I mean, come the fucking hell on here…" I said, feeling like I needed to at least try and convince him to go along with this idea here. He looked down, looking like he was a bit annoyed at this.

"Yeah, I am a bit curious. Not that I fucking want to be throwing shit around, and making a bunch of issues here. I think that your dad is just given a shitty ass job, and he is doing the best with it that he fucking can. He's not a bad guy, I think but he was given a bad position." He said, sounding like he had hoped that this response would be enough to get me to open up here. I shook my head, feeling like I just needed to let him say what he wanted, and not put up much of a fight here.

"But just listening to one of them? That is all that you need to fucking do, and you will be fucking fine." I said, and then I saw him looking a bit annoyed at this idea. But at the same time, he must have known deep down inside, that he was not going to be getting anything by fighting this. Almost like he just wished that this subject would just finally move along now.

"Well, I have a feeling that even though you don't want me to talk to your brother about this, if I refuse to go along with this, you will then tell him, and act like it's okay when you do it. Plus, truth be told, you are already here. So I might as well just let you have this one." Joe said, sounding like he was just willing to move this along. Not because he was waning to, but because he was seeing that fighting this choice was only going to be leading to some issues here. Joe then sat down on his dirty bed, and then he looked right at us.

"Honestly, I mainly don't want to get involved in this because I don't want to get involved in something that might make my date get into some danger." He said, sounding like he just needed to be utterly honest there. As he said that, I was seeing him looking like he was genuinely proud of himself here. I was seeing that he was looking like he was hoping we would listen to him here.

"Who are you fucking going on a date with?" I asked, feeling like I might as well just see what he was doing. Joe looked at me, looking like he was kind of annoyed at the fact that this was being brought up. Then he shrugged, feeling like he just needed to push this subject to the side.

Then he just sort of gave up, seeming to not really be interested in this subject, as if dreading that talking to us about this was only going to just put a target on his back. "Her name is Aurora. I managed to find the courage to ask her out recently, and she fucking said yes. I was really happy with myself, and I decided to just take her out to this Italian Restaurant a couple of weeks ago. We have been meeting up every few days since then. How much more do you fucking want?" Joe asked, and I was seeing Leo looking like he was finding the sudden-ness of the questions to be a bit harsh, and he was feeling like Joe needed to tone down the asshole in his response, but in the end, he was sort of understanding where he had been coming from.

"I just wanted to know her fucking name. You didn't need to be so fucking rough with this guy. Good god, no need to be talking so much shit for no fucking reason." I said, sounding just extremely annoyed at this. If this was how he was going to react to me just asking a simple question, then I can understand how Matt and Joe would get along, since they were just utter pains in their ass, and not really accomplishing anything by doing this.

"Sorry. I just know what you have been doing, and I got paranoid. Sorry for being a fucking asshole here. I just get scared out of my fucking mind at times, and I suppose that maybe I was just taking it out on you. You deserve so much fucking better here." He said, sounding a bit unsure what he was going to say.

"Just promise me that you will not bring Aurora into this subject, and I will listen to ONE of these cassettes with you. Then after that, you guys need to either leave all that shit here, and you will get a refund, or you will leave with them, and Jim keeps the money." He said, and then with that, I was feeling like that was fair enough, given everything that had been happening.

"Okay… Fair enough.. First one's free, and either I leave with a refund or leave with the intel. Fine. And I promise that unless if needed, I will not bring up Aurora again." I said, feeling like I just needed to let Joe have that for himself. He was scared or something, and I was scared that if I pressed him any further, then he would make my life a living nightmare, with matt and what not. So I just decided that I would let this go, and stop pressing the matter any further.

"Besides, I hate to admit it, but I suppose that I am interested in knowing how the whole Yolei thing went down. So I suppose that I might as well just go along with this." He said, and then with that, he was hoping that him admitting this was enough for us to just drop this subject.

"Has Matt ever talked with you about it, or has he just brushed the subject off?" I asked, a bit confused at this. I would have thought that he of all people would be going around and just telling him everything. Partially to annoy the shit out of me, but mostly because there was no point in doing so.

"He did talk about it once or twice, mainly just to let me know how you were handling yourself. I asked him how you were doing, and he basically made it clear that you were not holding up well at all. When I tried to ask him why, he basically shut the entire idea down. Look, you need to remember that we also need to be at the camp soon, and not dealing with this. I only left here today to go to the café because Jim needed my help. If the camp director knew that both of us were here, we could be utterly fucked here, and I feel like we would have no chance to get out of this." Joe said, and deep down inside, I knew exactly what he was meaning, and I was willing to just let this go.

Eventually, I pulled out the cassette tape that was labeled for ten in the morning to noon on the day that she died. This was around the time that the announcement had been made, and I was taking a deep breath. I felt that out of all them, this would be when it was the most fresh, and it would help me both get a understanding what the report was that confirmed my friends death, and also see if I could crack something about my fathers attitude that I had not noticed earlier.

"It's ten am in Wayside. There has been reports within the last hour of another missing persons case. Although in this situation, it seems like it isn't a case at all. The dead body of thirteen year old Yolei O'Hara has been found in the forest. She was found near one of the older mine entrances that were destroyed many years ago. She was next to a red car that has been abandoned for a long time, and early reports indicate that foul play might have been involved. But the police have said that the most likely cause of death was a suicide. Any reports on where she was the night before her death, or what she might have been like in the weeks leading up to her death would be greatly appreciated. It is in days like this when people in Wayside must remember to keep their hearts open to those that might be suffering.

Her parents, when approached for a response, have said that their daughter had been acting strangely lately, but that they never thought that she would do something like this. And if something happened to her, they were not expecting that anybody would be out against her. This is seen as very much of a shock to them, and said that they would not be able to discuss this case for a while, and that any attempts to reach out to her will probably not work.

In other news, the case of thirteen year old Teri Pines has been left undetermined in the six days since she went missing. Nobody has any clues where she might have gone, and many suspect that this will be like many missing cases, where in due time, the subject gets left unattended to, and nothing will come out of it. The most recent report is that she was seen at the skating park in the day before her disappearance. She was seen talking to Gumball Watterson, and that is as far as the report has shown.

Gumball Watterson said that when they were talking, she was telling him that she had been concerned over the health and wellbeing of Tobias Wilson ever since Andrea Wilson had gone missing. Gumball Watterson had explained that she was very happy for him for reaching out to Tobias as much as he had, and felt that he was doing the responsible thing in his life for once, and she had hoped that he might be able to keep these discussions up for a while. Hold on, there is a call coming through.

Hello, who are you… Davis Smith… Alright, you were saying that you had wanted to talk to me regarding the situation with Yolei O'Hara. Do you have any intel for me that might be able help with what might have happened to her… You were saying that in the days leading up to the event, you and her went down to the old worn out church in order to talk to the pastor there, and you guys were helping Tobias Wilson potentially find what happened to Andrea Wilson?

What did you find in the church exactly? And how do you exactly feel like this really connects to Yolei's death, or what ended up happening with Andrea Wilson? Oh, you were saying that when you were there, you were seeing Brad Carbunkle sitting there, and you heard that he was praying to god, and trying to get them to talk to him? You were saying that he was asking god to be able to help him find the strength to do what he must. Do you have any idea what that might have been?

You do realize that Brad Carbunkle is considered one of the most, if not the most, respected man in all of Wayside, and anything that you might be saying about him right now is only going to potentially look bad on you, and you should be more careful about what is happening?

Anyways, if you do not have anything that will actually contribute to the case of Andrea Wilson or the death regarding Yolei O'Hara, then I must ask that you hang up and let me continue on with my reports. Wait, hold on a second, what were you just saying right now… You are friends with my son T.K.? You are trying to get ahold of him but he hasn't been responding to the house calls yet? Does he know about this, and do you think that he will be able to know about this anytime soon?

Was T.K. friends with her? Do you think that he understand what might be happening with this story? Did he know that you guys were looking into the Andrea Wilson case? Oh, he did, and did you think that he was able to find anything there. Okay, thank you for letting me know these things. I appreciate being able to know what my son has been up to. Lately, he has been a bit distant with me, and I felt like he was still having a hard time forgiving me for moving here. Wait, let me ask you something else.

What do you know about Teri Pines? Does my son have anything to do with looking into that case, or has my son been leaving that alone? Do you think that there is a chance that Yolei O'Hara might have eventually gone missing in due time?

You are saying that you are not exactly sure if my son knew who Teri Pines was? You are saying that at the very least, he was not really friends with her? Does my son know that she had gone missing. Yeah, I guess that it would make sense that he would at least know this.

Alright, did you get to know Teri Pines at all? Did you know that she was hanging around with Gumball Watterson a lot before she went missing? The people who are listening to this right now are gong to want to know, and they will want to have some form of closure.

You said that you saw Gumball Watterson and Teri hanging out a few times? Did Gumball possibly like Teri, and if so, do you think that they might have had a chance of going out with each other? I know that it might not give much context to her case, but it might be able to explain why he is so willing to look for her, when he does not need to do so at all.

So you're saying that you did not know that? You say that you think that he might have had a thing for another woman in your grade level. Davis, I must ask you, did you like Yolei yourself, like in a romantic sense? Do you think that you might have ever tried to ask her out?

Yeah, I assumed so, with the way that you were talking. The tone of your voice, the sadness, and the lostness of how you are speaking, made me feel like there was a chance that this was the case. And I am really fucking sorry that you had to deal with something like this, given how young you are. I hope that in due time, you will never have to deal with another one of your classmates going missing, or your friend dying so early on in life. I understand, too, what it is like to have some friends that you really adore and appreciate die before you graduated high school. It is genuinely one of the worst things that anybody can go through.

You seem like a nice enough guy. I know that any interactions that we had before must have been relatively negative, due to the fact that I barley remember you. That being said, I do not want you to ever feel like you are fucking lost again, and I hope that you know that if you needed anybody who can talk to you, then I will do my best to be as fair and open minded as I can, and I will make sure that I will not pass judgment on you, no matter what happens.

You're welcome. That being said, I do have a job that I need to fucking do. My bosses are giving me a script, and the script is telling me how much is known of Yolei's death, and what is happening for her. The report speaks about how Yolei's parents will be holding a funeral for her in seven days time.'

If you think it will be best, I can bring T.K. over to the funeral, and you and him can be able to talk things over. I will be working that day. I have things to get back to. You know, with the stuff regarding Brad Carbunkle. He is having a television interview tonight, where he is actually planning on talking about these things. I think that you will appreciate the stuff that he says. Trust me when I say that Brad Carbunkle is the man who will sort this stuff out. He is a true man of honor and integrity. He is a man who truly understand what this town needs, and you can trust him for that. I know him very well, and I am proud of the work he has done over the years, and you can trust him.

Okay, thank you very much for your time, and your discussion, Davis. I appreciate how much you were willing to help, and I am sorry for pushing so many things on you. I hope that in due time, you will be bale to make peace with Yolei's death, and I hope that for your own sake, in due time, that T.K. will not be pushing these things any further than he has been. I will need to talk to him soon about everything that is happening here." Before I could say anything else, Shawn decided to put the cassette tape on pause.

When Shawn put the cassette on pause, he was looking right at me, and I was seeing him looking like he was a bit shocked to even be hearing them talking about me so openly, and for so long, and he was clearly looking like he was wondering if I was ready ready for such a thing. I sighed, feeling like I should have expected that to happen. I was feeling like now that he really did know about the Yolei case, and he was just brushing it over to just make a story, I was now feeling more sure than ever that soon, I needed to talk with him, and force him to tell me more.