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.

6. First Day of Summer

Scene 1: The First Day of Summer (June 10, 1986, Afternoon)

Back on the first day of the summer break of 1986, I was hanging out with my friends Davis and Yolei. I was very excited to see them once again, especially as I knew that with things going the way they were, the former of which had kind of been growing a bit distant.

"Hey guys. I was wondering if either of you had any plans for what you would be interested in doing?" Davis asked, feeling the need to just kind of move this along.

"Well, I don't have much on my mind." I said, and took the time to look at Yolei. I had a hard time seeing what she felt, and I was a bit worried that something had been going on with her. Especially given the fact that she had a fight with her parents just a few days earlier.

"Hey T.K." Yolei said, mildly just trying to put up a presentation. I could tell she was not really in that feel good zone, and had only been doing so just to make people not get worried about her. "I know you had been talking about getting into the skating life. Would you be interested in checking out the skating shop?"

I guess after that bit of context, before we get too deep into the story, this summer was my seventh grade year. That had meant that at the time this happened, I was thirteen years old. So still young, but also old enough to start to gain my own interests in life.

"I don't know if that will be a very smart idea. I am going to be honest with you, I feel like if I do that, I will only make things worse for myself." I said, and I knew that was a shitty ass excuse, and that I was just scared here.

"T.K., is that what you really think or are you just trying not to do this in fear of looking like a foul at first?" Yolei asked and that really hit hard, and I did not know what to think. I just feel like she was low-key trying to make me feel really shitty for everything that had been going on here.

"I don't fucking know. I'm not even sure what difference it would even make. And I don't know what the issue is. I feel that if this isn't for me, then I should just be honest here." When I finished, Davis smiled, too a short second.

"I think you mentioned something about your parents paying you money any time you do your chores. Didn't you say it was roughly like twenty or thirty bucks a week?" When he told me that, I had seen Davis looking as if he was proud of himself for the fact that he knew that in the first place. I sighed, since I was now aware that I had no real way of getting out of this talk now.

"Yeah, I have twenty five bucks currently. What are you trying to hint at right now?" I asked him, and I could tell that Davis was unable to believe that he even had to explain what he meant in the first place. As if he had felt it was super fucking obvious here.

"Well, maybe we can go back to the skating shop, and see what the guys there can offer us. I mean, we don't really have much to lose here." When he told me that, I had seen Davis looking like for the first time in a really long time, he was happy. And I felt taking that away from him would be a really shitty thing to do.

"Okay. I guess we can try and see what the boards look like. I will say that I am not entirely sure if this will make any real difference. And I hope that one of the boards will actually be something that I would use." I said, not even caring at all if I was coming as picky as I said that.

As we were walking along, I saw Yolei look like she had a new question on her mind. "Why are you so resistant to the idea of actually skating if you have been so clearly interested in doing it earlier?" She asked me, and I sighed, as I felt as if there was no reason to waste my time on trying to get her to understand what I was feeling.

"Well, it feels like every time I try to do something that I would enjoy, I end up only making things worse for all those I fucking know." I told her, as I hoped that response would be good enough for her. "I mean, one time when I tried to et into a new hobby when I was living on Onett, which was baseball, I ended up almost getting me and one of my friends killed." I said, and I knew that if I kept bringing up that time on Onett, sooner or later, the interest was going to be too much for Davis and Yolei to bear.

"You keep talking about that, and yet literally every single time we ask you what happened, you refuse to tell us what went on." Davis said, and I could tell that he had very little to no patience to keep having this talk to me in the first place. "I feel like we just need to know what it even was that happened." When he finished, deep down I got what he was saying, even if I did not enjoy it at all.

"I will tell you guys one day. I am just not ready to talk about it yet. The subject is still hard for me." I said, and I did not care if he felt that was a weak response. I just needed to be as honest as I could with that.

"Davis, give him some space. He needs to do what is best for himself. If he says he is not ready yet, then why press him?" As she said that, I could tell that Davis looked as if he felt that Yolei was just sort of letting me keep up the kid gloves on for too long a period of time.

"I am pushing him because I feel like he has been hiding a really big thing from us for no reason, and I feel that he should just tell us in the first place." As he told me that, I had seen that he was genuinely looking like he had felt this was the best way he could be able to put it. When he looked down on the ground, I could tell he was finally changing.

"Can we focus on the fucking skate board now? I mean, you guys aren't really accomplishing much by telling me this. I know that I should tell you all, but I feel as if at least for now, it won't really be what is for the best for me." As I said told him this, I was feeling that the brushing off would not matter much.

When I sort of snapped at them that way, mainly at Davis, I was seeing both of them looking as if they were scared to even tell me anything else. Mostly fear of the way that I would react. So as that went on, we started to head on to the shop, and I felt a bit like an asshole as I thought about how much these people liked me, and gave them no respect at all.

I'm just trying to help." Davis said, at long last. Mostly as a way to sort of defend himself a bit. I sighed, since I did not want to hear it. I knew in all honesty, he had good intentions. But I felt he needed to see that the best way to help was just to leave me alone about it for the time being.

Eventually, we reached the skate shop, and I could see if there was any boards there that would be of any interest to me. As he looked at us, I saw that the employee was not having a ton of interest in us specifically. As if he only cared about us as people he would be able to do business with.

"Is there anything I can be able to do for you?" He asked, and I was seeing him looking like he tried his best to actually show interest here. I took a deep breath, and I felt like I needed to remember this was not too hard as long as I just had a sense of being a bit humble to him, and did not really give him any bullshit here at all.

"Hey, I was wondering what types of boards you had on sale right now." I said, and I was seeing the guy looking like he did not really know what he even wanted to tell us. He then stood up, as if feeling he might as well just show us what we might want.

"Well, those are the clearance ones over there. When a board as been here for more than a year, we just put it on auto mark down for fifty percent off." He said, and we eventually walked over to the clearance section. To be honest with you, I was already kind of looking for an excuse to not buy once since I would rather just be a spectator. But when I saw the prices for the half off boards were already still more than I could afford, minus like one or two, I saw that I did not even need to make any excuses since it was literally all true in the case of the prices.

"I think you can only buy this one if you wanted to stay under twenty five." Davis said, pointing to a blue one, that had looked like it had been kind of small for me. I then slowly nodded, not really sure if I was interested in this. But felt like I had to at least pretend like I had been.

"Yeah, I guess that I might as well purchase this one, since you guys have been very dead set on me trying this whole thing out." I said, sounding a bit unsure, and annoyed at this. But I was feeling like there was virtually no fucking choice but to just go along with this. I was then grabbing the blue board, and then I was looking right at Yolei.

"If this fails, then I feel like you are going to have a lot to fucking answer to." I said, feeling like I just needed to be straight up with her about this. Yolei shrugged, feeling like she hardly really cared what I was feeling.

"I know that I do. But I feel like you are going to fucking do great." She said, sounding like she barely had any issue with this. I was then bringing the board to the counter, and placed it down. I will admit, despite not really wanting to buy this, I felt like once this was happening, I might as well just see what I could find here.

"Have you ever been skating before?" He asked me, sounding like he had virtually no interest in this subject at all, so I just shook my head, feeling like the look was too obvious for me to pretend like this wasn't the case. Plus, I was hoping that he could be able to give me some fucking clues on how I could be able to handle this.

"I was wondering if there was anything to could tell me that could help me out?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to give him a chance to help me out. When I said this, I was seeing him looking like he had no clue what to tell me. Then he sighed, feeling like he might as well just give me some.

"Don't over think it. The more that you do something like this, the harder you make it for yourself. A lot of accidents actually happen because people skating are way over thinking every thing that they have been doing. But don't get too careless, because if you do, then I feel like you might be in a lot of trouble doing this." He said, sounding like he was just relatively unsure what he was feeling.

"I feel like I have no choice but to over think everything that I have been doing here." I said, and I really had no idea what the hell I was even supposed to say. The guy shook his head, sounding a bit annoyed at the fact that I was just brushing him off like this.

"Well, if you end up getting yourself hurt by doing this, then don't say I didn't warn you. I wish you the best of luck either way." He said, sounding like he was just already losing all interest in this subject in the first place. I smiled as I saw him say this, and then I was heading off, feeling like I would just leave him alone for the time being.

We left the store, and the entire time we had been walking along, I could tell that Davis and Yolei were both kind of looking like they were kind of regretting even saying anything in the first place. As if they were both feeling like they needed to just tell me to be a bit more careful here. I sighed, feeling like there was not much that I could accomplish here.

"T.K., do you think that maybe we should fucking do this alone, with only the three of us watching? You know, instead of us just hanging out at the park, where people will be constantly watching, and wondering what we were doing here." Yolei said, sounding like she was kind of regretting everything that she had been saying.

"I mean, I might as well just do this, and see what happens. I mean, I never wanted to do this in the first place. But if I am here, I might as well just see what we can fucking accomplish in the first place. Part of me wonders if you were just suggesting this just to get under my skin." I said, and Yolei was looking like she was annoyed with the fact that I had been telling her this in the first place.

"Why are you taking such a big deal about this in the first place? It's not all that big of a fucking deal…" Yolei told me, and I rubbed my eyes, feeling like she was not understanding what I was feeling, and I felt like nothing else would even fucking matter.

"I know it's not. I guess that I am just very fucking paranoid about this whole thing." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him. There was no need to fucking lie to him, and I was feeling like the less that I lie to him, the better that things could truly be.

"But no, I would rather just do this at the park. If I am going to have to start doing it there anyways, I might as well just get it over with right away." I said, feeling like I might as well just see what would fucking happen in the first place. Yolei looked like she was all cool with what I had said. Feeling that there was no reason to make a big scene out of this.

"T.K., I hope that no matter how you do, I am going to be proud of you for taking the chance in the first place." When he was telling me this, I shrugged, as I was not really sure what I was supposed to tell him. I felt like I just needed to take these words, and run with them.

"Thanks for telling me that." I said, since I was kind of feeling glad that he had been this way in the first place. I felt like I just might as well just try and make him as proud of what he had been getting into in the first place.

"T.K., just remember that everybody sucks at this the first time." As he was saying this to me, I wondered why he was telling me this in the first place. There was virtually no need to tell me something like this in the first place.

"I fucking know that." I said, feeling like he did not need to tell me something that super obvious in the first place. I rubbed my eyes, feeling like I just needed to keep the discussion going along for a while. He seemed like he was just wondering why I was being so hostile for just trying to help.

"I was just giving you fucking ideas. You do not need to make a big deal about this in the first place." When he was telling me this, I felt like the tension between the two of us was going to be growing bigger and bigger, and could eventually just become a real big deal.

"I know. Sorry for being rude." I said, feeling like I just needed to step back, and not make a big deal about what he was feeling here. I knew that I needed to step up, and not make things too hard for either of us here.

As we were close to the skatepark, I was seeing Davis looking like he had another thing on his mind. As if he was just trying to decide what he was really wanting to say here. "Guys, I hope that no matter what happens, you guys know that I want to spend my whole summer with you." I said, not at all realizing how impossible such a wish was going to be. There was virtually no way something like this was going to be possible, and that was the worst part about the whole thing. Knowing that virtually nothing that I thought this summer was going to be would actually be happening.

"Honestly, kind of the same to you." As Davis said this, I was feeling happy to know that regardless of what was happening, the three of us were going to be on the same page here. That was going to be enough to make me feel like I could keep going here.

"I just hope that my parents don't have me do too many things this summer around the shop. Because it would be a lot of fun to just sort of kick back, and enjoy the summer break with you guys. But there is also Cody that we have to remember." Yolei said, referencing the fact that twice a week, Tuesday and Friday, Yolei would baby sit a eight or nine year old kid named Cody from four in the afternoon until midnight, while his mother was working at her job.

Once we were at the skating park, I was seeing that there were a ton of people there. All different ages, from like second grade all the way to early college. As I was looking around, I was seeing one of our classmates, a guy named Tobias Wilson, sitting there.

While I felt bad for the guy, I was already feeling bad for seeing him there. Tobias had one of his cousins, Andrea Wilson, go missing about two or three weeks ago, when the school year was close to ending. Ever since then, justifiably truth be told, he had been just sort of lost in space, and he barely gave anybody the time of day anymore.

"We'll talk with him. You go around and skate a bit." Yolei said, as she realized that I was looking right at him. I slowly nodded. Mainly just glad that she was covering for me, and making it so that I did not have to deal with this for the time being. While Tobias was a good guy, and he was somebody that I respected enough, I did not really want to be hanging out with him constantly and hear him talk about his cousin. Especially in a public space like this.

I put the board down, and I started to skate around. As I was skating for a few minutes, a small part of me was wondering why Tobias would even come down here in the first place. You know, considering the fact that if he wasn't going to do something, then what would really be the point?

Part of me was wondering if this was his attempt at trying to just do something fun, and trying to just take his mind off of things, but then once he was actually there, and once he was actually in action, he realized that there was no way he could be able to do something like this? If that was the case, I suppose that I would feel a little bad for the guy. But at the same time, I felt like that was something that I would just be willing to have him work on on his own.

Eventually, I was getting into the zone with the skating, to the point where I had barely even noticed anything going on. In fact, I was actually just kind of glad to be doing something like this for once. You know, I was so paranoid about how I would look, and how I would actually be doing once I was skating, that I was forgetting that the best way to go at this was just simply to have fun, and not worry about it.

After roughly three to five minutes of skating around though, and already starting to get a bit more confident than I probably had any real right to be, I already had my first trip and mild bruise. I rubbed my ass a little bit, and I felt like I was in a bit of pain, and I looked at Davis and Yolei.

I could see that Yolei did look like she was feeling pretty bad for everything that had been happening. I could see from the look on her face that she was hoping that people wouldn't make fun of me too much or anything like that.

"T.K., sorry about that. If you wish that you can stop, then I won't be mad at you." She said, and I was shook my head. I was just glad that very few, if anybody, at all, was watching this right now. This meant that I was able to basically get away with what I was doing.

"What's done is done. It's not like it's that big of a deal." I said, and then I felt like I just needed to break the ice with Tobias a smidge, even if this was not really something that I was too interested in. "Hey Tobias, you know, I am really sorry about everything that happened to you. If something happened to my cousins or something, I don't know if I would be able to get over something like this."

I could tell that Tobias looked like he hardly cared at all. So I started to start skating again, and try to pretend like I wasn't too bothered by what Tobias was doing right now. To be honest, I felt like this wasn't really the best move for any of us.

After about another ten to fifteen minutes of me skating around, I was feeling like I was actually getting kind of solid at the skating thing, and I was hoping that maybe I could actually hold my ground against some people when the time came, because I was feeling like I actually could be able to do something like this.

When I had finished practicing for an hour or so, I walked up to Tobias and Davis and Yolei. I could tell from the look on all of their faces that they had been glad to see that I was finally wrapping up the skating, so I could be able to talk with them about what needed to be done.

"Hey T.K., I wanted to suggest something to you." Davis said, and I was seeing from the look on his face that he was genuinely hoping that I would actually just listen to him. I sighed, feeling like if for nothing else, I just needed to give him a fucking chance.

"What were you wanting to do?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to see what Davis had in mind, and I would do my best to respectfully tell him that this was not going to fucking happen. I could see that Davis was not really looking like he wanted to hear it.

"I wanted to talk to you about Andrea. I was wondering if you were willing to help us look for her." Davis said, and I could tell from the look on his face that he was not really in the mood to hear me trying to tell her off or anything like that.

"Honestly, I don't want to sound disrespectful. But I need to ask you why in the world you are thinking something like this would be able to fucking work?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to be honest with Davis. I could tell from the look on Davis's face that he was not really too sure what the hell to say. He shook his head, as if disgusted at the fact that I would even bring this up in the first place.

"T.K., this actually means a lot more to me than you could possibly be able to imagine. And just me, once we're alone, I will tell you everything that is happening. I hope that you can help me out." Davis said, sounding like he was desperately hoping that this would work out for the best. Davis shook his head, and I felt like I genuinely felt like I had no choice but to listen to him.

"You better tell me what is going on here. You never showed any interest in this until literally just like twenty fucking seconds ago." I said, feeling like I just needed to be upfront with him. Then I looked right at Tobias, and I was seeing from the look on his face that he was genuinely looking like he was fucking hurt by everything that I had just told him.

The look on his face made it clear to me that he needed me to shut the fuck up right then and there. I sighed, and took a deep breath, not exactly sure what the heck I was even supposed to tell him here. "Sorry that I am being a fucking dick right now. I just feel like I needed to be utterly honest with you."

I was seeing Yolei looking like she was getting increasingly uncomfortable with what had been happening here. I was wondering what I should be saying now. I shrugged, and then I felt like if this was the fucking plan, I might as well just play along with this, and see what they were thinking.

"What are you considering? Is there any intel you have?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to give him a chance on the matter. I saw Tobias looking like he was already really regretting saying anything, and regretted even bringing this up, as if he was feeling like now that I asked him this, I was going to just brush him off as if he was some idiot.

"Well, she has a boyfriend named Ocho. I think that maybe we should try and talk to her if we want any chance of knowing what she had been doing in the months leading to her disappearance." Tobias said, and then I was taking a deep breath. I had to ask him a question that might have been seeming a bit random, but I felt like there was no real choice.

"How old was she?" I asked, feeling like this question might not really be worth the ask. But at the same time, I felt like I might as well just be honest about the fact that I did not know everything that was going on here, so I might as well just see what I could be able to learn about her.

"Fifteen. Her boyfriend, Ocho Tootmorsel, was seventeen years old when they were dating. I know that Ocho had treated her with respect, and he did seem to love her. But that being said, I feel like he needed to see that he was not the best person for her." As he said that, I could see him just looking a bit annoyed at saying all this.

"Do you remember anything that she did when you guys talked last? That seemed to hint that something might be fucking happening." I said, feeling like I just needed to see what Tobias might have fucking known. If he knew anything.

"No, not really. Nothing that would make much of a difference. I think she was mentioning something about her going to one of those Labyrinth parties. And she was going with her friend Rob." Tobias said, shrugging, and I could tell that he was sounding a bit annoyed that he even had to bring up Rob.

"Is this Rob Reichenbach?" Davis asked, looking like he was utterly horrified that he even had to say this in the first place. Tobias sighed, sounding like he could not even believe that he had to clarify which one he was talking about.

"Yeah, of course it is Rob Reichenbach." Tobias said, and I was hearing the annoyance barely being hidden. He shrugged, as if trying to decide if he was wanting to be a bit more careful here. "He is the only Rob that I even know of who is the same age as Andrea. And they have been friends for several years." He said, shrugging, thinking about where this would go. "Kind of feel bac for him, never being able to meet his grandfather Erik, since he died like over ten years before Rob was even born."

"Look, I would love to talk about this more, but I think that I need to be heading home right now. You guys can fucking talk about this with me tomorrow." He said, sounding like he just wanted to move this along as fast as possible.

"Guys, I do appreciate the fact that you guys seem to be so caring about everything going on here. You might not see it, but that is something that I genuinely really respect." Tobias said, sounding a bit lost at thought here. Then he put on his best fake smile that he could, trying to just sound like he wasn't too bothered by what was happening.

"Trust me when I say that you should not fucking trust Ocho Tootmorsel. There are a lot of things that I can understand you doing. But trusting a man who hasn't lived up to his promises, or his word, is not really one of those things at all." He said, sounding like he was just really hoping that his leas were going to fucking stick the landing.

"And honestly, I feel like you guys need to just work on your guys unity. You guys all sound like you are about to throw daggers at each other. It can be fucking exhausting to watch, and I'm just one random dude." Tobias said, sounding like he was hoping that him telling us this would force us to have a bit of a attitude check.

Once he was starting to head off, that was when Yolei looked like she was kind of bothered by what Tobias was saying. Almost like she was wondering if he was just making any excuse that he could to not talk about this.

"I thought that Tobias would have been more willing to actually open up now. Then all he does is just tell us that we shouldn't trust Andrea's boyfriend or something. I feel like she didn't give us enough to really work with." Yolei said, sounding like she was having no clue what was going on here, and what she was doing wrong this entire time.

"Well, maybe you need to give him the time and space to come up with this on his own. He needs time to fucking grief and come to peace with this. And you guys are just setting him up with something that has no chance of working." As I told them both this, I was finding myself feeling disgusted at the fact that I even had to explain this to these fuckers to begin with. But then I just sighed, feeling like nothing else mattered.

"Sorry. Maybe you're fucking right. I just thought that if I extended the offer out to her, I might have been able to make him feel much better. But it turns out that doing that might have only made things even worse than they were." Yolei said, and then she was looking right at Davis. Feeling like she just needed to ask him what in the world he was hiding from the two of us.

"Davis, what are you trying so fucking hard to hide from us?" She asked, and Davis had looked like he was regretting saying anything. Then he looked right at me, and he had a smile that looked like he wanted to murder somebody across his face. I was feeling like he needed to be more careful with where he would go here.

"I don't want to fucking talk about it. Ignore what I am fucking saying right now. I think I want to focus more on Andrea. That is something that I can feel comfortable working on." Davis said, and then he rubbed the back of his head. "If you guys don't feel comfortable with this, I guess that I wouldn't really blame you…"

Yolei looked like she wanted to tell him off so badly. Like she wanted to just demand that he would open up now. Then with that, she just shook her head, feeling like she wouldn't accomplish anything by constantly pestering him over and over again. Then she looked right at me, as if feeling like she had hoped that I was actually going to be honest with her.

"Look, I need to watch Cody soon anyways. So I guess that even if you did want to tell me what happened, I wouldn't be able to for the time being." Yolei said, as if accepting the fact that this was just simply not going to work out tonight at least. "But I just think you don't get to lecture Tobias for anything he says until you start to be honest."

Davis was looking like he was looking for one final attempt to at least try and reconcile. "When you see Cody, tell him that I hope he has a wonderful summer break. I know that I have not been the nicest person to him so far, and I wish that I treated him with more respect than I had earlier." He said, sounding like he was wishing that Yolei would relay this message.

"Thank you Davis. I am sure that he will appreciate that. I just hope that you are actually being genuine here, and not just saying this to make me feel better." Yolei said, sounding like she was glad that Davis had been gaining humility here.

As Yolei was smiling once again, I could tell that she was remembering how things were like with Davis, back when he and her got along much better. She was then rubbing the bandana at the back of her head, feeling no real need to hide what was bothering her. "Just please know that I will always be there for you before you lose your way."

"Honestly, I appreciate the sentiment. I will tell you one day. I promise. And when I do, I promise you that you will understand why I couldn't fucking tell you before hand." As he was saying this to Yolei, I really had no idea what the hell I was supposed to say there. In fact, I was seeing him just looking kind of like he was out of the world a bit.

As Yolei was starting to head off, Davis was looking right at me, and I was seeing him looking like deep down inside, he was ashamed of everything that had been going on. As if he was regretting everything that he had said. "Sometimes I wonder if I am really doing the right thing here. But I don't really fucking know what the hell I feel here. I thought that not telling anybody was a smart move, but now I think that it might not be."

"What did you choose not to tell us?" I asked, feeling kind of annoyed with the lack of information being given right now. He sighed, feeling as if he was finally just needing to say what was on his mind. Davis placed his hand on my shoulder, as if he was ready to make a deal with me.

"I will tell you on the condition that you tell me more about the story with Onett." When Davis said this, I looked down, feeling like maybe I was having no fucking choice on the matter. So I sighed, and I was seeing that there was no other choice on the matter.

"Yeah, I guess that is fair. Honestly, I know deep down inside I was going to have to tell you sooner or later anyways." I said, shrugging, and felt like I had nothing else to say. "But to give you a fair warning, the story actually is really fucking long. So I think it would actually be the best for you to tell me first." I told him, hoping he was actually going to take my word for it.

"Okay, if that is the case, I guess I might as well just fucking say it. Well, truth be told, my parents are expecting another child. A daughter this time. And given how things are in Wayside, I am sure that you can connect the fucking dots on why this is such a big deal.

"I think she is expected to be born in like January or February. You know, so quite a while from now. Like they just told me that she was pregnant. Honestly, I am kind of scared about where this is going to go. I would love to be a older brother. But I think that this could go very south very quick." He said, sounding like he just needed to be honest with his fears there. I then slowly nodded, since I instantly got right and there why this was such a big deal. And I smiled, feeling like I would do my best to help him out getting through this potentially rough phase.

"Honestly, I feel like I need to be the best brother in the world if I am to have any fighting chance of keeping her safe. I think that is the real thing that scares me. I want to keep her safe no matter what happens, but at the same time, I feel like there is virtually no chance of this ever fucking happening." Davis said, shrugging, and not really too sure what in the world he was even supposed to say.

"Davis, even if you can't do anything, realistically she won't be in trouble for like the next ten to fifteen years. That will give you a lot of time to try and work something out here." I said, feeling like I just needed to be straight up with him, and not make things any worse than they were.

"That might seem like a lot of time. But this is a fucking new sister we are talking about. I don't want just fifteen or so years. I want her to grow up and become a young woman who can live her fucking life." Davis said, sounding disgusted at the fact that I was even telling him this in the first place.

"Davis, all that I am saying is that you just need to do the best you can. Don't fucking beat yourself up if this doesn't fucking work. You are a good guy, and I think you need to fucking give yourself more credit here." When I was telling him this, I could tell that he really had no clue what in the world to say.

"T.K., the best I can is to just be a nice man who actually follows through on keeping his fucking new born sister safe when the time arises. There is nothing else to fucking say here." When he said that, he sighed, and I could tell that he wished that he could have said more.

"Anyways, the reason why I don't want to tell Yolei is frankly I don't want to hear her telling me that I am doing so great, and I have made so many right choices, only to then find out that I fucking haven't. I think that she just wants to make me feel better. But doesn't really understand the fact that to be honest, I don't actually deserve it." When Davis told me this, he seemed like he had no real clue what the hell he could say here.

"Yolei will not judge you. Yolei thinks you are a wonderful guy, and I think that you need to see that she will never hate you for something like this." As I told her this, I could tell that he did not really know what he wanted to say there.

"I still don't know what I want to say to her though. I think that if she sees what I am trying to accomplish and everything, it will only be a matter of time before it just all goes to fucking shit." When he said that, he shrugged, feeling like that was all that he needed to say. Then with that, Davis seemed like he wanted to say something else.

"I just don't want Yolei to fucking get hurt or anything. She deserves so much fucking better than that. If she gets hurt by me, then I suppose that I can understand why. But at the same time, I don't really know what else to say. I just want to tell her my feelings for her. I want to tell her how much I fucking love her. But I feel like if I do that, then she might get put off by me. And I feel like that will not really be worth it." When Davis was telling me this, I could tell that he hoped that this was all he needed to say.

"Look, I will tell her the news if you feel like this will be an issue. I think maybe if she hears it from me, she will be fine. I am not exactly sure how well that will work. But I suppose that we might as well give it a go." I said, shrugging, and I wondered how likely it would be that he would actually listen to me.

"Thanks T.K. I know that this isn't technically the right thing to do. But I just feel like I really don't have much of a choice here." Davis said, sounding like he wanted to cry a little. But then he shrugged, feeling like there was nothing else to accomplish.

"I just have known her for so long, that I can understand why she would be hurt by me not telling her everything that she wants to know. I mean, why would I keep lying over something like this? That must be what she is thinking…" When Davis said that, he shrugged, not sure what else to say.

"Davis, I believe that when the time comes, you will be doing the right thing. I know that you will be doing the right thing. I think you just need to believe it in yourself." I said, feeling like maybe with that, and the positive reinforcement, he would be nicer to himself there.

"I hope that you're right. You know, I wish that Yolei understands that I will do whatever I fucking can to make this subject better for us all." As he said this, I could see that he was really lost in his thoughts. "After all, she and I have been friends for a very long time. I really would not want something to happen between the two of us because we just simply can't fucking see eye to eye."

When Davis finished saying what he was saying, he seemed like he was relatively lost here. "Davis, I hope that you know that no matter what happens, I will still support you as a friend. We might have had a hard time seeing eye to eye lately. But I have been working so hard to make this better."

"Well, on one hand, I do appreciate the sentiment. But I still feel like virtually none of this even fucking matters." When he said that, I could see that he had looked like he was really just tired, and kind of out of it at this rate. "T.K., please understand that I never wanted to make things harder for any of us. I just wish that I could trust you more."

As we were walking away from the skate park, I was thinking of something that I could ask him. "Davis, do you think that your sister would have wanted you to just fucking lie about these things?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to be straight up with him here.

"Well, I guess that we will not know for another many years. And besides, I never said I was never going to tell Yolei. I was just simply saying that I was planning to not tell her in the mean time. And I have said on several occasions, it will only be a matter of time before she eventually learns anyways. I think that I just want to delay the rest of the town learning as well." Davis said, shrugging, and not sure what to tell me here.

"And honestly, I want to know something… Do you feel like publicly announcing that I will be having a little sister soon is really going to be the smartest idea? There is no fucking way in hell that this would work out at all." Davis said, sounding like he hoped that I would understand where he was going.

"I guess it makes sense that none of this seems like a good idea. I just feel like there are a lot of things that we should be telling people, if we want to make a difference. But yeah, that is the main reason why I feel the desire to look into the missing peoples cases so badly. Especially stuff like Andrea and what not. I want to provide a better future for her." When Davis finished, I completely understood, and I felt like there was no other way here. I smiled, knowing that Davis was doing what he thought was the right thing, for the right reasons.

"I do understand your reasons. Thanks for telling me that. I wish that I understood how I could be able to help you more." I said, feeling like there had been nothing else to say. "Davis, please understand that I do respect your opinions much more than you can expect."

"The best way you can be able to help me is to make sure that when the time comes, we will have a fucking chance of being able to actually fucking find Andrea. And that Tobias will never have to deal with the pain of knowing that some people in this shitty ass town don't fucking care." When he told me this, I was seeing him looking like he hoped that this was what I wanted to hear. I smiled, feeling like I could roll with this response.

"Tobias might have already given up on finding her. I feel like he might have, given the way he fucking talks. But trust me when I say that if this ends up being as big of a deal as I might expect, then I am going to fucking not let go no matter what." He said, sounding like he had hoped that this response would actually sink through to me.

"I doubt he's given up. I could tell from the look on his face that he was really bothered by it. I just think that maybe he thinks that the fight might not be worth it." I said, feeling unsure what else to tell him. I mean, I had felt like nothing else I would say would even matter.

"I bet that he was bothered by it. But at the same time, I bet that he is going to just decide that him surviving is going to be worth it more than finding her. And maybe in one specific case, that is true. But for everybody here, all the time, there is nothing that can justify complacency." Davis said, and I was wondering why in the world he was focusing so much on this.

"What if he doesn't want the help? What if he would genuinely rather be doing this than be getting any help here? I think that might be something you need to talk about." I said, and I was wondering what Tobias would say if he didn't want to follow through with this.

"If he doesn't want the help, then I feel like everything here is already a lost cause." When he told me that, I could tell from the look on his face that he had no clue what in the world he was going to accomplish now. I was thinking that he was trying too hard here.

"Maybe he just realizes that the fighting might not exactly accomplish much. So with that, he might as well just be thinking about himself, and what is best for him. Why in the world is this something that bothers you to such a high degree?" I asked, feeling the need to just lay it out.

As we were walking along, I could tell that Davis was wanting to say more. But I could tell that he was also looking like he was kind of giving up on everything right now. Almost like he was aware that this discussion was a lost cause. I already made my mind up in the matter. And he fucking knew that I was right. He fucking knew that he was accomplishing nothing by asking me into this subject.

The more that we had been heading along, and I was finally getting ready to tell him the stuff about Onett and Ness, the one thing that neither Davis nor I wanted to hear started going off. The massive grinding noise that I had grown to hate with all my fucking heart and soul. I balled my fist, not really sure what I could even accomplish here.

"Why the fuck is it already going off again so fucking quickly? I thought that we would not hear it go off for another few weeks at least." Davis said, sounding like he was kind of scared of what he heard. I slowly nodded, fully in agreement to what he felt. In my mind, this was quite possibly the worst situation for either of us to be in.

"I thought it usually only went off every couple of months or so." I said, and I looked right at Davis, wondering, and mentally begging that this was just a one time thing. Davis sighed, almost like he wasn't sure what to say.

"Honestly, part of me wonders if maybe this is going to become the new norm. If it does, then I know for sure that I do not want to fucking be a part of it." He said, sounding like he was thinking of that. Then thinking of what this was meaning when his younger sister was born.

"Less than a fucking month later. How in the world is any of this shit justified? I mean, none of this is good to begin with. But this is taking it to a whole new level." When he told me this, Davis then thought about it more.

"Look, I think that if this is going to be how it is, then we need to just try and make sure that nothing fucking happens to Yolei." Davis finished, and I had no idea how in the world he was coming to her being the one we needed to watch out for.

"There is no fucking reason to jump to that conclusion yet. I think that she will fucking be fine." I told him, and I was honestly thinking that this was the last thing he needed to say. Davis then shook his head, sounding annoyed as hell here.

"There are a lot of fucking reasons to jump to that conclusion. You know how her parents think of her. You know that her parents hate her. And you keep pretending like this isn't how it fucking is. But you know sooner or later it will be." He said, sounding like he had no idea what in the world he was thinking.

"But her parents wouldn't fucking go as far as to do something to her? If they did, then I feel like sooner or later, somebody will fucking notice. You would at least." I said, feeling like I just needed to give Davis something to think about here.

"I don't know what her fucking parents would do. That is the scary thing. The fact of the matter being that I genuinely can't put it past them that this would fucking happen. And I wish that you would be able to see the fucking writing on the wall." He said, sounding like he was hoping that he was getting through to me just a bit.

"Okay, maybe we should fucking talk with them and see what they are saying. Maybe if we give them a chance to explain, then things won't be so fucking bad." I said, and I was aware that none of what I was saying was making a difference to him. He had already made his mind up on the matter, and I felt like I just needed to go along with this.

"Okay, if you think that we can be able to resolve this peacefully, then I will give it a chance. But I have no feelings that this will happen." When he said that to me, rather honestly, I felt like I just needed to let him have this moment. He was sounding genuinely scared, and I was aware that nothing I could be able to tell him would change this.

"Davis, just promise me that if something is happening with her, and her parents are responsible, then you will not do anything until I am ready to help you as well? I would love nothing more than to tear them down if I need to." I told him, and I was seeing Davis looking like he was a bit surprised to even hear me make the offer to begin with.

"I suppose that I can wait. Doesn't mean that I have to fucking like it at all." He told me, sounding like he was wishing that I had never told him this. Almost like he would have not wanted to wait even a fucking minute to get revenge on Yolei's parents if he was given the chance to.

"I get that. I respect the fact that you are so firm on this." I said, being completely genuine when I told him this. I had hoped that he was going to be able to see that I was actually being one hundred percent real there.

"T.K., I just need you to promise me something. Will you promise me that you will not go easy on them? If it is true that they are involved in this, then they need to pay for everything that they fucking did…" Davis said, and I slowly nodded, feeling like there was no reason to be hiding around this one.

"I will be with you every single step of the way, and I hope that things would work out." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him. Davis smiled, slowly nodded, and looked like this was what he had wanted to hear.

"Thank you." Davis said, and I was seeing him looking like he had been scared if I had said no to him.

When I was at Davis's house, I then felt like I just needed to find some way to make the story better for him. "Look, I guess that I might as well just tell you all the stuff about Onett. You know, I might never enjoy talking about this piece of shit story because it reminds me of all the mistakes that I have made." I said, and I could tell Davis looked like he hardly cared.

"Thank you T.K. I feel like I just need to know this if I am to understand who you are better. So yeah, I hope that this isn't too unreasonable of a request." Davis said, sounding like he had hoped that his response was going to be fine.

"Well, just so you know that I would have never fucking moved to Wayside were it not for this event. And I think that there was no reason for me to want to move to Wayside. I never even so much as heard of the town before all this." I said feeling like I just needed to be honest with him there. Davis slowly smiled, as if he was glad to hear me just say that out loud.

"I kind of figured as much. I feel like there would have been no reason for you guys to move to a town that just sort of is out in the distance if it weren't for this." Davis said, and then he was then thinking of what else he wanted to say.

"I also thought that your father moved here because of a job offer. How much of that part of the story is true?" He asked, and I really had no idea what the hell I was supposed to say. And to be honest, I think the issues was that I did kind of know how much of that story was true.

"Only a bit of it. Like there isn't a ton of it that is inherently false, I will say. That doesn't mean that it is exactly true either. I think the job offer was the excuse he made to make the move seem reasonable to the public, while the incident at Onett was why he felt like he needed to take it in the first place." I said, and I was seeing Davis looking like he had no real idea what he felt there.

"Your father must have just been trying to do what he was thinking was best for you." He said, and I really had no idea what the hell I was supposed to say. I mean, I was wondering if Davis was just trying to make a scene for the sake of making a scene. "Look, all that I am fucking saying is that I think that you are needing to see the bigger picture. Maybe your stuff with Onett was not nearly as bad as you think it might be."

"Anyways, look, if you want to hear the story, I might as well just fucking tell you." I said, feeling like I just needed to be utterly real with him. "I understand that you want to know those finer details. But for now, I feel like this is just about the story. And promise me that you will not tell Yolei about this." I said, and Davis rolled his eyes at the irony of what I had just said given his don't tell her promise he gave me.

"Hey, also, thanks for being so kind to me when I was telling you about my younger sister coming on the way. I know that that might have been a bit of a sudden jump to tell you. But I feel like you deserve to fucking know the truth, and I feel like for some reason, I just kind of get the impression that you would be the first person who would actually respect my wishes on not telling people about this.

"I am just trying to stick out for a friend, even if I have to disagree with telling you various things that I feel like are sort of out of your understanding." I said, and then I was wondering what else there was to say. "Do you think that Tobias might work with my brother Matt and his friend Ocho when it comes to this? I know they don't always see eye to eye, but I feel like maybe this is something they will be able to put aside when it comes to something as important as this."

"I have no idea what your brother thinks of Tobias, and I have only met Ocho like once in my entire life. There isn't much that I can fucking tell you, and I certainly can't make the choice for you." Davis said, sounding like he had hoped that his answer, and me just being honest, will be enough to make us open up here.

"I just feel like Tobias would probably want to work with my fucking brother, considering the fact that Matt is one of the very few people who have always been forward about the things that he feels here. Which can be a bit of a issue." I said, feeling like I just needed to be straight up honest with him there.

"I don't fucking know if there is anything that we can fucking do about that, and a part of me hardly fucking cares. He wants to do this himself, and in all honesty, I feel like I can hardly blame the guy." He said, feeling like he just needed to be honest with me. I slowly nodded, as I felt like I just needed to be a good sport when it came to this.

"You better care if you are going to fucking work with Tobias here. If you want to actually make sure that things with your sister, then you better start caring much more than you have been." I said, feeling like I just needed to tell him this, as a way to make him be quiet there. Davis then slowly sighed, as if deep down inside, he knew that this was true enough.

"I will care soon enough. But for the fucking love of god, I just feel like you need to stop putting this onto me, as if I don't care or something like this. My sister is somebody who I care more about than you can fucking possibly imagine. And I think that when she is born, this will actually be even more true than it was." He said, and then I wondered what else I was even able to say that would remotely appease him enough to just drop this subject.

"And besides, I know that unless if the whole group is looking into this together, that not much will be accomplished anyways. And in all honesty, I feel like that is only going to make the idea of working with you all impossible. In seven months or so, when my sister is born, I am going to have to just focus on her family, and nothing else." As he told me this, I slowly nodded, feeling like this was fair enough. I didn't like it, but I knew that I could never convince him otherwise.

"Seven months isn't going to happen for quite a while. Since that is still ages away, you might as well help me with getting Tobias to agree to work with my brother here. I mean, we have nothing to fucking lose." I said, not really having much else to tell here.

"Okay, okay. Jesus Christ dude. If you think Tobias would work well with Matt, then I suppose that I can fucking try and make this work out. But that is something that we will work out later." He said, and I was sighing, feeling as if there was nothing else to accomplish. "And I suppose that Yolei can help me with that as well. So maybe I should just give you a bit of a fucking break. And I feel like she would actually want to do something like this. Since she has taken a liking to Tobias, from what I have seen."

I was always thinking about how, for the rest of my life, that Yolei never would get to know that Davis was going to have a younger sister on the way. This was something that I believe that he wanted to tell her. But it had never had a chance to happen, and in all honesty, I always felt like this was something that Davis was going to have to just own up to. But given the fact that he had never thought that he had done anything wrong, I just felt like there was never any chance this would change.

"Okay, clearly this is going nowhere, and I suppose that this makes sense. We already both made up our damn minds on the matter, and I am just going to get to the point on telling you about Onett. I should have started five minutes ago. No reason for me to hold back anymore." I said, feeling like I just needed to stop dragging this subject out any longer than I had been.

The second time the conversation as pre maturely cut off wasn't even my fault that second time. But thankfully, it was the last time that it did. Because frankly, while I had no interest in this subject all, I did want to move it along, and just be done with it. Deep down inside, I knew that Davis was right to want to know what happened with me and Onett, and I was right to want to avoid it. But I was finally no longer avoiding it, and I was going to say it, before it got cut off.

This time, it was when we ran into Gumball Watterson, skating near his house, and he saw us there. He looked like he was very interested in seeing what we were doing. While I wasn't as interested, if I was honest, I will admit, I was kind of wanting to know when he got into this hobby as well.

"Hey, what the fucking hell are you doing?" I asked, interested in knowing what he was doing now. Gumball nearly slipped and fell over when he was seeing me. I could tell from the look on his face that he was scared if I was being genuine, or just pulling his leg. Truth be told, it was a little bit of both, and I was feeling like I would just see where this would be going now.

"I am just getting into skating for the first time. I never told anybody that I was getting into that hobby, because I felt like nobody would be interested in knowing it." He said, feeling like he would just be honest with me here. I slowly nodded, feeling like this was fair enough, and I was wondering if he was wanting to hang out any further from here now.

"I just started today as well. Since you are getting into it just now, do you think you would be interested in letting me join you?" I asked, feeling like I might as well see what he was thinking. He looked down, and I was seeing him looking like he wasn't exactly sure if he was really wanting to.

But at the same time, he was feeling like he needed to let me have a fucking chance to get to know him as well. "I was wanting to see if I could find Tobias down at the skating ring. You know, I have been wanting to apologize to him for a while, and I was feeling like I needed to give him some fucking assurance that I am no longer angry at him or anything like that." Gumball said, and I was shocked that he was speaking this way at all. After all, he was the one that barely talked with Tobias after Andrea had gone missing.

"Tobias already left a bit ago. We were just talking to him right now as well. You are not going to be getting much out of that guy, I am afraid." He said, feeling like he would just be straight up with that. As he said this, I was seeing Gumball looking like he was actually kind of sad to hear this. Almost like he had wanted to hear me, but something about this was just kind of hard for him to hold on here.

"God damn it. I was really wanting to see that guy. What a fucking waste of time. Sorry guys, but I thought that maybe I could fix things up with him. You know, since summer was starting soon, and I was wanting to just make it right. And maybe I could introduce him to my family, and we can all be happy here." As he said that, I was thinking about what I could say. Davis looked like he was a bit annoyed at the distraction here as well.

"How about this? When we are done talking to Tobias tomorrow, we can talk to you afterwards, and we can arrange something. I know that this might sound complicated, but I feel like we need to find a way to work around this." I said, feeling like I needed to just give him something to work with. He slowly nodded, feeling like he was going to just accept this, and work with this, if he had needed to.

"Okay. I guess that can work out. I do want to just talk to him though, on my own right. I want to see how he is, and I feel like he and I have a lot of things that we want to discuss." Gumball said, sounding like he was hoping that this was actually given a fair chance here. I sighed, since I was feeling like this was not going to work out anywhere near as well as he had been thinking it would. In fact, I was feeling like this was going to go down hill extremely fucking fast, and I had no way around it.

"I don't blame you for wanting to do that. I think it's awesome that you do. I just feel like you need to be patient, and give this a fucking chance for us to work out before things go any worse." I said, feeling like I just needed to get Gumball to see where this was going. Gumball sighed, looking like he was genuinely pissed off at this statement.

"I fucking hate this. I was a piece of shit before, and I get that. But now it feels like I am just being punished for really no good reason, and I feel like people just want to hate my guts because of some simple things that I said." Gumball said, and I was slowly nodding. I got it, and I was feeling bad for him. But I was feeling like getting upset over this would not accomplish anything at all.

"That is fair dude. Anyways, Gumball, what are you planning on doing for the rest of the day?" Davis asked, seeming like at this point, he might as well just invite him to the hang out, as if feeling like this was something that wouldn't really be a big deal. Gumball smiled as he heard this, looking like he was just glad to finally push this forward. "I mean, we never really hung out before, but I suppose that there is no reason or that to not start now." He said, feeling ready to just give Gumball a chance at friendship. The look on Gumball's face looked like he was so fucking happy to hear this.

"Thanks. I mean, I appreciate the offer. I thought most of the people in my class didn't want to hang out with me too much, given the way that I have always been acting around them. I was worried that Tobias would have influenced many people into feeling the same way." He said, feeling like he just needed to be utterly honest as he said this. I slowly nodded, feeling like what he was saying was fair enough.

"They aren't all going to be like Tobias, where they just straight up push you away without giving you a offer. People who do that are pretty shitty. But I feel like you need to find it in yourself to keep pushing forward, and you will be so much happier as a result." As Davis said this, I was seeing Gumball looking like he was taking what he heard, and was willing to just run with it.

"What if they are all going to be like Tobias, and you are fucking wrong? But to be honest, there was somebody else I wanted to ask about. I was wondering how things with you and Yolei were going. Gumball said, feeling like he needed to stop beating around the bush. He knew at the end of the day, Yolei was the only woman Davis cared for, and since she was still alive at the time, he was wanting to see what he had been going on in her mind.

"Yolei and I are doing pretty good, I will admit. I keep wanting to tell her what I feel about her, and I keep feeling like I have the courage building up to do so. Then I just keep backing out at the last minute. To be honest, I feel like she and I will just never really have a chance. Maybe I don't deserve a chance, if I am honest." Davis said, sounding like he was kind of accepting the fact that this had been the case.

"Well, the only person holding you back is yourself. She is not holding you back. You just keep pushing yourself back. Everybody with a brain can see that you have feelings for the girl. Might as well just see what you can get when you speak to her." He said, sounding like he had hoped that maybe by saying this, he would get Davis to see the value of this. That he would get Davis to see the value that he was the only reason why he wasn't getting what he wanted from her.

"No, I can't fucking do this. I feel like if she says no, then everything will be thrown down the window. So no, there is no way in hell that I can take this any easier." He said, and then with that, he looked right at Gumball, and he was feeling like he needed to find a way to tell Gumball how much he appreciated the sentiment, but could not let comments like this continue on any longer.

"I just felt like I needed to give you that light push, to make yourself feel better. But I guess that since I don't know the full story about you and your friends, I suppose that I can't get too angry at you." Gumball said, sounding like he was willing to finally just stop what he was doing.

"Anyways, it seems like you guys are having a lot of stuff going on. I would love to hang out, but I would rather not get caught in the cross fires there. But I would be cool with you guys meeting me tomorrow. I feel like we could get a lot from that." He said, smiling, and sounded like he was willing to give me a bit of a break here.

"Alright, we will take you up on your offer when the time comes. Until then, good to see you Gumball." As he said that, I was seeing Davis looking like he was kind of glad to end this conversation for now, but still hoping that soon enough, maybe they can talk things out, and just sort of come to literally any form of understanding between each other, and maybe a new friendship.

Gumball started to head on away, and I did kind of feel bad for the fact that he had to leave abruptly, but at the same time, I was kind of glad to finally just be moving this along. "You know, I think we should go through with that offer we just made him. You know, just in case, and to not create any bad will. That being said, I think we both just want to get this over with, and I kind of just want to tell you at least some of this story now, to just get this over with, with no more distractions." I said, feeling like I just needed to push this along as fast as possible.

The flashbacks of Ness, and everybody else in Onett, were running through my head, and I was remembering how much I had missed when I said goodbye to them, and how much I had looked back.

June 10, Evening

A little bit after I told him that story, I was at home, and I was seeing Matt looking out of the kitchen, and he was looking like he had wanted to ask me a few things. I sighed, wondering what was on his mind. In all honesty, I had very little interest in having a discussion with him right now. I felt like he and I were going to just get into a fight, and I was not wanting to deal with that on my first fucking day of summer break. In fact, I always resented the idea that Matt had, where he always had to be right.

But when he started to talk to me, I was shocked to hear him actually be pleasant, and be willing to have a normal conversation, that wasn't going to be just him making a bunch of accusations at me or anything like that. "How did you enjoy your first day of summer break?" He asked, with a faint smile on his face. I smiled, feeling like as long as we kept it to this, I might as well go along with the discussion.

"Doing alright. Davis was rather scared of the grinding noise though. Can't blame him though, with what he had told me earlier." I said, feeling like I just needed to be fair enough. As I said this, he looked right at me, and I could tell from the look on his face that he hoped that I would elaborate.

"What did he fucking tell you? You know that you can tell me anything…" He said, and I was slowly nodding. I wanted to tell the guy so badly. But I wasn't sure if Davis would want me to tell anybody. But in all honesty, I found myself basically not caring what he would think, and I was feeling like I just needed to do what was best here. Maybe if I did this, then he and I would get along better.

"He told me that he is going to be having a younger sister on the way soon. He said that with that, he was going to do his best to try and find out what is going on with the missing girls. Since he obviously, wouldn't want anything to happen to her." I said, feeling like I just needed to be utterly honest with him.

"Well, I guess I can see why that would be a big deal to the guy. I mean, with you having a sister on the way, I think that something like this would become extremely fucking important. Davis is a good enough guy, but I think that he just has a hard time really opening up with people. If he was more open to those who he was close with, then I would respect him a million times more." He said, feeling like he just needed to be honest as he said this.

"My friend is just worried that people here don't care nearly enough for things that really matter. You know, like the missing girls and what not. In a way, I don't fucking blame him. These things have been constantly put under pressure in this town, and nobody seems to give a single shit. I think that I understand him much more than he could ever understand." I said, and then there was a event going on in the television.

A TV report with Shaun Reichenbach on, and his son, Rob, was standing behind him. Looking extremely uncomfortable, and looking like he really had no idea what the hell he was supposed to say. As if he was just pretending to be a part of the discussion, but really was not.

"As we have all grown to expect, for better or for worse, the town has experienced another one of these situations, where the grinding noise has gone off, and started to put fears into the minds of Wayside. I promise you right now, that as president of Lazarus Corporation, I will do whatever I can to fix this." He said, sounding like he was hoping that his promise would truly sink through to the general public.

"My colleague, Brad Carbunkle, and I have been working together for a long time, trying to figure out a way that we can move this plan forward. I ask that for the mean time, you work with him when he comes to see you guys for any questioning…" He said, sounding like he had hoped that this response would get the people in Wayside to hear him.

I looked at Matt, and I was seeing from the look on his face, that like me, he was having a hard time buying what he was hearing. Almost like he wanted to believe what the man was saying, but deep down inside, was not really taking it into consideration. "Do you actually believe in any of the bullshit that he gives? You know, about bringing unity to Wayside, and keeping us safe and shit? I don't think that I buy a single word of what he says." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest when I told him this. Matt shook his head, more so in a way to tell me to be careful with what I was saying, then a way to criticize me. I then wondered what he would actually do if Rob became president.

"I don't know. I mean, I suppose that I don't exactly not believe him. I just have to kind of keep things to myself though. I mean, what if I am wrong, and he is actually a good guy? I feel like if that was the case, then I would be a real fucking asshole for not believing in him." He said, sounding like he just needed to put it in a way that made sense.

"But to be honest, I think that he is a guy that is for sure holding out a lot of things from us, and I think that sooner or later, those issues will get him into trouble. And when they do get in trouble, then I suppose that I will wait and see what he is getting in trouble for before I pass my final judgment." Matt said, sounding like he was hoping that this was going to keep me soothed for a bit.

"Sure, I guess that I can fucking see that." I responded, feeling like what he was saying was completely fucking fair, and I was feeling like I just needed to let him what he needed to say. I was not going to accomplish anything by fighting him over this, and to be honest, I was kind of proud of the guy.

"I heard that you were going to be going on a date soon… Do you think that you will want to tell me how it fucking goes?" I asked, feeling like this was one thing that I could say to sort of make him just give me some more material. "I don't think I am going to be going on any dates soon. I don't even know if I want to be going on any dates soon."

"I am sure that when the time comes, you will not feel that way at all. You know, you will eventually meet the perfect girl, who will really make you feel like a god, and her a goddess, and you will do anything that you can to make her see that." Matt said, and then I laughed at this. I felt like I just needed to ask him straight up, what he was feeling here. I needed to straight up ask the man, if Sora was a goddess in his eyes.

"Do you view Sora that way?" I asked, feeling like I might as well just see what he thought. The look he gave me was showing me full well that he was not sure if he really felt this way. Almost like he wished that he could take back what he had said.

"I believe that she might become one, and I want to be there for that when it happens." He said, matter of factly, and I knew that I needed to leave it alone. I smiled, fakely, and hoping that he would just stop pretending like what he was doing was going to be okay at all.

"Well, when she becomes the goddess that you think she can be, just remember that you were the one who told me that you always need to treat them like one." I said, feeling like I might as well just rub this in, and that he was going to have to live up to his own standards. I could tell from the way that he was looking at me, that he was kind of regretting telling me this in the first place.

"I will. And I do not need you to remind me about it. I feel like she will be giving me plenty of reminders as it is." Matt said, and I was smiling at this, feeling like he needed to make it explicitly clear that this was not going to be any fun for him if I keep reminding him of these things.

"Okay. I just felt like I needed to mention it." I said, and I could tell that the two of us were wanting to laugh it off, and play here. But that at the same time, I was aware that both of us were aware on where this could go if we were not careful enough here. In a way, I kind of felt bad for him. I was being extremely annoying to him, and I was feeling like he needed to kind of just be on his own, and I was not respecting this at all.

"I know. And I know that you are going to make me regret saying any of this when the time comes. I can already fucking feel it." Matt told me, sounding like he just needed to be straight up with me. I was then feeling like this was yet another sign that was showing that he and I were not exactly on the same wave length at all. And in a way, I kind of felt bad for the guy. Having to deal with all of this shit, knowing full well how I was going to constantly react here. But then with that, I was standing up, grabbing the skateboard, feeling like there was something else that I needed to do. Something that had slipped my mind up until this point.

"Look, Matt, I really do want to tell you more, but I need to be heading on out. I need to talk to Yolei for a bit. I haven't seen her to make sure that she is okay ever since the grinding noise went off. And I feel like I need to just do that real fucking quick." I said, feeling like I just needed to bring this forward as fast as possible. Davis looked like he was a bit annoyed at the fact that I was just moving this conversation along at a rathe abrupt pace, but did seem to understand why I did what I did.

As I was leaving the house, and started to skate towards Yolei's house, I was wondering if this whole thing was going to be going even half as well as I was hoping. I was having a bad feeling that once I talked with her for a while, she would just tell me that I needed to stop getting in her business, and that I wasn't helping out nearly as much as I was thinking that I had been. Which I suppose in a way, did make some sense.

I felt bad for my brother. It feels like every time he is the one that is finally stepping up, and trying to talk to me more, I have been the one that is pushing him back. On the other hand, it feels like every single time I am the one who reaches out to him, he is the one that pushes me away. It feels like nothing that we ever do comes together, and I feel like that is something that I need to accept my own faults in, or else I would only be making it worse.

I just skated on my way to Yolei's place, partially to genuinely get there faster, but mostly so I could give myself some practice run here. I wanted to get better at this stuff, and I had hoped that this would just slowly accomplish that, even if it was just by a little bit at a time.

I made it there about ten minutes faster than I normally did, which might not have really been worth the pacing difference but once I was seeing that both her parents were already there. I shook my head, since I did not really want to talk to either of them. I knew the way that they talk about her, and I knew the way that they made her feel so I was not going to be talking to them unless if I was literally having no fucking choice to.

I knocked on their door, and soon enough, when her parents answered the door, they were looking at me, up and down, and I was seeing that neither one of the looked too excited to be seeing me there. As if they were expecting me to just make the situation worse than it was. I shook my head, since I was not in the mood to deal with their bullshit. They were the type of people who never just take any ownership for their side of things, and would make me sound like I was the asshole of the story, when they clearly were the assholes…

"I would like to speak to Yolei. I want to see if she is doing alright. You know… with the grinding noise and everything going on…" I said, feeling like I just needed to tell them this way, in order to get them to chill out, and see where I was coming from. The looks on their faces had looked like they were not exactly sure what to believe here. But then they slowly nodded, as if feeling like they just had needed to go along with this, at least for now, and not be fighting me every step of the way here.

"I don't know if she is ready to be speaking to anybody right now. Last time we talked to her, she seemed to not be in the best of moods." They said, and I laughed at this, feeling like they were the last people on earth to try and convince me that they cared about Yolei's well being. But I was feeling like I just needed to keep silent, and not say much, in order to make things much move along slightly better.

"If she is going to be speaking to anybody, they will speak to me." I said, and then they were both looking like they were thinking about how much it would mean to me if they truly cared about their daughter. And I was feeling like they were just not wanting to admit the fact that they respected me, as a friend of their daughter, more than they respected their actual daughter herself.

"Go ahead, talk with her, and see what she will tell you." As they said that, they were letting me inside. But as I went inside, the thing they told me did surprise me a little bit. "Just so you know, we have a meeting with Kenta Kitagawa in a little bit. He is coming over to the house. So you will have to do the hang out up there." As they told me this, I was slowly nodding. I didn't much like it, but I was feeling like if they were willing to give me this at all, then I needed to just take this.

As I was in the living room, I was seeing her turning off the film she was watching. She had casually been watching Empire Strikes Back, and was at the scene where they were travelling through Cloud City, when I showed up, and then she looked right at me. Despite everything that happened earlier, she looked like she was just glad to see me there. "Thanks for coming along, and checking up on me. I knew that you were going to be coming here sooner or later." She said, sounding like she was accepting what had happened.

"Well, I knew that you were probably feeling really fucking down, and I wanted to see how you were doing. I just feel like you are not holding up nearly as well as you are claiming you are, and I feel like I know that you need a person at your side more now than ever." I said, feeling like I just needed to cut straight to the point here. She slowly nodded, as if she was accepting the fact that I felt this way.

Yolei then looked down on the ground, as if she was thinking about the fact that I was trying to just reach out to her, and she was barely even giving me anything at all. "If you want me to be honest, I just have no idea if Davis is really into this idea of actually finding out what happened with the grinding noise. What happened with Andrea. He keeps talking like he is, but in all honesty, I feel like he is just saying what he wants to in order to make himself save face." She said, and I was looking down, since I felt like she had not been giving Davis enough credit here, and I felt like she needed to tone it back a bit.

"I think that he is very into this idea. You just need to give him a fucking chance here. You might not see it yet, but let me tell you, after the conversation I had with him, I would never doubt him again." I said,f eeling like I just needed to tell her this, in a way to make her see what Davis is truly able to do here. Yolei sighed, and sounded like she wanted to believe this, but had a hard time doing so. She probably felt like this was all a joke.

"I hope you are fucking right. God damn it, I wish you are right. I mean, I have been sticking my neck out for that guy for so long, that I wonder if he even realizes what I have had to do for the guy." She said, and I was wondering what the hell she was meaning by this. But then I told myself that this was just a heat of the moment reaction, and she wasn't really meaning it.

"I don't know. I need to give Davis more credit than I have been. He is a good guy. I fucking know that he is. I just feel like I have a hard time really seeing that some times when he is always going around, and he just fucking barely talks to anybody at all. I feel like he wants to do what he likes, but never thinks about us." As she said that, I was slowly nodding. I agreed with her on that. But I did not really want to tell her that, as I was feeling like this was only going to give her ammunition to just go and run her mouth about him.

"I think that maybe we need to give Davis more credit than we have been. You know, he is not a bad guy at all. He just has a hard time accepting the things that he wants to do, and I think that he might be feeling like you might not really like him too much." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with her here. As I said this, I could tell that she was a bit shocked to hear me tell her this. As if she was wondering why the hell Davis would ever have felt this way, given the fact that they have been friends for so long.

"What do you mean, that he thinks that I don't like him? I have been there, supporting him at this side constantly, and I think that he is just throwing all that way for no fucking reason." She said, sounding like she was wanting to yell at him, but then she slowly nodded, as if feeling like she needed to give him some space there.

"I think that you are just simply too distant with him. He probably thinks that you don't really want to hang out with him or something. I don't know. I am just sort of saying the impression that I fucking get here. I am not trying to start anything as I say this." I said, fully aware that my intentions, and the reality, where never going to at all be the same, and I was feeling like I just needed to be careful here.

"God damn it, I was just thinking that the biggest thing that I would have to worry about would be convincing him to agree to look into this case at all, and now I have to convince him that I actually like him as a friend this whole time too? And then there is the fact that I have no idea what the hell Tobias thinks of me or anything like that." She said, and I was holding my hands up.

"Yolei, calm the fucking hell down." I said, feeling like I just needed to get her to calm down. She needed to see that I wasn't just being an asshole or anything, but that at the same time, her freaking out like this, was just not going to accomplish a damn thing at all. But at the same time, I felt like I did sort of see where she had been coming from, in her own way.

Eventually, we went to her room, and then Yolei took a deep breath, thinking about the way that she was acting here. I was seeing her looking like she was kind of feeling bad here. Almost like she was wanting to not press the matter any further, but deep down did not know how she was going to be able to accomplish this yet.

"Yolei, talk with me here… Is there something that I can do to help you out? You know, with your summer plans and everything? You seem like you have a lot of stuff that you want to talk about, and I am all ears." I said, feeling like I just needed to give her this. She looked right at me, and then she shook her head. As if feeling like such a tall task of a conversation was simply not going to be leading us anywhere.

"Well, first, I want you to help me talking to Davis, and getting him to see that I do really care a lot about him, and I hope that he ends up seeing that this way of acting here isn't fucking fair at all." She said, and I was slowly nodding, as if feeling like this was something that I could fucking work with. After all, I was feeling like Davis might have been wrong there myself.

"You know how Davis is. He is a emotional thinker. He says thinks without thinking about them. I think that you need to give him some space, and not be too hard on him." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and give Davis a bit of credence here. Maybe if I told it to her this way, she would give Davis some fucking pass here. As unlikely as it was that she would actually.

"Davis is also keeping things from me. I know that he fucking is. He might not be telling me what they are, but that is the thing that annoys me the most. He acts like what he is doing is for the right reasons, or whatever. But he is just only making things worse by doing this." She said, sounding like she had hoped I would listen to her, and see what the issue was. I sighed, and shrugged, feeling like she was sort of on her own there.

"He must have good reasons to be doing so. I feel like there is no way that he would purposely be doing anything to offend you here. I think that maybe he is just scared of how you might judge him here." I said, feeling like I just needed to give Yolei this to work with. She shook her head, as if she was feeling like I needed to stop pretending like any of this was okay at all.

"I guess that maybe they must have been good. I suppose that they could have been. Maybe I am over thinking this here. I know that I am just having a hard time seeing Davis for doing the right thing most of the time. I just guess that I have been burned by him too many times recently to think anything different here." Yolei said, and I was feeling like I just needed to see where she was coming from here. After all, without context, that was a very heavy thing to be putting on my best friend. Or at the time, my best friend.

"What the fucking hell do you mean, that he has been burning bridges? I mean, I think that you need to actually explain that one out to me more, before I start to kind of get upset at this myself." I said, feeling like I just needed to actually put Yolei up to the test here. She just dropped something really rough, for no reason, and I was feeling like she needed a chance to back out of this before I pressed her any further.

"I mean, just the fact that he doesn't really know me that much anymore. I told him how much I wanted to get to know him more. How much I wanted to show him how much I appreciated what he had been doing. But then he just brushed off what I had been saying, and he seemed to be having no interest in what I said. It sounded like he didn't really care at all. Almost like he was finding this to be a bit annoying, and a waste of time." She said, and I was shaking my head. This was too much for me to handle, and I was convinced that she was just making an excuse at this point, to justify the way that she had been feeling.

"He doesn't know you much because you don't give him a chance to know you. If you gave him something to work with, then I feel like he would totally close that bridge. You are a good person, but you need to give people more chances than you have." I said and I could tell from the way that she looked right at me, that this was the worst possible statement that I could make to her. As if she was thinking that I was purposely trying to piss her off now, and that was not my intention. But I was feeling like at this rate, I just needed to tell her what I had been feeling, and I hoped she would listen to me.

"I gave him more chances to know me than most people gave him. Most people just saw him as a bit of a fucking freak, and decided to give him a chance. Now this is how he fucking acts with me. I have every single fucking right in the world to be pissed off at him, and I have no idea why you are acting like I don't have the right be." Yolei said, sounding like she was just kind of glad to be saying what had been on her mind after all this time. As if she was finally feeling like he needed to no longer be pretending like she was fine with the way that things had gone.

"Yolei, I think that when he tells you everything, you need to remember that he is just simply trying to do his best in a very bad situation. I think you need to give him more to work with." I said, feeling like if Yolei was actually going to listen to me, then I would take this, without making things too much more tense for any of us.

"What bad situation? If I knew what this bad situation was that you are talking about, then I would feel more pity for him. But until I have a fucking clue what you mean, then I feel like he is doing this to himself." She said, and I slowly sighed. I felt like it had been worth the try. But she made her point very clear, and I decided that I was needing to just let it go.

"Well, you know, Davis has been telling me that he is actually scared shitless of what is going on in this town. He feels like people have been lying to him this whole time, and he feels like he has been very bothered by how much you have been hanging out with Brad Carbunkle. He feels like Brad Carbunkle is the main man behind the deception here." I said, feeling like I just needed to be utterly honest with her. She looked right at me, and I was seeing her looking like she could not fathom the way that Davis had been acting here.

"Oh my fucking god, Davis can't fucking be serious right now… He is seriously thinking that me talking with Brad of all the fucking people is a issue. Brad is the only person in Wayside who is actually trying to tell me the truth here. And to hear him acting like Brad is the bad guy genuinely makes me really fucking upset here." She said, sounding like she was trying to make some fucking calm, collected, objective, statement at what she was hearing.

"Well, I think that Davis just cares about you a lot, and you are brushing him off, and not giving him the chance to do something here." I said, and I was feeling like I was already wasting my time having this discussion in the first place. Yolei just simply shook her head, sounding like she had hoped that I would see how silly this was.

"If he cares about me a lot, he would stop treating me like I am fucking stupid or some shit like that. He would see that I know what I am fucking doing, and that the more he acts like this, the greater chances of him just making me never wanting to speak to him again are." Yolei said, sounding like she had hoped that telling me this, in this way, was going to really sink in to me.

"Oh my god Yolei, get the fucking hell over yourself. He is not treating you like you are stupid or anything. You are just making him sound like the worst person possible right now to make your point." As I said this, the next thing both shocked me, and didn't. Like I was told that he was coming, but I didn't realize it would be so soon. Kenta came in through the door, which I could hear the entire conversation of downstairs, and the stuff they were talking about kind of freaked me out here.

"Thank you, so much, for letting me come over today. I know that you and your family have been having some issues lately, and I am sorry for that. However, as we both know, that is not the reason for I am here tonight." He said, sounding like he needed to try and be as to the point as he could possibly get.

"Well, we were hoping that you would be able to assist us in a few days. But it already seems like you have a good idea what some of that. We are sorry that you had to make a change to your schedule due to us taking the priority meeting." The father said, and then Yolei looked right at me, and she looked like she was scared out of her mind what the meaning behind this was going to be.

"What the hell does dad mean? T.K., do you have any idea what the fuck my dad is saying right now?" Yolei asked, sounding like she was on the verge of freaking out. And I did not blame her at all. Given what she knew, this was going way beyond anything that she could have prepared for. I then felt like I just needed to give her something to work with, and not make her feel too terribly down here.

"Just listen to him. It doesn't sound good at all. But I think that there might be some reason behind all this." I said, and I was seeing Yolei looking like she was freaking out at the fact that I actually had agreed with her that this whole thing was looking bad, and she was feeling like I just needed to fucking see that this was not a fucking joke at all anymore. But before we could say anything else, either way, the conversation was picking up.

"So, you guys are fully understanding this deal. Once the transaction is finished up, there will be no turning back. You will have to spend the rest of your lives under the lie that you are meant to follow on the script. And you understand that you will be getting ten percent of all profits that are made with each delivery?" Kenta said, trying to be as vague as possible when Yolei was here, as a way to make sure that she didn't realize what exactly was going on.

"Yes, we do. And yes, we accept. When is the earliest day that you can make this happen?" The father asked, and then Kenta started to rummage through things. Yolei was looking like she picked up on what this was meaning as well. Both of us knew exactly where this was going, and both of us were aware of how this would end.

"Between six and ten days. I know you want this done as fast as possible, but our men are extremely busy, and will not be able to attend sooner than that. And with Lars Needelemeyer about to be born any day now, all transactions starting June 1st have been put on hold until Lars has officially been born. The one today was an extreme case, as that was made nearly two years in advance." He said, sounding like he had hoped that this would be enough for both of them to take.

"Okay, only six to ten more days Drew. After that, we never have to worry about this ever again. We can handle one more week. Give us a chance to sort things in order." She said, and then with that, the conversation was put to a halt, as if they were finally realizing what this was meaning. As if her mother had been on the verge of saying what Yolei and I both knew deep down inside.

"Oh god…My parents are going to be putting me out there. They are going to be the ones behind what happens to me? I thought that we were starting to make up." She said, sounding like she was genuinely horrified at what this was meaning. "You know, fuck it. I hope I'm wrong. If I am right though, I am going to fucking give my heart and soul looking into this case. Might as well…" She said, feeling like she needed to just say this for what it is.

"Trust me, nothing will happen to you. I assure you that I will not allow any of this to happen." I said, feeling like I just needed to really convince myself that this was happening. I needed to convince myself that I was having a remote chance of being a hero, when in all honesty, there was no such thing as a hero or a villain in this world.

"T.K., you know that you are lying. There is no way in hell you can fix this. I just really hope that this is wrong." Yolei said, sounding like she was already making peace with what happened. I was shocked at how fast she had turned this whole thing around, and I was wondering what in the world she was going to say now. There was no need to say anything here, I felt like. We both made our points, and I was going to have to just find a way to show her that I was right.

"Well, maybe this is a lie that is worth telling. Maybe for once, lying is a good thing to do, and we are only making things harder for ourselves by not doing it." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with her. As I said this, I was looking Yolei straight in the face, and I could tell from the way that she looked at this, that she had not been happy with what I said at all. Basically I was promoting the idea of habitual lying for no reason, in her eyes.

"T.K., you can't seriously think that. There is no such thing as a lie worth telling when it is something like this. I get that you feel a bit bothered here. But lying is not going to accomplish anything." She told me sounding like she had sincerely hoped that I was actually going to fucking listen to her.

I shook my head, since I was feeling like she and I were going to have to agree to disagree here. She did not need to like it at all, but she needed to stop pretending like reality wasn't reality, when all that was going to do was just make the subject even harder for us all. As we were looking at each other, sounding rather angry at each other, I could hear her parents talking a bit more downstairs with Kenta. "Brad Carbunkle will take care of the actual deliveries and the transactions when it is all said and done. I know that you have been family friends with him for a while, so I was feeling like it was only fitting to let the man take over this part of the job for you all." He said, hoping that this would ease her parents more.

"Thank you. Brad Carbunkle is a great man, and I feel like I can trust him with everything." Her father said, and then with that, he said something that made it clear that the discussion was over. "Well, talk to you soon. Thank you for being willing to work with us on this. We just knew that you needed some help with the job, and we needed some way to get us out of this. So we felt like this was the best thing that we can fucking do."

"I will talk to you guys once more once the drop off has been completed. After that, barring extreme situations, you will never see or talk to me again. I will have Brad come and give you guys the money. And Drew, I know that it has been stated in your contract, but I will remind you and your wife once again. Shall you end up talking at any point, for any reason, my men will track down your wife, kill her, put her body in your house, and will frame what happens on you, where you will spend the rest of your life in prison for that, and this transaction. This is our way of forcing you to stay silent even in case you both start to regret things." Kenta said, and then left the house without a word beyond that.

"What the fuck is Brad doing? Does he know what is fucking happening here? What the fuck is going on here?" She asked, and sounded like she was wanting to scream at the top of her lungs. I was feeling like I needed to try and calm her down, but did not know if such a thing was even going to be possible.

"I thought that Brad was the one person I could trust more than anyone here. And then this is fucking happening… What the fuck is going on here?" She asked and I was feeling like I just needed to try and make her feel a smidge better. In all honesty, I was feeling like if she freaked out too much, then this was going to only make things twenty thousand times worse than it had already been.

"Well, then I suppose that this means that you need to be much more careful with who you fucking trust than anything else. You don't want them to know that you feel betrayed or anything. Or that we might be suspecting them or something." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and make her feel a bit better here. She shook her head, sounding like she wanted to tell me off, but then just shook her head. As if feeling like there had been no point in fighting me on the matter.

"T.K., I really don't want to fucking hear it. I thought that Brad was the one person who I could trust here. I thought that Brad was the one person here who was actually telling the truth, so hearing this fucking really hurts." She said, feeling like she just needed to make peace with what had been happening. The worst part is that there is a part of me that wonders if maybe I was in love with him…" She said, sounding like she needed to just be honest with me here. I sighed, since I had no idea what to even tell her.

"Fine. You fucking win. I will keep my stuff to myself. Anyways, maybe we can just fucking talk to him, and see what he might fucking say. He might have something he wanted to tell us." I said, feeling like I just needed to give Brad another chance here. Maybe we were wrong about him, and maybe we were just over thinking things a bit.

"Thank you T.K. I just don't really feel the need to constantly be corrected here, when I have so many things that are bothering me right now. I need to talk to my parents when I see them tomorrow, and hopefully they will actually clear things up with me for once." She said, sounding like she had wanted to be right here. Sounding like she had hoped that something like this could work. But deep down, she had known that this was a load of horseshit.

"Why are you more focused on what Brad is doing than what your parents are going to be forced to do if they decide to tell anybody about this thing going on? I mean, we still don't even fucking know what this thing is." I said, even though both of us knew that was bullshit. She looked at me, and she was shaking her head. She looked like her entire desire to talk about this was completely gone, and she had wished that I would leave it alone.

"This summer break is already a fucking disaster. I thought that this year would be a ton of fun, and that summer would be great. But then this fucking shit happens." She said, sounding like she had made peace with the fact that this was not at all going the way that she believed it would. I slowly nodded, and I was thinking about how much she was never going to experience things such as first dates or anything else like this. It just fucking kind of broke my fucking heart, and I hoped that he understood that.

"Can we just sneak out T.K.? I want to just be away from here, and I hope that I can talk to you about something." Yolei said, and then I slowly nodded. As if feeling like I just needed to give her this much. I might not like it, but at the same time, I was feeling like fighting this was not going to accomplish anything. Yolei and I were on a very long path ahead of us, and I decided that I needed

"Where would we fucking go? I mean, I suppose that I don't mind doing this. But we need to be more careful here." I said, feeling like I just needed to be realistic here. I was seeing Yolei looking like she was hardly even fucking caring if it was going to be a good idea or not. She just wanted to fucking do this, and she was going to be happy with us.

"Look, T.K., just give me what I fucking want for once. Not everything needs to be super well thought out, and I want to do this. I just need to stay away from my fucking parents, and not deal with the fact that they are fucking liars." She said, sounding like she had hoped that I would actually fucking listen to her.

I didn't like this, at all... But I knew they were already making their own choices on the matter, and I knew that she needed a proper escape from everything that was happening, and I felt like I just needed to give her that. As I opened up the bedroom window, I thought about where this was going to go, and I decided that I just needed to roll with this, for the time being at least.

As we were both outside, and walking down the street, Yolei then looked right at me, looking like she had wanted to ask me something. "Will you make sure that Davis keeps himself safe here? I think we both know that he is prone to making incredibly stupid decisions, and I think we need to just be careful here." As she told me this, I was seeing her looking like she had hoped that I would listen to him.

"To be honest Yolei, I would love to do this. I would love to have a friend at his side who he can trust. But the truth is that I think that he is going to just do a bunch of shit with or without me. Might as well just fucking go along with this, and let it fucking happen." I said, feeling like I just needed to give Davis a bit of leeway given everything that had been happening.

"T.K., just promise me that you will at least fucking try here. That is all that I fucking wanted. I know that you and Davis don't always talk to each other, but for the fucking love of god, please just do it. He has been distant with me lately, and I think that he also has been scared to be around my parents as well. He straight up admitted that he thought that my parents were going to be doing something to me. Hardly explained what he thought that thing was going to be though." Yolei told me, and then I was feeling like I just needed to tell her what I was feeling straight up, in order to make her get the fucking point here.

"What makes you think that Davis will actually give me fucking anything at all? I think that we both know that this is a terrible fucking idea, because he frankly doesn't know me nearly well enough…" I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with her here. She looked at me, and shook her head. She sounded like she wanted to tell me off, but did not really have the courage to do so. Which I was feeling like was fair enough here.

"I think he looks at you like a brother he never had. He and you get into fights a lot, but you guys make up for it every single time, and I think he respects your advice more than you can possibly imagine. And besides, he and I have talked about you a few times, and he said that he always felt like you knew what was going on here, and that he always felt like he could have your back here." When Yolei finished telling me this, I slowly nodded, feeling like I just needed to go along with this, since it was a really big opening here.

"Well, all that I can say is that I am a shitty ass fucking brother… But I get what you fucking mean, and I suppose that I can give him this much…" I said, feeling like I might as well just go along with this. I had no desire to play along with anything here. But I knew what she was meaning here, and I felt like I needed to stop avoiding the bigger beats here.

And another source that proved my point about how I was a shitty fucking brother, was the way that I had been treating Matt this whole time. It was beyond wrong, and I was feeling like there was no way in hell that I could explain any of that away to him, and I never wanted any chance to explain that away to him. Matt and I have been getting into so many fights now, and a lot of them were my fucking fault, and I was aware of this.

"T.K., just make me the promise. No need to give it much thought at all. Why are you having such a hard time doing this?" She asked, and I was slowly sighing. Deep down, I had no idea why I was being so hard on the subject myself. I was feeling like there was no reason for me to do that. I shrugged, feeling like I just needed to be able to open up, and concede that part to her here.

"Okay, fine… You win. I promise that I will talk to Davis, and I will talk to him as much as I fucking can here. I have no idea if it will work. But there is no reason to not make the promise here." As I finished, I felt like this could work out for the best here.

"Thank you T.K. You have no idea how much I appreciate you being willing to open up here. I know that you don't really want to do this, and you aren't very good at hiding that fact. And honestly, I feel like every time I think of what I want to say, I find myself confused, and I find myself unsure of how I can carry the subject. I always find myself wondering if I even have anything to tell him." Yolei said, and then she was slowly sighing, feeling like she had a new idea on her mind.

"T.K., I have a new idea. Do you want to fucking try and go to the town well. I haven't seen it out at night time yet, and I feel like there would be something good about it." Yolei suggested, and I felt like this was a fair enough idea, and wasn't going to be putting too much pressure onto her.

As we were heading on towards the well, I then felt like I would just go and start thinking out loud. Anything to make the subject less about Andrea, and what her parents were doing, and more about just our general friendship. Especially since I didn't know it at the time, but this would be the second to last time, I would ever be able to have a general one on one meet up with Yolei.

"I think the only time I actually ever spent time at the well was when you and Davis showed it to me back in like October of last year. When the school was like only three weeks into the school year. God, I hate the fact that this was nearly a year ago already. Makes me feel fucking ancient." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest there. I was wondering if I ever even wanted to go back there again. Mainly as a way to not ruin the perfect memory that I had of the place when I was there.

"Well, you spent most of your last year in the basketball team. How did that go, by the way? I only watched a couple of your games…" Yolei said, sounding ashamed of the fact that this happened. I slowly nodded, feeling like she didn't need to worry about that. She was busy, and I accepted the fact that she was dealing with her own friends and what not.

"Well, I know that you were also dealing with the store and everything. I guess that barely fucking matters now. You know, since from what you told me, your parents might be having the store go down soon, and your parents seemed like they were planning on just leaving the place forelorn." I said, feeling like I just needed to bring that up again. As I said this, she looked at me, and I was seeing her looking like she was shocked to hear me mention this to begin with. "Wait, did I mention something wrong?"

As I asked that, not even trying to be a smartass, the look on her face looked like she had wished that I had never asked her this. "T.K., I don't want to talk about that store. I would be willing to bet my entire life, for whatever good that may be, that whatever my parents are doing with me, is related directly to this store, and the trying to save it. I feel like they literally love that store more than they will ever love me." She said, feeling like she needed to just be straight up honest with me here.

"There is no fucking way that is true." I said, and I was already not believing in it myself. I was mainly just saying that because despite all the stuff I said about her parents earlier, I was in denial that they would ever be that fucked up, and that depraved. But before we could talk further on it, that was when we reached the well, and we were already seeing two older students, high schoolers, talking with each other.

I was then thinking of what I wanted to say to him, in order to make him see that I was not going to take away from his moment with his date. That was them that I realized, ironically given how deeply we had known each other, that I did not even know what his name was.

"Hey, who are you guys?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to try and make the subject a bit less awkward for all of us. I was seeing him looking like he was finding himself a bit annoyed at us being there. Which in all fairness for myself, was exactly what I was expecting from him. I sighed, feeling like whatever he had wanted to say, he had just needed to say it, so we could fucking be done with this.

"My name is Tai, and her name is Melissa Moore. Is there a reason you guys are here right now? We were in the middle of a really nice date." He said, sounding like he was just annoyed that he was even having to have this discussion in the first place. I smiled, since I was aware of the fact that he was at least showing showing some interest in talking to me in the first place. Mainly to just see what I was going to accomplish here in the first place.

"Well, my friend Yolei and I were planning on just checking some things out, that we haven't been to in a while because of the school year. Plus, nothing wrong with some fresh air in the night time. If you want us to leave, then we can leave right now." I said, and I could see from Tai's face that any interest he might have had in the discussion was completely fucking gone, and he wished that he would just end this.

"My name is T.K. by the way. I just feel like it would be rather strange for everybody else to know everybody elses names, but not mine. So yeah…" I said, feeling like I just needed to move this along, and I was seeing both of them looking like they were wishing that this could quickly end, and not be more of an issue.

"Okay cool. If you really wanted to know what we were doing here, I was talking with Melissa, and I was making her a very important promise. Now, respectfully, if you would leave us alone, so we can work on that, then I would really appreciate it." Tai said, sounding like his patience was completely gone, and he had wished that we would just leave him alone for now.

"What promise are you making?" Yolei asked, sounding like she was wanting to know, so she could be able to fucking see where this is going. Tai sighed, sounding like since it was a girl asking, he might as well just tell it to her straight up, and see what good this would be doing.

"Melissa asked me out here. She told me to promise her that if something were to ever fucking happen to her, like her going missing, or whatever, then I would do whatever I fucking could in order to bring her back. I told her that I would do whatever I fucking could." Tai said, sounding like he was mildly annoyed at the fact that he was even having to explain this in the first place.

"Yeah, I have no idea if I can keep the promise though. But I suppose that I will fucking try at least." Tai said, feeling like he needed to at least be honest about what he was feeling here. He sounded like he had hoped that by him just saying it straight up, that he could move this along in some form of easy matter.

"Tai, you already made the promise. Now you need to fucking keep it. No turning back now, so please don't try and make this twenty times worse." Melissa said, and I was seeing Tai looking like he could not believe the balls this woman had to be talking to him like this. As if he was feeling like Melissa was just making things twenty times worse than it had already been.

"Fair enough. Okay. I made a promise, and now I need to fucking keep it." Tai said, sounding like he was accepting the fact that this was how it needed to be. "Now, can you guys please get the hell out of here? I want to spend the rest of my time here actually enjoying being around Melissa, and not constantly dealing with a bunch of people interrupting me constantly." He said, sounding like he was needing to just make his point clear.

Yolei looked right at me, and I was seeing her looking like she was slightly offended at how little Tai seemed to be caring about the bigger picture here. I then put on a fake smile, feeling like I might as well just let her have this one, and leave Tai and all the others alone, in order to not make things twenty thousand times worse than they were. "Fair enough, I guess that we were taking up your time. Sorry about that."

As we were starting to walk off, Melissa called out to us. Both of us stopped, and I could tell that both of us were kind of scared at where this was heading. Yolei looked at Melissa first, and I was seeing from the lack of a real smile on her face, that she was not looking like she was super into where this was going.

"Hey Yolei, have you ever had somebody make you that type of promise before? I swear it would make you feel a million times better if you do." She said, sounding like she had hoped that Yolei would listen to her. As she said this, I was seeing Yolei looking like she was kind of saddened by this.

Yolei then shook her hear, as if she felt like nothing she would say would make much of a difference at all. And that in a way, she was just kind of annoyed at the fact that Melissa was suddenly putting this subject onto us in the first place. Then Melissa looked at me, and she was looking like she had hoped that I would make her that promise. Partially because deep down inside, she had hoped that I would actually at least try and do this. But partially because she just wanted Melissa to leave us alone.

Before either one of us could say something, Tai stood bolt upright up, and he looked much more excited than he used to. "Oh my god, are you Matt's younger brother? You look literally just like the guy." Tai said, and then both Yolei and Melissa just looked at each other, as if feeling like Tai was a total buzzkill. A small part of me wondered if he was doing this to sort of get us to save face here, or if he genuinely did not pick up on it quite yet.

"Yeah, I am. Are you like his friend or something?" I asked, aware that my way of asking could be seen as slightly insensitive. But at the same time, I was seeing Tai looking like he was hardly caring about the fact that I was barely showing any real interest in this.

"Yeah, on my part, I consider him a friend. I don't know if he feels the same way." He said, feeling like he just needed to be honest there. I could tell from the look on Tai's face that he was actually kind of worried if Matt didn't really feel the same way as Tai did. But the truth be told was that I barely knew what Matt thought of anything at all. He barely gave me the first hints of anything.

"I have no idea who Matt likes or doesn't. It seems like he keeps changing his mind on that shit on a constant basis, if you want me to be honest with you." I said, feeling like I just needed to be utterly honest with him, feeling like maybe if Tai heard that, he would not take it too personally.

"That is kind of a bit of an issue if you have no idea what your own brother is doing. Anyways, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Your brother seems to be a rather distant guy, and every time I try and talk to him, I kind of feel like I am losing my patience with this guy, so yeah… Anyways, I guess I can see what he is thinking right now, and see what he is willing to tell me." Tai said, and then he looked right at Melissa, and I was seeing him looking like he was kind of sad at the fact that the hang out ended this way, but he was not too worried about this.

"Anyways, Melissa, sorry for this entire hang out turning out like this. I know that you were wanting to meet up for a actual conversation, and then this happened. I can understand if you don't really want to continue this any longer." As he said that, I was seeing Tai looking like he was hoping that telling Melissa this was going to be enough to really appease to her.

"No, the main reason why the meet up needed to happen was the promise you made. And you made it, so I don't mind if things happen now." She said, sounding like she was kind of hoping that by saying this, we would just drop the whole bullshit with her, and Tai would either just leave, or we could talk about something else.

"But I wanted to talk with you more, and get to know you more as well. I know that we haven't been getting to know each other as well lately, and I really hope that we can move this along." He said, and then with that, Tai was then thinking of something else he could ask in order to appease me just a little bit more.

"Do you want to hang out for a bit? You're already here, so I mean, might as well, you know." Tai said, sounding like he was willing to accept this idea. I sighed, feeling like maybe if he was extending the offer, I needed to stop being so fucking deflecting, and just accept the fact that this would fucking work out to the best interest for both of us. "I mean, I would also want to get to know more about your brother, since I feel like that is going to be a bit of a sore spot before too long." He said, and then I was laughing at that, feeling like he did not have any fucking clue what he was saying there.

"Well, if you think that my brother is a sore spot, you have no idea what it is like actually living with the guy. But you know what, I fucking like you. You say a lot of the stuff that is on my mind. So I guess that maybe if Melissa doesn't mind, we can talk for a bit." I said, looking at Melissa, and I was seeing from the look on her face that she was looking a bit shocked to see me even extend the offer at all.

"Well, I mean, I guess that since I'm already out, I would rather be doing this than anything else. Anyways, T.K., nice to meet you. And nice to meet you too Yolei. I think that this is going to be kind of fun, I suppose. Do you guys go to the well often." Melissa said, sounding like she was hoping to get some more conversation going here.

"Honestly, I like the well too. But I feel like most people in my class don't really appreciate it too much. I have only been able to take T.K. there once or twice, and both times, he never really seemed that into the idea." Yolei said, and I was throwing my hands up in the air, wondering what the hell she was fucking meaning by that. I was more than interested enough in knowing, but I was just being brushed off, and not given the chance here.

"I go here once every week or two, just to stare at the stars. One of the best areas in town to look up at them." Melissa said, and then beckoned for us to come up there. I shrugged, feeling like I might as well just go along with this idea, and see what would happen. So I walked up with Yolei, up the stairs, and I was seeing from the look on Tai's face that he was concerned, like genuinely concerned, for how the space was going to be. Which I suppose was going to be fair enough, given what was going on here.

"Are you sure that having all of us up here is a good idea? I mean, this can really get very uncomfortable." Tai said, feeling like he just needed to be straight to the fucking point here. Melissa shrugged, as if knowing deep down inside, that he was right, but at the same time, sort of not really caring about that too much right now.

"It will only be for a fucking moment, and I Think that it would be the best chance to do this while the subject is still relatively fresh in their minds." She said, sounding like she had genuinely hoped that this would be enough to get Tai to shut up, and then Tai looked down on the ground, feeling like he just needed to let her have this, in a way to just show that he was kind of beyond this subject.

Once Melissa was pointing at the stars, Yolei, and I were looking up. After a moment of being annoyed as all hell, which I supposed was fair, Tai then sighed, and decided to look up as well, to sort of see what he could find there as well. When he looked up, all three of us were seeing exactly what she was meaning. We were seeing the true beauty of the stars in the night sky. One of the few areas in Wayside where we were still able to actually fucking see them, and could appreciate them.

"When was the last time you really got a chance to do something like this?" She asked us, and I was not really sure when that was. I was feeling a bit ashamed when I took the time to think about it though, when I was starting to realize what the true answer was. It was the one answer that I hated to give.

"Probably late last school year or early summer. You know, back when I was still living in Onett. Ness was showing me the stars, and I was really wanting to take the time to examine them more." I said, smiling at this thought, and I shrugged, feeling the memories coming back. As I said this, Melissa looked to be slightly more interested in this subject, because of what I had just said.

"Damn, what was living on Onett like? I think I remember Matt mentioning something about this once or twice. But he never really seemed to want to talk about it any further than what he has. To be honest, I think that Matt is scared about that time in his life." Tai said, and I was shrugging, not sure what the hell I was supposed to tell him.

"Matt seemed to like the place for a while. Then the fucking second I got into the stuff that I was doing, he suddenly dropped all the interest that he had in the subject, and now he barely even mentions any of this to anybody anymore. I think in a way, no matter how much he tries to act like he doesn't, deep down inside, he does still blame me for all of it. And I suppose that in a way, the bastard is right. I did mess things up with him and his friends, and I feel like I do sort of owe it to him." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest about what I was feeling here.

"Honestly, I do have to agree with him. Onett is just not that interesting. It is kind of fucking fun at first, when you don't know any better. But the appeal very quickly wears off, and you just end up wishing that you had never gotten involved in the subject in the first place. And honestly, the main reason why I would even fucking consider going back to that shit hole is if I am going to be able to meet up with Ness again. He is the main reason why that place still has any appeal at all." I said, and then Yolei looked right at me, as if feeling like she needed to just continue this conversation along here.

'Who the fuck is Ness? Is that the guy that you used to hang out with all the fucking time, that you are refusing to tell us about?" Yolei asked, sounding like she just needed to finally break the ice. I sighed, feeling like I just needed to be straight up with her. As if feeling like there was no point in lying to her for no reason right now. After all, she was just simply asking a very valid question, and I was feeling like I just needed to give her the answer here.

"Yeah, that was one of my friends in Onett. One of my only true friends in Onett. If you want to know more about that, I told Davis a little bit about it earlier today. He was sounding like he was finally starting to understand why I barely talked with him about it earlier." I said, and while that last part was a total lie, it was mainly just something that I said in order to get her to shut the hell up, and leave me alone, and stop making this situation even worse than it was. The whole thing had been a fucking mess, and I was tired of pretending like it wasn't.

"Well, if you feel like you can trust Davis enough to talk about it, then maybe you should trust me enough to talk about it as well. Fair is fair, right?" She asked, and I was slowly nodding. I mean, I did kind of get what she was saying, but at the same time, I did not really like it. I was just trying to enjoy summer now, and I was tired of pretending like that was something that I wasn't really interested in.

"Anyways, point is, that is the last time that I saw something like this." I said, mainly just to end this subject. As I finished, I took a deep breath. I was annoyed that the subject was even continuing this way in the first place. But at the same time, I was accepting the fact that what was done was done, and I was feeling like I might as well just accept this. There was no reason to not accept it.

"Wow, you need to go out there and enjoy the world more. You seem to just need to stop focusing on homework and stuff." Tai said, feeling like he just needed to say that. Partially to try and sound funny, and partially because he was actually being sincere when he was saying this. I rolled my eyes, since in all honesty, I was not really in the mood to handle this, and I was feeling like if he was going to act like this, then I needed to just let him have his thing, and then when he was done, then we could actually talk about this rationally.

"I know that I fucking do. And I know that I am wasting my life away by not doing certain things. Yes, we fucking get it. No need to fucking rub it in, and no need to make me feel like I am just being incredibly wasteful or anything." I said, feeling mildly annoyed at the fact that I was even having to explain any of this in the first place. The look on his face was looking like he was hardly giving a single shit what I was feeing, and was only pretending like he was caring in any way shape or form.

"Tai, do you think that maybe you should try and give the guy more space? Maybe he is just feeling a bit let down, and you are being too harsh on the guy." Melissa said, sounding like she just needed to give Tai a bit of a lecture here. Tai sighed, sounding like he needed to just sort of hold his ground, and make his point that there was so much more to this than she was making it out to be.

"I wasn't being that rude, and I feel like you are just being way too over dramatic about this whole thing. T.K. isn't that fucking rough here, and if he was, then I would be feeling like he needed to calm the hell down, and stop taking things too fucking seriously." He said, looking right at me, and I was seeing him kind of hoping that I would take the tough love approach, and I would fucking listen to him here.

"It's okay. I mean, I am kind of fine with this right now. I don't really need you guys trying to fucking stand out for me." I said, feeling like I just needed to make Melissa see that she did not need to be holding out for me. I was then sighing, since in all honesty, I was not exactly sure if I was really buying any of this at all.

"Sorry that the grinding noise went off again. I was hoping that we were not going to have to be dealing with that for a while. But I guess that we are just not nearly fucking lucky enough to have something like this." I said, feeling like I needed to get the point right back to that. To be honest, the whole grinding noise was something that still really bothered me. It was something that I would never be able to truly get over. I had no idea how I would ever be able to fucking forget about such a thing.

"No, I think that I am too used to it to even fucking care anymore. Things happen these days, and I think that by now, I would be more bothered if something hadn't happened than if something had happened." She said, feeling like she just needed to be utterly honest as she said that. I slowly nodded, feeling like that was fair enough. And I was feeling like the fact that she was not going to be making any bullshit on the matter was probably for the best, given everything that had been happening here.

"Honestly, I am not trying to stop it from happening. I accept the fact that this will never fucking happen. I just want to make sure that this doesn't happen to me. That is all that I can fucking manage anymore." Melissa said, feeling like she just needed to be honest about the fact that this was the main thing that she was worried about. And hearing her admit this was for the best.

"Wow, I can never understand how somebody must be so fucking broken that they accept the fact that these things happen now, and the fact that you are just willing to let this go." I said, feeling like I had just needed to be honest with him here. I was seeing Melissa just looking like she was desperately hoping that I would just drop this subject. She had looked as if that was the only thing that I could do that would make her feel any better here.

"Hey, Tai, would you be willing to hang out with me soon? I mena, I know that we barley know each other at all. But still." I said, feeling like I just needed to extend the offer, Tai looked right at me, and I was seeing him looking like he did not believe a single word of what I was saying. Almost as if he was feeling like it was just all a total load of bullshit now.

"Honestly, we need to be heading out for the night. Thanks for talking to us for a bit, but Tai is right. We need to be heading out, and just enjoying our time home. Thanks for show interest in how e are fucking doing here. Makes me feel a bit better knowing how well you guys are doing." She said, and then she looked at Yolei, feeling like something in her mind made her just need to say this.

"Good luck with whatever happens to you. I can tell you are in a bit of a bad space, and I really hope that you can fucking figure out whatever it is, and make yourself better." She said, and Yolei looked right at her, as if she was sort of surprised to see Melissa showing some interest in this subject after all.

Eventually, Tai and Melissa started to head off, and leave Yolei and I there. I was watching the stars still, sort of thinking about what I had missed out. What I had thought that I could get if I was still just sort of hanging around. But the fact that I was not seeing these anymore was just sort of really pissing me off here. I felt so fucking scared of what this was all going to mean. I just felt like at the end of the day, I was completely and totally lost.

"Thank you Yolei, for letting me be out here right now. It makes me feel a million times better knowing that you are trying to keep a happy face here." I said, feeling like I just needed to get Yolei to see that at the end of the day, I was not going to be looking at her as a bad sport or anything. I just hoped that she was going to see the efforts I was making here.

"T.K., thank you for going along with watching the well with me. I know that you did not want to do this, and I know that this was not how you wanted to spend your evening. But I feel like it already makes me feel a million fucking times better. Makes me feel like there is a chance this can work." She said, and I was feeling like Yolei telling me this was yet another example of me starting to feel like I was actually doing the right thing in Wayside. Which is a feeling I was missing all too fucking much, and I was feeling like Yolei giving me this was my best choice.