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

2037, September 25

T.K. woke up after a few hours of sleep, and he was finding himself kind of glad that his time in Wayside would be over. He had not wanted to spend any more time than he had wanted to. He was only going to be there for one week initially, so he was already around for way longer than he had any desire to. And now he was finding himself actually enjoying it, to a small degree once again.

But there was one more thing that he wanted to do before he left Wayside again. He was going to meet the old man who had started to lead him down the way. The man that still amazed him was even alive in the first place. The fact that Todd Robinson was already eighty seven years old, and was in better condition than a lot of people who were sixty, was something that astounded him, and also scared the ever fucking loving shit out of him.

He was hoping that with him being there for two fucking weeks, that Ridge would be able to give off the tip to his father that T.K. was here in the first place, and he was hoping that since Todd had two weeks to get used to T.K. being there, that their conversation could move along at a mostly innocent rate. If such a thing was even fucking possible. He was already doubting it as the thoughts were in his head.

T.K. drove there the first thing after he checked out and made sure every single thing he brought with him was packed and ready to go. He hit the publish button for the fifth document that he was writing, and once had made his peace with the fact that he had wrote this, and it was up on the internet forever, he started to head off, hoping that he was not going to regret it.

After a while of driving, T.K. eventually made it to the Robinson house, and he was taking out a cigarette. Todd sat there, as if he was already anticipating that T.K. would be here. The look on his face looked like he was trying to decide if he was finding T.K. to be a fucking idiot, or a fucking hero. In his eyes, he genuinely was doing something really stupid, but was going at it in a really brave way.

And in a way, Todd was proud of the fact that if for nothing else, at least T.K. was sticking to his guns, and he was not holding back on this. It was something that deep down inside, he was wishing that he could be able to do more often. And he was wondering if maybe he had been too hard on his kids so far. "Look, what the fucking hell are you even trying to do here? Are you trying to get yourself fucking killed with publishing this book? If you got a death wish, I am sure that a lot of people would already be willing to do this." He said, and T.K. slowly nodded, feeling like he needed to give that to Todd.

"Well, how much has Ridge told you already? I promise that I am not doing this for fame, or glory, or anything. The only reason to do this would be to finally give closure here. And you know, we're both old and what not. I guess that a small part of me is hoping that maybe if I could have a successor that will be able to fucking finish this stupid story. I guess that was why I liked Ridge. He had a lot of promise, and I thought that he and I could make things better." T.K. decided to be honest with Todd here, feeling like there was no more reason to give any more bullshit.

"He told me what you were doing, and the entire thing that you have accomplished so far. I saw your blog, and I decided that I would follow it. I guess that I would be lying if I said I wasn't interested in seeing what story piece you would post each week. Fuck, I had forgotten most of that shit until I started to read that again." Todd said, feeling like he just needed to be straight up with T.K.

"Truth be told, I think the main reason the whole thing scares me is because I think that Ridge actually admires you, and wants to be like you. That is the last thing that we fucking need. And I think you yourself would agree with me on that one. We do not need to be doing anything that would make Ridge think that he needs to be a big damn hero. I had assumed that maybe you would have agreed with me there." Todd finished, and then T.K. decided to finally leave the car, and talk to Todd in a more face to face matter.

"Look, Todd, I think that you need to accept the fact that Ridge has already seemed to make his fucking choice on the matter. You might as well just accept the fact that this is how life is now. The guy is seventeen years old. The same age Sheldon was when he learned the truth of Labyrinth. And he's the youngest one. Point is, these kids are not actually kids anymore, and you might as well just be honest here." T.K. said, and he was sounding like he genuinely hoped that Todd would be listening to him here.

The look on Todd's face was one of denial, and he was looking like he could not believe that he was having to admit that T.K. was right about the stuff with Ridge. Maybe it was because he realized that in hindsight, Sheldon was not ready when he was seventeen, so that should not be the cutline for everybody else to be ready for it.

"I just wish he was twenty one or something. AT least I could accept that." He said, sounding like this was something that he could role with. At least with twenty one, Ridge would have been decently old and out of high school for a few years, so it truly would be his choice.

"So T.K., when you write these stories, are you trying to tell a story with each chapter, or are you just sort of going off of what happens? I think that maybe it would be smart to focus more on telling a story that actually works for people. You know, people want to have something that they can root for. Heroes." Todd said, and then T.K. looked right at him, as if feeling like he was being a fucking hilarious example for something like this.

"There are no fucking heroes in Wayside. Just people who are slightly less bad than everybody else here. I learned that lesson very quickly when I was a kid, and I was seeing how Matt handled everything with the Misty thing. And how he handled the stuff with the nightcall business." T.K. reminded Todd, feeling like he just needed to make sure that Todd never started to think that many people here truly had good intentions, no matter how things might have seemed at first.

"Look, in your brothers defense, the whole Misty thing was fucked up from the start. I mean, she literally got blown up with her mother at their house. Not much that Matt could fucking do about something like that. In all honesty, I think that Matt did a great job with what happened. Where he was basically picking up the slack, and making sure that Max Dasher had a fucking sense of closure of what happened." Todd said, feeling like for all of Matt's faults, it was not fair to judge him that, when he really had been doing the best that he could, with the limited resources that he had ahead of him.

"I know that my brother did the best that he could with a very bad situation. Doesn't mean that the situation was any good at all. I thought that you would be able to fucking accept that fact after so fucking long." T.K. said, feeling like no matter how well Matt did with a shitty situation, he didn't really have a ton going for him, and he was only just making things worse than it had already needed to be.

"If you know your brother did the best that he could with a bad situation, then I think you need to accept the fact that he still did better than most people fucking do here. There is no reason to be so hard on him given everything that had been going on. At least unlike most people, he seemed to be self aware of what he could have done better. Which is more than I could say about a certain amount of people." He said, and then he looked right at T.K. with death daggers, which was making T.K. feel even more shitty for everything that was going on.

"At least I never went into politics to pretend like I was the solution that people were looking for. At least I didn't give people hope that everything was different when I would be he man at the helm. I just gave people fucking wishes, and told them that I would do the best that I could, with a bad situation." T.K. said, feeling like he needed to highlight how at the end of the day, he was still not as bad as Todd was, at least in certain aspects. But he was seeing that Todd was not buying a single word of what he heard.

"You made promises to children like Leo, and that you were different from everybody else. I feel like that is something that I need to call you out on." He said, feeling like he needed to let T.K. fucking have it. The sound of his voice was just one of being annoyed.

"I know that I did. I know that I made him believe that I could do things different when in reality I did not accomplish that at all. I thought that I could be the answer to his bad situation. Turns out I wasn't the solution to anything." T.K. said, sounding like he needed to just remain humble, or at least trying to be humble, when he was reflecting on something like this.

"But I mean, I thought that this was the right thing. He was scared, and he was a good kid. He had to deal with finding out that his dad was not the man that he once was, and that his mother was somebody who was close with the Reichebach family. I think that he has the right to be a bit annoyed with how things went." T.K. said, now feeling like he as able to just reflect on the whole Leo thing, and the one thing that he could have done differently, to just make it at least slightly less bad than it had already been.

"Oh yeah, I do remember that now. You know, Beth Greene. Fuck, that situation was a mess. In all honesty, I don't even fucking blame Leo for being so fucking let down by that whole thing. At least, there is a sense of understanding that I can have with him." Todd said, thinking of how much the two of them had botched that entire thing for no good reason. Todd, as a politician who failed to uphold a certain promise, and T.K., as a friend of his who was meant to do something big but failed to do this.

"Yeah, I feel like that whole Beth Greene thing was so fucking messed up. I remember how much I had to prevent Leo from wanting to kill Rob before Rob even had a chance to be president because of something like this. It really was not his fucking fault though, and I think that Leo was able to eventually see that." T.K. said, and he was more so wondering if maybe there was a chance that Leo was just fucking waiting until Rob was having his guard down to do something like this.

"You know, if you want me to be honest with you, I am more worried about my grandkids than I am worried about my kids. You might not know this, but Dylan has a three month old son, and while I am happy that I got to see a large portion of all eleven of my kids lives, when it comes to my grand kids, I do really need to be taking every week that I can get before I kick the bucket. Reminds me of what Larry was saying about Lars after all." Todd said, and T.K. agreed to that, as if he was able to fucking understand where Todd was coming from on that, and actually agreed with him there.

"When I have a fucking kid, good god, I am going to be the same way. You know, I feel like a total asshole for ever judging you all for having kids so late." T.K. said, not aware at the time that his wife was already four weeks pregnant, and not aware at the time that in eight months and two days from then, he would become a father.

"You know T.K., I know you might not believe me, for whatever fucking reason, but I feel so fucking bad for you. You know, you're sixty four years old, and you're the Last Digidestined. The whole thing is a very shitty reality to go through, and I have no annoyed at the fact that you are so fucking down there. I feel like I should have been there for you much more than I have been." Todd said, sounding like he just needed to give T.K. that much at least, given everything that had been happening.

"Look, I don't want to think about that. That is the one line I do not want to fucking cross no matter how much time has fucking passed. I know that I completely failed every single one of them, and I feel like they deserve so much better than what happened." T.K. said, feeling like that was something that no matter how many good things had happened since then, would never fully heal.

"You need to fucking think about it. You have to accept the bad truths, no matter how fucking bad they are, because choosing to not do so will only make things twenty times worse than they ever needed to be." As Todd told him this, he was feeling like he needed to just give T.K. a smidge of tough love, even if T.K. was not exactly in the mood to hear something like this.

"I know that I need to think of it here and there, but that doesn't mean that I want to be reminded of it, especially when I remember the way that it happened for all of them. How much they had hope in me initially, but then that fucking hope did because I am nothing more than a fucking failure at life." T.K. said, not wanting to hide it, or beat around the bush over it, just to make himself feel better about this. He was beyond that, no matter how much people told him not do this.

"I mean, we both know what it is like to attend the funeral of a friend when we were in middle school alone. We both know that this is something that we never thought would happen. And sadly, as the years progressed, with each one, I hated the fact that I had gotten so used to it that I started to barely even give shit anymore. I was honestly finding it more shocking that I would go a few years in between each one, and I just grew to accept the fact that when it happened, it happened. I guess in a way, the Digital World taught me that life is just unpredictable." T.K. told Todd, and then with that statement, the noise that T.K. heard so many times that he barely even gave a shit anymore went off.

"Todd, do you think that you would be willing to help me with this chapter? I mean, I am going to be leaving soon, and since we're already talking, I suppose that we might as well do something together before I leave. And I promise that I will make sure that this chapter does justice for you." T.K. said, and then Todd sighed, and sat down, feeling like he would take this idea, and just run with it since it was a million times better than doing nothing at all.

"Well, you did mention Misty, and how Matt failed to help her out. I think that this could be good to write about. So if you want to do it, then I would be down" Todd said, and then T.K. looked right at Todd, as if feeling like Todd was a fucking asshole for even bringing Misty up in a matter that would involve her actually being in the book.

But then again, he did want to show the legacy of all those involved, both good and bad, and he wanted everybody to see what it was like to be involved in this fight for so long. So at the end of the day, he decided that he would go along, and he would give Misty some form of light of day, as he felt like Misty was deserving to have her legacy show up in some fucking way, even if it was a bit hard to tackle it at times.

"You're right. She deserves to have her story told. It is a hard story, and not one that I want to tell at all, but it is one that needs to be told. So yeah, I guess that I can fucking do it." T.K. said, feeling like he needed to take the leap of faith, and run with this, and he was hoping that at the end of the day, the stuff he would be talking about with Misty could show some form of peaceful resolution to this whole thing.

"And to be honest, I feel like sometimes diving into the perspectives of those who were also involved in what happened might be good for me. At least it would be a good way to show other people what was going on with them. Fuck it, I'll do it. Even if I don't really want to." T.K. said, sounding like he was finally coming around to how these ideas that Todd suggested were never really bad ideas at all, and that he needed to give Todd much more credit than he had been giving Todd before.

"T.K., I hope that the stuff with Misty, all those years ago, did help you see that sometimes being an actual man of the people is not as easy as claiming that you will be one, and trying to do so. I think that you keep trying to do something big and bold, but in all reality, the whole thing just never fucking works." As Todd said this, he was hoping that for once, T.K. would actually show some honesty there. Or at least willingness to own up to the fact that he was too hard on Todd when it came to this.

"I know that you were a good politician when the time needed you to be one. And I know that despite the stuff that I said, you were a much better one than I ever could have hoped to be. But let me tell you the truth, right now, that regardless of those things, it will never not hurt that I heard you make the promises that you would be a man who would give my brother closure on what happened to Misty, and then it never fucking happened. That is the only reason why I am so fucking upset at the whole thing. I genuinely, truly, believed that you were the one person who would actually keep your word to Matt, but then when that didn't happen, even if it was just out of being too overwhelmed, I couldn't help but fucking feel down." T.K. said, and then he was wondering if Misty's death was ever one that would be avenged. Deep down, he was aware that he had bene putting too many standards on Todd, and that was the worst thing he could have done.

"But to be honest, I think that the whole thing with Misty was never meant to get a resolution. For that, I am willing to accept my faults." T.K. said those thoughts out loud, mostly as a way to try and give Todd at least some form of peace of mind, if such a thing was possible.

"So you accept the fact that the fight was basically all for not at the end of the day? I think that is the first sign to you showing some degree of maturity after all. T.K., listen, I agree with you that the whole thing with Misty was some strange event that should have never happened. But at the end of the day, I truly believe that it was just that. A strange event that should have never happened, and us freaking all the hell out over it is not going to accomplish anything." As he said that to T.K., there was a moment of silence between the two of them.

"Do you even think that Matt cared that much what happened to Misty after like the second or third week? I mean, with the stuff you were dealing with, on the Digital World and what not, must have killed any interest that you guys had in this case. Or at least I would have assumed that this was the case." Todd said, and he was sounding more like he was just genuinely hoping that this was the case, and not really what he was expecting to be the case.

"I think he cares a lot what happened to Misty, and I think you are not doing anybody any favors by thinking that he did not. Matt told me that if he and Sora had broken up, Misty might have been his second choice. Well, at least because he found out that she was a lesbian." T.K. said, and then took out another cigarette, remembering those days, and having a degree of nostalgia over them.

"Are you sure that maybe her being a lesbian might not be the reason that she died? You know, the 1980's were not a easy time for gay women, and I think that maybe her orientation might not be the easiest thing for people to over come. I mean, I know that you might not want to hear it, but you need to." He said, sounding like he was genuinely trying his best to give T.K. an answer.

"Well, you have to remember dude, within a span of a week, both Misty and Mimi came out as lesbian to Matt, and he accepted both of them with welcoming arms. Matt told me that he barely had much notice on gay people, and who they were, or what they were like, but when two of them, who were close friends with him, came out to him, he realized that these people who still just the same people in his eyes, and he realized that he was wrong to ever judge them the way that he did." T.K. said, and then he laughed at the second part.

"I think what happened with Misty and Mimi might have spread though, because by the time he graduated two years later, nearly a dozen girls had come out to him, and he heard that within a certain circle, he was the reliable first person to come out to if you were a gay woman." T.K. said, thinking about the fact that even if Matt never tried, in a way, he did kind of become his own philanthropist, who had been working out to do what was best for the world.

"Yeah, well, I think that what your brother did for those lesbian mothers also fucking counted." He said, in a rather throw away line. T.K. looked right at him, wondering what the hell Todd was fucking talking about. But then he started to piece it together already, and he was finding himself wondering what the hell he was even going to say.

"Yeah, you remember that lesbian couple that he drove home a few times, and they were looking for a kid. Then eleven months later, two baby boys were born, and Matt said that he would keep tabs on them every month or two to make sure that they were doing well? Yeah, those were his fucking kids. Then when in 1990, three years later, they had a daughter. That was also his daughter well, that he gave them because they both wanted to have a girl. He donated his sperm to them to make sure that they had a family, because he was that focused on making sure that they both had a happy family." Todd told T.K., and it was in that moment, that once again, T.K. was finding himself respecting and appreciating more of what his older brother did.

Matt didn't need to do something selfless like that, but he chose to go out of his way to make sure that two woman that he only met a handful of times would have a kid. Then three years after that, when they wanted daughter, he did it again, and they ended up having a family of twin boys and a daughter, all because Matt put their needs before his own. He was feeling like when he had that degree of perspective, he was able to try and give Matt something to work with here.

"Wow, I never realized that my brother would actually do that for people that he barely knew. I thought he was only casually interested in helping people out that weren't involved with him. But hearing him actually do that when he had no need to, makes me appreciate him so much more." T.K. said, and then he pulled his laptop out, ready to go, and hoping that this sixth chapter would give his older brother some kind of justice.

"Let's talk about Matt with Misty, and that couple. I think that I want to talk about that when it is still fresh in my mind." T.K. said, feeling like he needed to give Matt the credit he deserved, and if the story was told the right way, then people who knew Matt all those years ago would state that T.K. was at least trying to do the story justice.

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 we 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.

The following bit of the story is taken from a video tape that was created by my older brother Matt when he was talking to Sheldon Oswald Lee regarding the stuff that he was doing with his time. I listened to the recording in parts one time, when I was able to sneak my way into hearing them, and for the most part, this whole thing is rather new for me.

(Matt's POV)

A few days after Yolei died, when I had some time to get used to what had happened, I decided that I was going to get involved in the case a bit further than I had. I decided that I needed to do this for my younger brother, because I did not want him to be feeling brought down by people not holding true to their words. And frankly, I myself was hoping for something of a miracle as well. So my first step was a much more natural one than what T.K. had been doing. I was simply just heading on down to the police station, to see what the officers there would be willing to tell me.

Once I was at the station, I was seeing some people behind the counter talking to each other, not really paying much attention to anybody else right now. I sighed in annoyance, because I was aware that I needed to just let this come to pass before I did anything to help my brother out. But this was giving me some time to think about if this idea was really actually a good idea at all, or if I was setting myself up for failure.

I was sitting down for a while, letting everything come together for a while. I was taking the time to realize that I was accomplishing literally nothing getting involved in my brothers escapades. I knew that my brother barely stood me to begin with, and I was feeling like it was not really doing anything to change that. So why in the hell would I care what he thought? Then I shook my head, feeling like there wasn't really much to get all worried about here, so I just needed to take a step back here.

Before too long, a man walked up to me, and he was looking right at me. He had a fake smile on his face, and I was aware that he did not really want me to be there. But I hardly cared nearly enough to be thinking much on it at all. "What are you here for?" The officer asked, and I stood up, and started to follow him for a while.

"My name is detective Carlton Lassiter. I haven't been assigned a case before, and the police chief said that I needed to ask around some people first, and see if there is a case that I can find that the chief would be willing to let me take." Lassiter said, sounding like he was a bit annoyed at the fact that he was having no real weight on the police force.

Given his relatively youthful face, at least compared to the others, and him explaining having a lack of experience, I was assuming he was very new at this job, and I was making an assumption that he was probably about twenty one or so. We sat down in a room with a really large desk on it. I sat down, and then Lassiter looked right at me, taking out a note.

"Well, I never done anything like this before, but I guess I wanted to talk for a bit. My younger brother, T.K., his friend Yoli fucking died, and I want to see if I can be able to help out with getting some answers on her death. I know that the answer is likely to be no, and that I might be wasting my time even bothering myself with this case, but I just really want to know." I said, and then Lassiter sighed, as if he was already aware of this case.

"Is that the one where the girl was found in the forest, with a plastic bag over her head? I'm going to be frank with you, I think that there is very little chance that we are ever going to find out what happened to that case. My boss told me that it is a open and shut case when I tried to talk to him about it." Lassiter said, and then I was sighing in annoyance, since I was feeling like he needed to take his job more seriously, and had no right to complain about not making any real progress on his job when he was behaving like this.

"Look, if my brother is right about everything that he says is going on, then you need to fucking do your god damn job. And besides, even then, what about the grinding noise that went off a few days before Yolei died? Maybe there is something for you to investigate there?" I asked, and then Lassiter looked annoyed at the fact that I was pressing him down like this, as if he was feeling like I was just almost making fun of him in a way, which I really was not doing. But if that was the assumption he would make, then I guess that I wasn't super opposed to this.

"That is true. I guess that I can look into that. I know that the chief might not be in love with me doing so, but it will be a quick check, and I feel like he wouldn't be that upset." Lassiter said, and then he was getting out of the room, and I was taking out a cigarette, waiting for the asshole to finish his job, and then I would head out to the house of that person.

I was then realizing after some thought that I was in way over my fucking head, and I realized that I should have never gotten myself into this situation. If T.K. was going to just basically tell me to fuck off over this whole thing, then I would not blame him at all. In fact, I would think that maybe I did kind of deserve this.

After like five or ten minutes of waiting around, Lassiter came back into the office, and he was looking right at me, as if feeling like he was going through a bonified 'Good news bad news' situation, and was trying to decide which one he was willing to give me first. "Well, it looks like we have a name for you. But sadly we have not been able to make much progress beyond simply knowing who some of her friends are." Lassiter said, and I sighed, as if I was expecting something like this, even if I did not enjoy this.

"Who is the person?" I asked, and then he rubbed his eyes, feeling a bit annoyed at the fact that I was suddenly pressing this subject so much. He was wanting to have a normal work day, and instead some random high school student had come along, and started to ask him a million questions about a case that he knew nothing about.

"Her name is Robin Buckley. She was eighteen years old at the time that she went missing. The interesting thing to know about her is that she has only moved here a few months ago. Report said that she was originally from Indiana, and then moved here in early April this year." He said, and then I was perking up at the Indiana mention, since I was wondering if it was close to where I lived or not.

"Where in Indiana was she originally from?" I asked, and then Lassiter perked up at my sudden burst of interest in the subject. Then he sighed, feeling like he might as well just tell me what I wanted to know. After all, I was probably going to learn the truth sooner or later anyways.

"She was originally from a town called Hawkins. She had some friends when she was living here, such as a girl named Misty, who had also moved here recently…" He said, and then I was slowly nodding at the Misty mention. I knew a lot about that girl, and I was feeling like maybe she was going to be the next clue that I needed to piece together the case.

"Yeah, she and I have gone to school before. We rarely ever talk though. She always seemed to be kind of off to somewhere else. But I guess that both her and Robin had something in common to get to know each other." As I said this, I was seeing Lassiter looking like he was suddenly thinking of making an offer that he knew he was probably going to deeply regret.

"Look, I know that I am not technically on a case, but I don't have much going on… Would you be wanting me to at least just drive you to where Misty's house is, and then from there, if she wants to talk to you, then you can? I have no idea how much more I am able to fucking give, but I do want to give that much." Lassiter asked, sounding like he was aware that he was taking a bit of a gamble here, but didn't really much care. He was following what he was feeling like was the right path, and that was all that mattered to him.

"Well, if you are willing to do that, then I would take it. And I guess I would be interested in knowing what you know about the case." I said, and then Lassiter just looked at the file, and then shrugged, as if feeling bad at the fact that he was going to be kind of letting me down with this response.

"Basically just what is on this file. Which is to say barely anything at all." He said, and the uneasiness of his voice was coming through once again. As if he was wondering how quickly it would take for me to continue being a smart ass.

"Thank you for the drive though." I said, and then with that, Lassiter and I left the office, after Lassiter placed the file back into its original compartment, and once in the car, I decided that I would ask him a simple question. Nothing too big. Just a little bit in an attempt to know him. "So what made you decide you even wanted to get involved in detective work to begin with?" As I asked this, Lassiter looked like he was taking a second to think it out.

"You're welcome. It's better than just sitting around all day waiting for something to do from my boss. At least this makes me feel like I am accomplishing something with my life." He said, smiling at me, and I was rolling with this, since it was showing that he was at least willing to put on a positive attitude. Or was trying to put on one for my sake. And to be honest, I was feeling like Lassiter over here just needed to open up and be a bit more laid back before anything got any worse.

"You seem like you do not like your boss at all. Is there something that you would like to talk about?" I asked, feeling like I might as well just press the matter a bit further. He looked right at me, and I was seeing him looking greatly annoyed at the fact that I was trying to do this right now. I shrugged, deciding that the best thing to do was just drop the subject, and not press the matter any further.

"I don't really like my boss at all. I think that he is a hardass. But that is beyond anything that you can fucking do anything about, so let's just not press it any further, dude. Besides, why do you even care about the whole Robin Beckley thing? If you never knew her, then none of this even mattered." He said, sounding like he was just annoyed with where this subject was going.

"Because my brother was friends with Yolei when she died. And I want to make sure that my brother has to never deal with something like that again. You know, a friend of his dying because of the utter fucking incompetence of the people who work here. This at least gives me something to work with." I said, and then I shrugged, feeling like I didn't need to make any reasons to do what I did, but since this guy was wanting one, I suppose that I would give him one.

"And besides, Robin was close to my age. One of my friends, Joe, was in her age range, so I guess I want to see if there is any way that I can help Joe out with this. You know, since he probably at least knew of her, and what not." I said, feeling like that was the other main thing that mattered.

"How many fucking friends do you have? Are you sure that you are not just way too liberal with that fucking word?" He asked, sounding like he just needed to wrap his mind around what was happening. I was feeling like there was nothing wrong with me having a large amount of friends, and the fact that he was making a big deal out of it was beyond strange.

"I have quite a few honestly. None of them are like me, which is the fucking funny thing. I have no common grounds with any of these people, and yet I find myself around them all the fucking time. I think that I just inherently have something in common with people who seem to be a bit out there." I said, not exactly sure if I could explain it at all. But I was feeling like maybe things were never really meant to make sense.

"I'm not much of a friend guy. I always found that stuff too sappy, too forceful to make people have commitments and what not. I would prefer to just be on my own, and be a fucking lone wanderer. I know that people do not like me doing something like that, but frankly, I don't really care what people think of me." Lassiter said, and then I was feeling like I might as well not even try and get this guy to talk at all. He was so fucking stiff, that it was kind of impossible to deal with.

"What made you this way anyways?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to be straight up with him. He looked kind of surprised to hear me ask that. Then he sighed, feeling he might as well just let me have that response before too long.

"After my dad left mom, she decided to reveal to me that she was a fucking faggot, and she wanted to have a relationship with another woman." Lassiter said, and I hate to admit the fact that at the time, when I did not know homosexuals any better than did, before I learned what so many gay woman had gone through in their lives, I was finding this tidbit to be absolutely funny. I was thinking that Lassiter had every right to be rubbed off by this fact, since in the moment, I was finding gay people to still be kind of a bit taboo.

"Wow, that fucking sucks." I said, not thinking anything of it at the moment. How little I knew that even seventy two hours later, I would find myself hating myself for making such a fucking comment. But then I took a cigarette out again, and I was feeling like there was no more to say on it.

Eventually, we were at Misty's house, and when I was seeing Misty outside. She was beautiful as well, and I was finding myself wondering if I could ever love her the same way that I loved Sora. Then I told myself to stop thinking about that type of stuff, since I was at least genuinely trying to be loyal to Sora, and Sora deserved a much better man than me.

As I got out of the car, Lassiter looked like he was finding himself wondering what he should be doing. Almost as if he was finding this to be the worst position that he could be in. Then he sighed, and got out of the car as well. Misty stopped what she was doing, and looked at the two of us, wondering what the hell was going on. She was also finding herself wondering how the hell a guy as decently young as Lassiter had even been able to become a detective in the first place. But to be fair, that was the least important thing on my mind currently.

"What the fucking hell are you guys doing here?" She asked, sounding like she was going to try her best to keep her annoyance on the matter back as much as possible. I was slowly nodding, feeling like maybe this was fair enough. "Look, I don't even know this guy, and I think you might be at the fucking wrong place." She said, and then Lassiter sighed, as if he was already hating being around both of us, and was wishing that he had never seen me if he was going to have to be sent down this rabbit hole the whole fucking time.

"Look, I told him that you were friends with Robin Beckley, and he was in a similar age range as you are. I just figured that maybe he would be interested in talking to you, and seeing what he might be able to fucking learn. That was all that I am doing. If you don't want him to talk, then I can escort him away…" Lassiter said, and then Misty looked at Lassiter, as if she was finding his comments to be hilarious, and this could work out.

"Alright, so one of you guys is actually doing your fucking job by getting involved in this case, and not hiding around it. Okay, and what is making him involved in this?" Misty asked, and then Lassiter sighed, as if he was ready to just snap at both of us with how annoying we were being about this whole thing.

"You know what guys, if you guys are going to all be utterly insufferable about this whole thing, then I am just going to leave you both alone. You guys can deal with fighting each other about this later, when you guys can actually be adults here." He said, starting to head off to his car again, and then Misty called back to him, as if not wanting to let him off the hook this easily.

"No, it's not that easy. You are meant to do a fucking job here. You need to actually step the fucking hell up, and do it too. So I guess I will tell you what I know about Robin Buckley. And I will tell your friend over here as well, even though I don't get what the whole point is." Misty said, and then with that, I was seeing Lassiter looking like he was annoyed at her pesisitence on the matter, while also vaguely respecting it as well. As if he was trying to decide what he was truly feeling on the matter.

"Okay, fair enough here. I guess that I can ask you a few questions about what Robin Beckley was up to before she went missing. If she said anything that stood out to you guys." He said, and then he was taking out a pocket notebook, and then Misty smiled, feeling like she was glad to hear him finally pretend to be cool with this.

"Well, she was saying that when she was living down in Indiana, there was a guy she went to school with who was two years older than her. His name was Steve Harrington. They became friends back about a year ago, when they were stuck in a mall for a couple of days or something like that. The day before she moved away, she made a pact with him that you would see in those fucking movies. Something along the lines of, if they were both still single by the time they turned thirty, then they would marry each other." She said, and I was seeing Misty looking like she was a bit scared of what to say now.

"Do you think that Steve might have something to do with her missing case? Like, say, he is in love with her, and decided to take her?" Lassiter asked, and the mere suggestion of this idea looked to horrify Misty in a way that she hadn't expected it to. "I mean, he might have gotten jealous of her living a new life that she was happy about."

"Steve is not that fucking way. I saw him once when he was coming up in late May to see what Wayside looked like, you know, since Robin had been there about seven weeks by then, and he is a really fucking nice guy. Robin said that three years ago, he might have done something like this, but he really grew up a lot in those few years, and he would never do something like this in his life now. You could tell from the way that she talked that she trusted him more than she trusted literally anybody." Misty said, sounding angry at the fact that he even said this to begin with.

"Look, I am just trying to do my fucking best here. I have a case that I need to do, and you guys constantly being a pain in the fucking ass is not helping anybody out at all." He said, sounding like he was just wishing that we would leave him alone here. "Besides, a lot of girls who go missing in other parts of the country usually are having to deal with guys who are jealous of them, and want them, and they are upset for various reasons. So they lash out, and take matters into their own hands."

As he looked at me, and winked for a second, I was wondering what the hell the wink was for. In fact, I was feeling like if he was trying to make this some form of secret communication here, and I was shaking my head a little bit. I was not going to deal with Lassiter, or anybody else, trying to make this all funny, lovey dovey, and all like nothing was fucking mattering here. If he was going to try and make this work the way it has, then I wanted nothing to do with this.

"Look, part of me wonders if I just want this subject to be left alone forever? I mean, that would make things easier for me. Am I a horrible person for thinking this?" Misty asked, sounding like she was genuinely meaning this question. I was slowly sighing, since I was not really ready to deal with heavy handed questions like this. But to be fair, I was feeling like we needed to take them for what they were.

"You don't actually fucking thinking that. You are just saying what you want to believe because it makes the pain easier to believe than not. I think that I do sort of understand where you are coming from." I said, and Misty was looking at me, extremely annoyed. I was wondering if I had made a mistake saying this, and I was wondering if I should have just remained silent, and not bothered with this whole thing.

"You don't know what I'm fucking thinking here, you fucking asshole? And what is even going on here? Why can't I just go and hang out with my friends? You don't need to be making stories all the damn time…" She said, and I was feeling like if this was how she was feeling, then she needed to take a fucking step back, before things were made any worse.

But I guessed that none of this really mattered. "Misty, I am very fucking sorry." I said, feeling like I just needed to play the better man, in order to not give her the fucking satisfaction of thinking that I am a fucking asshole when I had done nothing too wrong to her besides just try and get involved in finishing a case that should have been solved for a long time now.

"It's okay." She said, and then she just looked right at me, trying to decide what to ask me. "So how has summer been for you so far?" I was taking a second to think about the fucking question. I mean, my summer had not been going super well so far. On the other hand, I would be lying if I was going to say that it had been a terrible summer. I mean, I had been dating Sora for a while, and I knew that I was in love in with her. But I was having a terrible feeling that she would not fucking love me back.

"I mean, it's not the worst thing ever. I have been dating a girl named Sora for a while. To be honest though, part of me is fucking worried that it is not going to last super long. I think that if I don't fucking step up, then she is going to not just break up with me, but she will never want to fucking be with me anymore." I said, and then with that, I was offering a cigarette to her. Misty looked at it for a second, and then she shrugged, and grabbed the cigarette as well. She lit it up after I let her borrow a lighter. She then was thinking about what to ask me.

"Have you ever considered just simply talking to her, like she is a normal fucking person? I mean, I think that it is as simple as that. I mean, you are probably just looking at her like a girlfriend, and not really as a normal person. Then again, maybe I should just fucking talk to you, and just simply see what is going on here. So when did you guys even get together?" She asked, and then with that, Lassiter looked like he was just finding himself kind of annoyed at how this discussion had been taking now.

"Look, no offense guys, but if you're going to be talking about your love lives here, then I don't need to fucking do this. I was coming here because I wanted to get a potential real case. Not fucking listen to high school students talking about their love lives and how their fucking summer break is going." He said, sounding rather annoyed that he was even saying this in the first place. But then with that, I looked right at him, thinking that what I would say would probably be annoying to him, but I just needed to take the leap of faith here.

"I knew you were going to fucking say something like that. Anyways, was there another reason why you are so fucking firm about the fact that Steve had nothing to do with the Robin case? Or maybe that he is less likely than another guy that she went to school with?" I asked, and then Misty sighed, as if feeling like if this was going to help with her friend coming home, she might as well just be honest about this.

"Well, I guess that I should just be honest about this. You know, since if she really is gone, it will hardly fucking matter anyways. But she came out as a lesbian to Steve about a year ago. In a bathroom in the Hawkin's Mall, where the two of them were just talking about people they liked in high school, and why Robin had a hard time appreciating Steve back in the day. When he realized the truth, he decided to instead of judging her the way certain people would, he decided to accept her, and show her that no matter what happens, he will always be there for her." Misty said, sounding like she was jealous Robin had somebody like that in her life.

"Yeah, I guess that fucking explains it. Well, okay, I guess that does make some sense. Do you want to enclose to us why she would reveal that information to you? You know, homosexuality is not very well accepted. So her disclosing this to Steve, and then to you a year later, seems to be a bit strange to me." Lassiter said, more just curious and confused what he was feeling than he had been angry about the whole thing.

"Well, for Steve, I think she was telling me that she was doing it because she wanted to explain why him and her can't really work out. But she was wanting to make it clear to him that it was not him that was the issue, but her that was the issue." As Misty said this, I was then thinking of the fact that she was stalling this out. But I was choosing to not say much, since I did not want that tidbit of strange dialogue to overcome the fact that I wanted to just know what was happening with the case.

"Alright, well, I guess that the fact that she disclosed that information to him and trusted him enough would be enough for him to not be behind the case. Sorry for asking that. I must ask another question. Did anybody in her actual family know about her sexual preferences?" Lassiter asked, trying to pretend like he was not letting his personal biases sink through. I had no idea what the hell he was even accomplishing here.

"That is a very good question. I am actually not sure if she did tell anybody about that. You said yourself that this is very important information that is already bad enough to leak to a friend. To leak it to a family member who might judge you so badly that they'll disown you for it? No fucking way is that going to happen." She told Lassiter, and was hoping that Lassiter would just leave her alone about that question now.

Lassiter was then getting a call for a second. He answered the call, feeling a bit annoyed at the fact that this was even happening in the first place. "Hello. Yeah, I was just bringing somebody over to a friends place, since he had come by the station. I didn't want to risk anything happening to him." There was a pure moment of silence, where Lassiter seemed to be kind of scared of the question, and wondered what the hell he was supposed to say.

"I wasn't exactly investigating what was going on with the whole Robin Beckley case. I was just simply asking a couple of questions since the friend of that guy just happened to also friends with Robin. I guess curiosity got the better of me." He said that second part, hoping that his boss would just give him a bit of a fucking break here, and not make it too rough.

"Okay, sorry for that chief. I won't do anything like that again. Sorry for stepping out of line." Lassiter said, sounding like he was already thinking about how he was going to be breaking that promise very soon, and was not going to regret this, as long as the job would just fucking get done here.

Once the call ended, I was seeing Misty looking like she was feeling a teensy smidge bad for him, but did not seem to want to admit it. As if she was wondering why Lassiter was even caring so much to stick his neck out this way in the first place. I guess that she thought that if Lassiter would do something like this, then in a way, he kind of deserved whatever was going to be thrown his way here.

"So, I guess that you got in a smidge of trouble with your boss?" She asked, feeling like she didn't even need to ask the question, but at the same time, she was just sort of asking as a way to see if there was anything that she could do to make things at least a small smidge better for Lassiter. He shrugged, as if hardly bothering anymore.

"Yeah, I guess that you can fucking say that. But at the same time, I find myself hardly fucking caring. I don't know… I feel like this whole Robin Beckley case will be meaning a lot more than you might be thinking, and I want to stake a lot of efforts and resources into this. Or as much as I can. And if I am wrong, then I guess I deserve what is coming to me." He said, sounding utterly convinced that this was the best thing he can say here.

"I wonder how they even found out so fucking fast. Like if I was being fucking watched or something…" Lassiter said, sounding a bit scared that he was even needing to put that into consideration in the first place. Not that I could fucking blame him, I guess, given everything that was happening.

"Yeah, I guess that kind of scares me, as much as I fucking hate to admit. Like does anybody have any real explanation behind that?" Misty said, sounding like she was already considering where this was going. I realized that this was a rare case of the simple explanation is often the correct one.

"Somebody is watching out for you. They do not want you to learn the truth, and will fucking hide it from you, no matter what happens." I said, and then with that, I could tell that this was the exact opposite response of what he was wanting to hear me admit. "And I think that if you want to continue your work, you need to find out who that is, and why they are doing this." I said, feeling like I just needed to cut the crap, and be utterly honest.

"Yeah, that is the thing that scares the shit out of me. That people are watching what I am doing, and the fact that it seems like people are just completely okay with that." He said, and then he looked at Misty, putting on a fake smile, and knowing what he had needed to fucking tell her.

"But this makes more sense. This proves what I said that something is going on here, and we need to see what is happening here." He said, and then with that, Misty just took a deep breath, thinking that she just needed to break Lassiter's heart here.

"Can this pick up tomorrow? I have to meet my mom soon." She said, and then Lassiter slowly nodded, and headed off, and when his car was gone, Misty looked right at me, sounding like she was just way too tired to even give a shit about Lassiter, and just talk with me.

Once we were alone, Misty looked at me, and looked like she was just glad to finally be alone with me. As if this was what she had genuinely wanted this whole time. I sighed, feeling like I just needed to hear whatever she wanted to pitch to me, so we could be done with it, and we would both be able to move forward.

"So Matt, I don't really want you to be here. I think this is going to be a massive waste of both our times. But since you are here, and it looks like you are going to insist on staying so, how about we just get to know each other for a bit first? You know, especially since we go to school together and what not. Do you think that you would be willing to do that?" Misty said, and I was feeling like I might as well just get this over with. I mean, she wasn't asking for anything inherently offensive, but I didn't exactly have a ton to tell her.

"Well, fair enough. I suppose I understand if you don't really want me to be around. I just have no idea what the hell I am supposed to tell you though. I mean, I was telling you about Sora, and how much I want to be with her, and how much I fucking love her. But I also know that I am going to be a terrible boyfriend for her, and I actually fucking accept reality for what it fucking is, as much as it kills me." I said, and then with that, she looked like she was considering this statement, and wondering how she will ask the next question.

"No, it's not that I don't want you to be around. But to be honest, I think that you might need to be more worried about what is going on with you and Sora. You say that you really care for her, and I think that you need to show her that. Get to know the things that are bothering her. Get to know the reasons why she is so fucking distant, and I think that in due time, she will respect your openness enough to actually fucking talk with you again." Misty said, and then I was thinking of what to tell her. I knew that this response was going to probably not be what she wanted to hear, but I just straight up did not care.

"I do care about what is going on with me and Sora. I never didn't care for it. I just worry about the fact that she is also possibly growing feelings for another one of my friends who I have known for a long time. She views Tai as a bit of a brother in a way, but ever since Joe brought her to the café, and he helped her on that paper, she had been having this strange appreciation for him. I kind of wish that I had never introduced him to her, if I may say so." I said, feeling like I just needed to be utterly honest when I was saying this.

"Do you think that he is better for her than you are for her? I mean, if you think that he might just simply be a better boyfriend or something for her, you just need to be straight up with your feelings on the matter." As she said that to me, I was looking right at her. I was aware that I didn't want to say that. After all, doing so would basically be indicting myself as a terrible boyfriend, and that she had been with the wrong man this whole time.

"I don't fucking know what I fucking think of the situation. What I do fucking know is that I want to step up, and become a better provider for Sora. Maybe get a real job or something. You know, Sheldon has been respectful to me, and I think that he might be willing to give me a job at the gas station." I said, and then with that, Misty slowly nodded, looking like she could roll with that, and she was hoping that I would actually find myself as a man of my word here.

"And I guess maybe I will just talk with Joe about her feelings on the matter, maybe just see what he might be thinking about it all. He might not get it, but I think that if I am at least honest about my concerns over this, she might be feeling much better here." I said, and then Misty was looking like she had wanted to ask something else. Something that she had no interest in ever asking me until this conversation came up.

"Can I fucking meet Joe, and see what he knows?" She asked, and then with that, I slowly nodded. If she was genuinely interested in this idea, then I suppose that I would give this to her. Not that I would ever fucking like it. But the reason that I didn't like it had nothing to do with like feelings or anything. I was just a smidge worried that she was going to see him, and then she might start to fall under his spell a bit. But then again, I decided that maybe if this would happen, then maybe Sora would leave Joe alone, and in a way, if that happened, then I would be coming out on top as well.

So that was something that I could take, and take it I would. "Yeah, sure, I guess I can fucking do that. Don't expect much from him though. He will probably be a bit dense when it comes to the hint." I said, and then I was seeing Misty looking like she was wanting to say something to defend herself, but then she shook her head, not really feeling the need to say much.

"Thank you Matt. I guess that I just want to see if this Joe is really as good of a guy as you are making him out to be." When she said that to me, I was sighing, since I suppose that there was no reason to fight this any longer. I was then starting to walk towards the café, since I suppose that if this was going to happen, then I might as well just do this now, and be done with it.

As we had been walking along, I was seeing that she was finally looking comfortable with saying the things on her mind. "You know, I think that if Robin say you today, she would be very proud of you, for finally starting to break out of your shell, and not trying to hide anymore." I said, feeling like I just needed to give her this. As she looked right at me, I was seeing her looking like she had wanted to buy what I said, but then it just looked like she was still unable to really do it.

"I don't know what Robin would be thinking if she was seeing me right now. I think she would be finding me hanging out with you to certainly be strange. Especially since I was telling her at one point in time, that I was scared of hanging out with guys now, considering everything that had been happening. But I suppose that something like this is no real big deal." As she said that to me, I was looking at her, as if thinking that it was a big deal, and she did not need to be talking down on herself like this.

After about an hour, we were at the café, and Joe was looking like he was heading out to do something. I was wondering what his plans were, and I was wondering if Joe would be willing to let Misty and I in on the plans. I smiled, feeling like I might as well just ask him politely about the whole thing.

"Hey Joe, are you planning on doing something soon?" I asked, feeling like even though the answer was super obvious, I wanted to still just make general small talk with him. Joe sighed in annoyance, as if he was wondering what I was doing with Misty, and why I was asking him such an easy question.

"I am going to finally be having that date with Aurora that I keep talking about. You know, I think that the two of us have a ton to discuss, and to be honest, I fucking love her. I want her to be happy, but I also want to be happy as well." Joe said, and then he was grabbing some keys, which left me a bit confused.

"What are the keys?" Misty asked, as if she was just wanting to see his ride. Joe smiled for a second, as if thinking that he was about to tell her the coolest thing in the world.

"For my eighteenth birthday a couple weeks ago, Jim bought me a motorcycle. He said that with how much I had been helping him at the café since I moved into the attic, that I would get to have something I expressed interest in for a while." Joe said, sounding a bit excited to talk about it.

"I drive it when I am going anywhere more than a mile or two away. Plus, it is really cool for the dates." Joe finished, winking at her, and Misty looked a bit unsure what to tell him. As if she was finding his sudden interest in her to be a bit bothersome, but she did not want to admit it yet.

Joe looked like he was ready to just head off. "Nice to meet you by the way. I want to talk to you more soon, and I can get to know you a bit better. I hope that Matt treats you well, and that nothing too crazy happens." He said, winking at me, as if hoping that I would appreciate the joke. I sighed a bit, since I was feeling like I might as well just let him have his moment, and I wouldn't fight it any longer.

"We just met a couple of hours ago. We were having to talk to this one really annoying detective who I don't enjoy being around at all." Misty said, looking right at me, and I was seeing her looking like she was hoping that I wouldn't get like offended over her just simply stating her opinion on the matter. I shrugged, since to be honest, it was not really all that big of a deal to me. If she didn't like Lassiter, for any reason at all, then I was not going to stop her from having that opinion. I just hoped that Lassiter would not find out that opinion, and things would get much worse.

"Regardless, if you guys are going to be hanging out more, I want to just get to know you a bit more. You know, see what we can fucking get out of this." He said, and I was seeing Misty looking like she was kind of wanting to go along with what he said, because at least he was trying to be nice about it, and there was nothing inherently offensive about what happened.

"And Misty, I just want to know what is going on that is making Matt want to hang out with you. He barely talks to me about these types of things anymore. Almost like Matt is too ashamed of himself or something." He said, feeling like he just needed to be right to the point here. I sighed in annoyance, not enjoying the way that he was putting this onto me currently.

"Well, he found out that I was friends with Robin Beckley, the girl who just went missing the last time the grinding noise went off. And that just made us start hanging out. He said that he was also having some trouble with Sora, and that he was thinking that you might be able to fucking help him out with that." She said, looking right at me, and I sighed, since that was true. I did say that this was something that worried me. But I didn't want her to just admit it out loud.

"Oh. Okay. Cool. Sorry for asking that. I can tell that maybe you guys are not ready to be having that discussion quite yet. Anyways, I am so fucking sorry for your loss." Joe said, and then he looked right at me for a second. "We can talk more about the thing with Sora. I suppose that we should just clear all that up before anything really happens." He said, sounding like he had hoped that by saying that, I would appreciate a confirmation of my suspicions.

"I hope that you will be able to tell me more about Robin Beckley when we see each other again. I would love to know more about her." Joe said, feeling like he wanted to show people that he was wanting to honor her legacy. As he said this, she smiled.

As Joe was gone, driving off on his motorcycle, Misty was spending a minute watching him drive off, and I was seeing that she had a mild interest in seeing him ride. I remember when I later made fun of her for that, saying that if she was gay, then she shouldn't be watching guys like that. I remember her retort being that just because she was attracted to women sexually didn't automatically mean that she couldn't recognize when a man was PHYSICALLY attractive. I was mentally wincing a bit when I was seeing him drive off without a helmet though, since I felt like that was way too dangerous for no good reason.

That night, I was at the gas station, thinking of at least asking what the chances of me getting a job here would be. Once I was at the gas station though, I was seeing that Shelon had looked like he was sleeping a bit. Probably because barely anybody would even come here in the first place, which was making me think that the job wouldn't even really be a job, and would be me just basically sitting down in a place I barely wanted to be for 8 hours.

As I was waiting for a bit though, that was when two women came into the store. I was seeing that they were both looking a bit saddened by something. I was wanting to ask them what the issue was, but they were talking about it before I even had a chance to ask them what was happening.

"So what did you think of Phil?" One of the ladies asked, and then the younger one looked at the older one, trying to decide what she was thinking about Phil. I was looking right at them, trying to not make it super clear that I wanted to hear where this was going, but I could not fucking hide it no matter how hard I was trying.

"Well, he's very good looking, but he is really annoying, and I think is too busy thinking about sex and trying to sleep with us." She said, feeling the need to be honest. I looked right at her, since to be honest, I was wondering if there was anything that I could say in order to help them out here.

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked, and then the two women looked at each other, and then they were trying to decide if I deserve to know the truth, or if they should be keeping things to themselves. After a moment of consideration, it seemed like they decided that would tell me what they would do.

"My girlfriend and I are trying to conceive a child. We have been meeting up with people to see if they would be bale to help us. So far, we have not had any luck whatsoever. The one guy who talked with us had a bit of a pretentious side to him, and I am worried that our kid might genetically inherit that." The younger girl said, and I just looked at her, not even sure what to tell her. The whole thing just seemed to be kind of strange to me. I had no idea if I was supposed to say anything, or just leave it alone.

"Well, I wish you luck." I said, feeling like they deserved at least a nice response. Not sure what else to say. I just was hoping that they would find a father figure soon enough, but for the time being, I just needed to focus on what I would tell him for the job. They just simply looked at me, and slowly nodded, deciding to be happy that at least I wasn't judging them for their choice.

"Do you know who might be able to help us? We would really appreciate any help we can get." She said, and then I looked right at her, as if feeling like the inquiry was beyond strange, and to be honest, I had no idea what the hell I was supposed to say. I doubted that anybody was really going to actually listen to me on what I say.

"I don't think that I would be any help to you guys. I mean, I don't think that anybody is going to have any real interest in helping out." I said, not wanting to be too obvious about the fact that I was thinking people would have no real interest in helping them is because people would have no real interest in helping two lesbians out who were probably not even going to be ready to have any kids yet.

"Yeah, I know that nobody wants to do something like this. That is the thing that hurts me. That nobody would want to fucking help out somebody who clearly just wants to have some help here." The older girl said, and then she was looking at me, as if examining me. I was feeling a bit uncomfortable at the fact that she was doing this. But I was telling myself that I would let her have her moment, if it would mean that they would be leaving here soon. But to be honest, I had no right to judge, since I was not even a real employee there.

"Look, never mind. I feel like there might be somebody that I might be able to ask. I doubt they will say yes, but I might as well just see what they have to fucking say." I said, not believing in what I had said. But then again, I figured that if I was really doing this, then I might as well run with who I was thinking was the best candidate.

"We have another meeting tomorrow. If you're here in the next couple of days, then would you be willing to tell us who this might be?" She asked, and I slowly nodded, desperate to just get away from them, and desperate to talk to Sheldon. And I was desperate to rip the bandaid when it was coming to talking to Joe about this, since he was the only other over sixteen person who would probably be insane enough to actually agree with something like this. They slowly nodded, as if they goy the message.

The women left, and I was left to think about what the hell I was even supposed to tell them. I had a strange feeling that I would be seeing them again. And strangely enough, I wanted to know more about the story once I saw them again. When Sheldon had gotten up again, he and I talked about me potentially working a job here, and he was saying that he would be fine with giving me a on call position, if I was genuinely wanting to do this. He told me to try tomorrow and see how one day here would feel, and i agreed with that idea.

A couple of days later, Misty and I were hanging out again. This time just to get to know each other a bit better. I was taking out a cigarette, and Misty grabbed one from me when I offered her one as well, and we were both looking at the streets, and seeing the cars driving by. Misty was then looking at me, as if thinking of what she was wanting to say. "Look, I know it's none of my business, and I understand if you tell me to not press the matter any further, but I heard that your younger brother was hanging out with Lars, and trying to help raise the kid. Do you think that he will be able to handle something like this?" Misty asked, and I wanted to tell her to fuck off here, and stop pestering me over such a thing when it hardly even mattered.

"I think that as long as he stays safe, and doesn't do anything stupid, then it is none of my business. I think that people are way too worried about this. As long as my brother is safe, and he is happy, then he can do whatever the hell he fucking wants." I said, feeling like I just needed to kind of be the one for once to make people get off his back.

"And besides, Lars is a fucking baby. There is no way in hell that he is going to be doing anything to T.K. If anything, I am worried that T.K. will be the one who does something with Lars, and then Lars will be following his bad influences. So yeah, for now, I am just trying to simply make sure that T.K. doesn't do anything stupid." I said, and I was wondering if I was telling the truth when I said that I was more scared of T.K. than I was scared of Lars. In all honesty, there was a smidge of truth to that statement. But there was a smidge of embellishment to the whole thing.

"Lars is a baby with a very powerful dad who will be holding everybody hostage. That is the main thing that I am fucking worried about right now. I am worried that his dad will be coming down on him for something he does. But at the same time, I suppose that Larry is probably not nearly as much tough shit as people kept making him out to be." I said that to Misty, but I wasn't very energized as I said that. I was just sort of saying this to make it seem like I was caring more than I really did. In all honesty, I barley even gave a fuck what was happening.

"Besides, I feel like T.K. has already made his choices. He wants to help with watching Lars and everything. And as long as he is doing it in a way that doesn't put himself in danger, then I suppose that I can't get too angry at him." I said, and then with that, I wanted to ask Misty about her family, and how her family had been feeling about this whole thing. You know, about her friend going missing, or if they had known about her being a lesbian and what not.

"So you were saying that your mom moved here about a year ago, and that she was doing some form of job with her move. Would you mind telling me, what that job was?" I asked, feeling like I needed to see where he was coming from. The look on her face was clearly one of utter shock that I was finding myself caring so much about that in the first place.

"Well, to be honest, she was basically becoming a undercover private detective. She had been hearing a bunch of things that were happening in Wayside. She said she was only taking me because she didn't want to risk something happening to both my brother and I. So she only wanted one of us to come along. I chose to do it because frankly, I was scared out of my mind about how people in my home town were going to react to me and everything. You know, since it is very easy to be ashamed of everything that I have been getting myself into." Misty told me, and she was sounding like she was still ashamed of everything that had been going on in her mind.

"Oh, do you think that I will be able to meet her, and get to know her a bit?" I asked, and then I was seeing her looking like she was a bit scared of me asking this in the first place. As if she was thinking that I needed to take things a step back and stop pressing things any further.

"I don't know if she is taking any visitors. She seems like she is always way too busy to do anything like that. Just don't press something onto her if she doesn't want to. To be honest, I think that she barely even enjoys talking to me to be begin with." She said, and I was slowly nodding, thinking that I would press on that a bit later.

"What if I find something for the case that will be helping us out?" I asked, referring to Robin Beckley most of all, but also really any case that I felt like I might have been able to help her out on. Misty sighed, as if she was already imagining how she was going to have to tell me no once again.

Before long, I got a call, and when I answered it, I heard that it was Joe's voice. "Hey, I just got put in a hospital after an accident that I just had. I was driving to Aurora's place to pick her up on a second date, there was a car that went into the wrong lane, and I had to drive off in order to not get hit, and the speed of the change made me fall off the motorcycle and into the grass." Joe said, and then I sighed, just too scared to say anything else.

"Okay, I will be there in an hour. I'm hanging out with Misty, so I will bring her." I said, hoping that Joe would not be too upset. Misty looked up annoyed with me at choosing this before she even knew what was happening. I hung up the phone, and then I started to head to my car. Misty came along, and when I explained the situation to her, she seemed much less annoyed and much more willing to take this.

We were at the hospital an hour later, and we were seeing Joe walking towards us with a knee brace on his right leg. I was seeing how serious he was looking when he was looking at us. As if he was suddenly realizing how messed up this whole thing really had been, and he was thinking of how he was going to apologize to us for getting us caught up in something that was sort of way beyond anything we wanted to do, especially Misty.

"Are you sure that you want to be going out here again so soon? You still just recently got hurt. I think you might need to take some time to relax before you do something crazy." I said, feeling like I just needed to tell him this before he went off and do anything. Joe looked right at me, and then he took a second to think of what he was wanting to tell me.

"I was talking with Tai yesterday. I was telling him about what my theories about the grinding noise were. Since he was asking me if there was anything that I thought that I would be able to do in order to help make sure that Melissa would stay safe if he asked me to. I told him about how I had been trying to get into my brothers VHS tapes of the café, and see what those men and black had been doing. I heard one of them basically talking about some girl named Zoey Izumi, and where she had gone. I also talked with Tai about everything else that he and I talked about with you." Joe said, and then he took a deep breath, feeling like he just needed to be utterly honest about what he wanted to say.

"To be honest, I saw the way the car was moving into my lane, and then continued to drive off normally after I was already in the bushes, not even trying to check up on if I was alive or dead. The man who did that was trying to kill me, or send a very serious message. Especially since Tai and I were both at the tree house, and I only cut the examining there short because I needed to go on my date with Aurora." Joe said, feeling like he just needed to be utterly straight up here.

"What were you doing in the tree house? Do you think that somebody was watching you two go in there?" I asked, and Misty was looking around, seeming like she was kind of scared of where this was heading. Almost like she was settling into the fact that this was actually going to be a very fun or pleasant discussion at all, and had hoped that we would stop it here before it escalated any further than it had already.

"To be honest, Tai said we should be going there because he remembered hearing your brother mentioning that Yolei went there a day or to before her death, and he was saying that he vaguely remembered her name being written on the tree there. Look, my theory is that Yolei was initially supposed to be the one who went missing, but then she fucking died, and they went with Robin Beckley instead because they needed to go with somebody." He said, and then with that, Joe took a second to think about what his next course of action was going to be. As if he was wondering if he really wanted to actually do this.

"What are you thinking? Are you planning on doing something that we both know you'll regret?" I asked, trying to sound playful, but also being genuine at the same time. He looked right at me, as if he was considering just exactly that. Then with that, he smiled, feeling like he could roll with answering my questions.

"I am going to be going back to that tree house. And Jim made me a deal with me that if I build a dog house for his friend Teppi, then he will tell me what happened with him and his several other friends when he was a kid. You know, with him, Takuya, Koji, and Zoe, and Koichi. And Katsuharu, Chiaki, and Teruo. He said that if I make him that doghouse, then I will have helped him out beyond the basic café obligations, and he would be willing to give me that." As Joe was walking off, throwing his hands in the air saying this, Misty was then looking like she was needing to just honestly know why Joe was going to do that for him.

"Why the fuck are you building a doghouse for your older brothers best friend? That makes no fucking sense." Misty said, and then with that, Joe slowly nodded, feeling like that was fair enough. He sighed, feeling like he might as well just let her know, especially if they were going to be hanging out.

"Because I fucking know that he knows about the Digimon stuff, and I know that Jim used to work with the men in black. Which makes me think he also knows about the Labyrinth, and what that is. And I want to know for the case. As for the dog house, Teppi is trying to start a business, and there are favors that need to be done, and he hadn't been able to finish the dog house as one of the favors, so Jim decided to transfer that favor onto me. Deal for a fucking deal. I will probably be spending the next two days on that." Joe said, and he was heading to his motorcycle again, and I was running to him as fast as possible.

"At least wear a fucking helmet, my dude. Nobody wants to have your head splattered on the fucking street." I said, kind of trying to have some fun here, while also trying my best to make sure that one of my friends wasn't going to be getting himself killed by doing something that literally almost got him killed just some hours ago.

"Once I get that information for you and Tai, who fucking cares anymore? At least I will have done more for this town than most of the people here have. And another reason to do the favor, is that Tai's dad, Takuya, is friends with both Teppi and Jim. And I want to get myself favor on Takuya's end as well." Joe said, feeling like he just needed to be honest about that. With that, he got on the motorcycle, once again refusing to wear a helmet, and I was hoping that the "very serious message" would not get promoted to "murdering him straight up."

"We got to fucking follow him. I have literally zero confidence that he will be getting there safely. Part of me just hopes that he is not trying to get himself killed." I said, and then I was running to my car, and Misty was running after me. Once I was in my car, Misty was then looking a bit annoyed. We were driving after Joe, and she was feeling like she just needed to make some conversation with me as we were driving along.

"What happened to you and Ocho by the way? I thought that Ocho was your best friend." She said, and then I looked right at her, not sure what to even tell her. Especially considering the fact that I wasn't even sure what to say here. I might have felt that way at some point, you know before the fight and everything.

"I thought he was. But when Andrea went missing, and he became very distant, and he barely talked with me anymore, and basically left me wondering what I was going to do with my life. Then we had that fight. You know, imagine the one that Davis and T.K. had when Yolei died… Kind that, but with bloody noses and black eyes rather than Davis straight up breaking T.K.'s arm." I said, and then I was seeing Joe driving the motorcycle, as he was heading the café, and I was seeing him being more careful than he had been on anything in his life to avoid this.

I was thinking about the fact that he had made me scared more than anything in the world when he called about going to the hospital. The fact that for a moment, I was worried that he would die, and I was aware only then how much Joe dying would have utterly fucking broken me.

"Joe is my best friend. If he died in that motorcycle accident, I think I would never be able to recover from that. He has been with me every single step of the way, on my dating life, and my school goals, and hanging out watching those shitty movies every Saturday in that shitty TV in that attic. He is the only friend that I ever had who I felt one hundred percent comfortable with. I guess that I was just in denial because a cool jock being best friends with a fucking nerd is unheard of. But I've known him since the third day of my school year here, and he helped make my school year so much better." I said, not wanting to hide the fact that I wasn't going to hide the label anymore.

"Are you sure that maybe you're not the one who is bringing out the best in him? And not the other way around?" Misty asked, and then I looked right at her, as if wondering what the hell she was meaning here I got that she was trying to make me feel better here. Make me feel less worried about the man that I was. But I was not wanting to fucking hear it.

"Look Misty, I know who I am, and I know that I have a lot of stuff that I can improve on. I am not even thinking that I am a terrible person, but I think that you need to see that maybe I am not the man who you think that I am." I said, thinking about how nice it would be if I was. But that I realistically was not who she thought that I was, and I wished that I wasn't going to be letting her down as much as I had been.

"Matt, I think you need to call up Ocho, and apologize to him as well. I think that if you did that, he would be more than happy to talk to you." She said, and then I looked right at her, and I was wanting to believe in her. But at the same time, I didn't think that it was possible for me to truly call him up, and give him an apology for everything that I had done.

"Maybe I should. And maybe I fucking will. Not that I think much will be coming off of this if I did that. But maybe I have been looking at Ocho wrong this whole time. I mean, that was a month ago now, and I guess that even if I would never have the balls to admit it, I am scared out of my fucking mind, that he might be getting himself killed." I said, feeling like there had been nothing else to fucking hide.

"If you need any help with talking to Ocho, and getting him to open up, I promise that I will fucking do just that." Misty said, and then I was wondering why she was caring so much about that. I mean, she had only known me for a few days, so I was thinking that she had nothing to truly lose out on here.

"Thank you. I will do my best to consider what you say. I just don't know how much will truly be coming from this." I said, and I was seeing her looking like she was believing that in the end, her influence will be the main thing that will keep us together. "And I promise you that if you can get me a chance to meet your mother, I will tell her everything that I can to make sure that she knows that I will be a true friend for you." I said, and I was seeing her looking like she was wanting to believe in me, but had no real idea what to think.

Eventually, we were at the café, and we had seen that Joe was already work with the doghouse, where he was doing it in side the garage that the car normally would have been, but I assume was being worked on for something. He was placing down the boards for the bottom of the tree house, where Joe was smoking a cigarette the entire time he had been working on this. The two or three minutes we were just watching the doghouse being made, I was thinking of how intensive Joe had been working on this. And I was seeing him looking like he was trying to not let his pain with the knee brace be too obvious.

"Hey, do you need any help with that? It seems like you are going to be on that thing for a while, and I want to make sure that you are doing okay." I said, and then Joe was shaking his head. But I was seeing that he wasn't really meaning it, and he was only doing that because he felt like he was having no choice on the matter here.

"I would love it. But Jim said that if I wanted the information, I had to do it all by myself. And honestly, I feel like this will give me some time to think about what the hell I am doing with my life. You guys can hang out while I do this though." He said, and then he was putting on a lot of super glue down on the wooden bottom, and placed boards on where the glue had been. This was him trying to get the walls all set up. Then he took a few pieces, and went over to the table with the saw, so he could work on creating the entrance.

"Do you seriously think this will take you a couple of days to actually make? Or was that just a over estimate that you made to give yourself a bit of wiggle room?" Misty asked, and Joe looked right at her, trying to hide the fact that he was mildly annoyed at the question, but since he was aware that she was asking it with good intentions, did not want to make it any worse.

"Frankly, I don't know how long this will take. I never made a fucking doghouse before. I was trying to do it two days ago, and failed miserably at it. That was half the reason I was hanging out with Tai so much yesterday, was so I could try and fucking get the intel myself. But I fucking failed miserably to find anything here." As he said that, I was slowly nodding, thinking that what he was saying was fair enough, but I was choosing to not talk about it.

"And also, I find myself barely caring how long it will take. I'm going to be taking some time to recover anyways, so I might as well spend my time doing this while I wait." He said, sounding like he had hoped that him just stating this straight up, was enough for me to leave him alone.

"What type of business is Teppi even beginning that would need something like a fucking dog house built for him anyways?" Misty asked, and then Joe looked right at her, shocked that she was even asking something about that. But then he sighed, as if he was finding himself barely even caring anymore.

"I think he is trying to set himself up as a political altruist. I know that those two things are basically oxymorons, but I suppose that it's not that crazy to imagine that there are still some people here who are at least willing to pretend to give a fucking damn what is happening here." Joe said, as he was finishing up sawing up the pieces that he needed to create the door.

"I think Joe mentioned that Teppi had regretted his way of life back in the day, and he wants to try and fix it by doing a better job than he had earlier. Jim said that the person who wanted this favor was somebody who has a kid in Leo's grade." Joe said, and then Misty looked rather confused at that part.

"Who is Leo?" She asked, and then we both looked at her, as if neither one of us were having any desire to go down that rabbit hole tonight. Then Joe looked like he decided that he might as well just get this over with, since she was going to find out sooner or later anyways.

"One of T.K.'s friends. Some ten year old snot ball who is trying to take on the world. He has good intentions, but I think that the way that he is going at them are incredibly misguided." As Joe said this, he was seeing from the look on Misty's face that she was not buying what he said at all.

"Well, I hate to admit it, but he kind of sounds like both of you if you're telling the truth. Just several years younger and probably not really ready to go through this whole thing yet." She said, and then with that, Joe was gluing all the board pieces of the entrance together, and now it had looked like at least the bare basics of this was done. "But anyways, I think as long as he is safe about it at least, then it shouldn't really matter what he is doing, right?"

We spent the next seven hours (six of which were actual work) of so watching Joe put together this dog house, and actually doing pretty good at it, and him making sure it was as good as possible. We took a one hour break three hours into him doing this, where we went to the mini mart a bit down the road and ate some food, and Jim provided some curry on the house for us, given the fact that he felt Joe was earning it by doing all that work.

When he was finished, Jim decided to let us take a few pictures of it while we were with him, and Joe had looked like he was proud of actually finishing this dog house up. Jim said that he would give Joe the information about his friends two days after this (one of which he would have been helping give Teppi the dog house anyways), and Joe decided that he would just go along with that, since he needed to take some time to recover anyways.

After Joe, Misty, and I had our meal to celebrate finishing up the dog house, I ended up heading out to the gas station for the third Midnight to Six am shift (not counting the Sheldon telling me he would put me on call since that's not a shift). Sheldon went to the closest room, and laid down to sleep for those six hours. There were only four customers that came in that entire six hour slot. The first was forty minutes in, the second was two hours and twenty minutes, the third was four and a half hours in, and one was ten minutes before the end. The one that stood out was the second.

It was the lesbian couple again, who were trying to find a guy who could conceive a child for them. "Hey, aren't you that kid that we met a few days ago here?" The older one asked, and I was finding myself barely containing the annoyance at her calling me a kid. But I was thinking about how I might as well just keep my annoyance to myself.

"Yeah, I was. Having any luck on finding the dad?" I asked, and then the younger one just looked saddened at this question. As if she was thinking about how depressed that response made her. Which when I saw that look of agony on her face, I was slowly finding my attitude on the matter dropping.

"The guy we met today looked like he was barely straight to begin with. Can't have a guy be a father for us if he can't even keep his dick straight for the ten minutes we're meeting him in our bedroom. At least we have the desire to have our kid keeping us going. But he doesn't have that." She said, and looked a bit embarrassed to say that.

"Wow, that seems like it might be a bit of an issue." I said, only kind of meaning it, but not really too sure what the hell I was even supposed to tell them. I mean, I did feel bad for them, I really did, but what the hell I was supposed to fucking say. I only sort of knew these people, and I was feeling if I pushed too hard, people might have been thinking that I was feeling pity for them or something like that.

"Yeah, no fucking kidding is it an issue. We were wanting to at least start the pregnancy by the end of the summer, but this is happening, and it is taking so fucking long. We're not even looking for a man who is going to be a super attentive father. Just a man who can get us pregnant, and then we never have to talk to them again." The older woman said, and she was glancing at me for a second. I had no idea what the hell she was getting at with this look.

"Well, I mean that's still a solid month and a half that you can work with somebody once you find the guy that you want. Will the dad take any part in the kids life?" I asked, taking out a cigarette, and then remembering that they wanted a kid, I put it back, and put the pack in my pocket. I did not want to do something that would possibly become a real issue for them before too long. "Maybe if one of you has a brother or something, they can mate with the other one?"

"We don't." The younger one said, almost slightly embarrassed that the thought had never so much as crossed her mind if they did indeed have siblings. "I do have a male cousin. I guess that I can see what I might hear with that." She said, and then I was standing up, deeply bothered by how invested I was getting in this story, and how much I genuinely had wanted to see if they could fix this. But to be honest, I was aware that I would be stepping out of line if I said anything else.

"Well, let me know how that works out. I mean, you already gotten me to know the start of the story. I might as well learn the end of it as well." I said, feeling like I was needing to give this a go. Both women looked at each other, as if feeling like this comment was fair enough. I mean, I already knew a lot of where this was going, so I would see this through to the end, and I suppose anytime I met them, I would maybe suggest a man that could donate for them.

"Fair enough, I guess I see what you mean." The older woman said, but I could tell from the tone of her voice that she wasn't too sure what she was supposed to feel here. "We don't even know your name." She said, and then I shrugged, feeling like that was fair enough. After all, I didn't even know their names as well, and I was in the middle of a serious conversation with these two about how much they wanted a kid.

"Matt. I just started to do this. I wanted to do something that would show my girlfriend that I am actually genuinely trying to be a real adult here." I said, feeling like I might as well be honest about what I was doing. The looks on their faces, both of them, were looks of feeling a bit unsure how they wanted to respond to that.

"Well, Matt, I suppose that next time we see you, we will update you on the story. Hopefully you will hear a update that will satisfy your interest." She said, mostly just trying to create peace with me. "Well, we need to be heading out soon." One of them said, which annoyed me greatly because they didn't even decide to buy anything, which was me wondering what the hell the point of them even coming here was, and me wondering why I didn't just kick them out yet.

As they left, I was pondering what it would be like when they find their man for this. I was hoping that I could meet the kid after he or she was born, and I was hoping that this kid would have good mothers who would show them how much they loved them, and would do everything for them. I had full faith that they were going to be the best parents in the world.

It was three or four days later, when I was getting a call from Joe to meet him at the café. I immediately knew this was him telling me what Jim had told me. And honestly, I was very excited to see what this was going to be, so I agreed with meeting up with him. Before I even could suggest seeing him at the café (partially for the curry but also to ensure he didn't drive that fucking motorcycle without a damn helmet) he was already at the house, as I was getting to the car.

Once he was there though, I put on a smile, feeling like I might as well see what was on his mind. "So Joe, do you have anything that you want to tell me?" I asked, as we went inside, me thanking all the gods that existed that neither of my parents nor T.K. were here, so I could just sit down, and see what Joe had to tell me, objectively speaking, without any interference.

"So Jim was telling me that Tai's father, Takuya, actually had to make connections with those men in black when he was fifteen. According to Jim, he had to get a meeting with Shaun in order to deliver him a very important parcel that had certain proof that this alternate world exists. When I asked him what it was, Jim explained to me that the parcel contained ten devices that had allowed the holder of said device to change shape." Joe said, aware of how silly the whole thing had sounded.

"Why would he give those to Shaun? Did he ever think that Shaun might just do something with them? If you ask me, that is him being retardedly irresponsible." I asked, and Joe was looking a bit bothered by the wording of this, but then he sighed, and just pretended like it was not that big of a deal what he was hearing.

"Jim said that Takuya thought that he could use this as a bargaining chip. One of the ten in that group, Chiaki, had become a Labyrinth victim, according to Jim. Takuya had thought that he could use that as a way to gain intel on what happened to Chiaki, as well as possibly gain a pardon for some of the things that he and his friends had to do. He was hoping that by giving up something so big, they would listen to them. Then he also said that another one of them, Koichi, died, sacrificing himself to destroy Cherubimon or something like that. And Takuya was also trying to honor Koichi just as much as he was trying to possibly find Chiaki." Joe said, and then he was looking right at me, as if hoping that I would appreciate what he had done.

"So Takuya was hoping that by giving up everything, he would gain one thing in return? In other words, he was basically a tragic hero?" I asked, feeling like there had been no better way to word what happened. "I guess that maybe I should talk to Tai about what he thinks about the whole thing."

"Yeah, basically. At least, that's what it feels like he was trying to do. In a way, I have a lot of respect for the dude. He gave everything up and didn't even care if it was the right thing or the wrong thing. In a way, I kind of wish more men in the world were like Takuya. Jim also told me that Teppi was wanting to meet with people like your brother, because he said that his regret and remorse over everything had been eating him so fucking badly, that he just wanted to finally get the truth out there." As Joe said that, I was wondering if Teppi was one of the biggest issues he had here.

"How does he even know what T.K. has been doing?" I asked, scared out of my mind what this was meaning. I was seeing from the look on his face that Joe was not one hundred percent sure, so he just went with what he was thinking was the most likely idea in his head.

"I assume that Jim just brought him up at some point, possibly in reference to how much T.K. is trying to find out what is happening with Labyrinth and all that shit. I think that he thinks that by talking to T.K., he might get T.K. to talk a bit more, and tell him everything." As Joe said this, he shrugged, hoping I would hear him.

"Well, if he is going to be talking to Teppi at some point, I want to know what the fuck Teppi has to say to my brother. I deserve to know if Teppi will be good for my brother. If T.K. gets something that he feels like is basically a opening to act like even more of a crazy buffoon, then I am not going to be ready to handle it." I said, feeling like I just had to be utterly honest.

"Is he really a crazy buffoon if he is the only one here who actually has a fucking point?" Joe asked, and then he started to continue talking about the whole Jim thing. "Jim was telling me that one of the reasons why so many trains have gotten destroyed since then is because after hearing about how the Trailmon would bring them into a different world, the people working at Lazarus decided to destroy as many of the trains heading that way as they could, in order to potentially prevent access into that world. But Jim himself feels like that is not enough to prevent access into the Digital World. I think that there are so many other ways that people can go in there."

"Oh, that would indeed explain a lot. For some reason, I never really thought of that. The thought just never really crossed my mind here." I said, and it was probably because I was still barely understanding the whole thing with the Digimon and what not, and I was feeling like I had a long way to go before I truly ever was able to understand what was going down.

"I think that maybe we should make sure that more of those aren't fucking destroyed." Joe said, and then he looked right at me, as if he was really hoping that I would take him up on some offer that he was going to make. Not sure what the hell the offer was going to be there. "I want to check the train graveyard, and see which ones are still there, since I want to make sure that none of those get destroyed anymore if I can help it."

"Will you be coming with me?" Joe asked, and I was thinking of the fact that truth be told, I did not really want to be doing this. In all honesty, I was feeling like this was going to be the biggest waste of time of all time. But I also knew that deep down, I had nothing to fucking lose, and I would much rather be doing this than say T.K. doing this. Him being the one getting involved in this was making me want to have a fucking firm stance on doing the right thing.

"How about tomorrow? I mean, we might as well see where this can go before we do anything too dangerous." I said, and I was seeing from the look on his face, that he was not too happy with my answer. As if he had wanted to do this right now. But when I was pointing towards his knee cast, I had seen that he knew that maybe one more day of letting it rest was not the worst idea in the world. So he sighed, as if in acceptance of this.

"Yeah, fine, tomorrow. But I will be going, with or without you. I don't care if my leg is any better." Joe said, and then I was smiling, thinking of the next thing that I would ask him. And I was hoping that he would actually answer my fucking question without ignoring me or anything like that.

"How did Teppi like the dog house?" I asked, and then Joe looked annoyed that I had even brought it up in the first place. As if that was officially the thing that would be ticking him off way too much to even think straight whenever I brought it up. Then he took a deep breath, as if feeling like he needed to regain his composure before he got too angry at me.

"Teppi said that he was probably going to just get the endorsement anyways, and wanted me to build the doghouse because he wanted to see me finish a project for once. Then he said that the main reason he even needed that doghouse was just so he could use that as a sign of good will for that guy, and nothing else. Just a fucking sign of good will." Joe said, sounding annoyed that he even said this.

"So basically, this was just a fucking test, and literally nothing else. I feel so fucking annoyed that I ended up doing something just to have him reveal to me that he would have told me the truth anyways." Joe said, and then with that, he sighed. Almost like nothing really mattered anymore, since he now made his point, so he would just give it a rest now.

"Yeah, in a way, I want to get angry about the whole thing, but to be fair, I did tell Jim that I would do whatever he wanted me to do before he would give me the information. Basically just whatever he had thought of, I would do. So yeah, I guess that I did kind of do that to myself." As Joe admitted this, he sounded like he was annoyed that he even admitted this in the first place. Then with that, he simply shrugged, seeming like he had nothing else to say.

"Yeah, you did kind of do that to yourself. Were you seriously wanting the information so much that you would literally do anything he asked you to?" I asked, and then Joe was thinking about that for a second. Almost like he was aware of how that must have sounded. Then he slowly nodded, feeling like he would have probably done that.

"I might not have enjoyed what he asked me to do, like at all, but I would have been a man of my word, and I would have done exactly just that. Whatever he asked of me, I would have swallowed my pride and done it." Joe said, already aware how much he hated that admission.

"Well, I guess that I can say that you were determined to get that info. I wish that I had that same degree of determination as you did." I said, feeling like I would cut the crap, and be utterly honest with him. The smile on his face was real enough to make me feel like I could take solace in making him happy again.

"And I did want to help you out. You know, since you have been needing it a lot lately. I just hope you actually don't fucking do anything that will make me regret this." Joe finished, and I was wondering what he was meaning when he was saying this. Especially since Joe had never seemed to doubt me before. Then he was just suddenly throwing that onto me, like he was thinking that I could never make it right.

"Well, I am glad that you seem to understand what it is like to do the right thing at all times." I said, feeling like there was nothing else to say. With that, I then thought about T.K. talking to Teppi, and seeing how in the world something like this even work out. "Thank you for telling me everything that has been going on. You have no idea how much that makes me feel valued."

I ended up getting a call from Misty. She was telling me that she wanted to talk to me about something. She said she wanted me to come alone. I told her that I would meet her in two hours, but that Joe and I needed to finish up a conversation, then I would be there. When the talk ended, I told Joe what was happening, and ninety minutes later, I was out of the house, heading over to talk to Misty, to see what was on her mind.

Once I was at her house, she had just looked so glad to be seeing me here. She looked like she was just relieved about this entire thing. As if she had been genuinely worried about the fact that I wouldn't come to her, to talk to her. I was shaking my head, since that was something that she did not need to worry about. It would be really shitty if I was trying to be her friend, and then I proceeded to not do the one thing that I would do to keep our friendship together.

"Hey Misty, was there something that you wanted to fucking tell me?" I asked, and then Misty just sat down, looking at the house again. Then she looked like she was on the verge of crying, and I felt like I needed to find literally anything to tell her in order to get her to open up here.

"Not much, if I may be fucking honest. Well, I guess that's a fucking lie. Truth be told, I wanted to tell you the truth. There was more reasons for me moving than just what I fucking said. I had also moved here because my mom and I agreed that it would be best for me to come here. You know, given the truth about me." Misty said, and then I was looking right at her, wondering what the hell she meant here.

"What the fucking hell, are you fucking talking about?" I asked, not wanting to hide the fact that I was finding myself rather unsure what to fucking feel here. Misty then looked like she had been trying to convince herself out of telling me once again, but then she decided that the main thing that she needed to do was just go on and take a fucking leap of faith.

"I wanted to talk to you about myself. The main reason I wanted to continue hanging out with Robin Beckley wasn't because of the fact that she was just my friend… It was because I was thinking, that she was looking at me too. And when I considered how she was possibly looking at me, I thought that I would be more special than I had been." Misty said, and I was taking a few moments to think deeply about what she had said. When I was piecing together what she was meaning, I then slowly nodded, glad that she was feeling safe to tell me what she was having on her mind.

"Are you saying that you were in love with Robin Beckley?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to be utterly honest about where this was. If I was wrong, the two of us could laugh this out. But if I was right, then I needed to take this as carefully and as humbly as possible. She had decided to give me some really big intel, and I needed to show as much compassion for the subject as I could possibly muster.

"Yes, Matt, I fucking am saying exactly that. And I know that many people will hate me simply for the type of person that I like. And I think that is completely fucking unfair. I mean, I know that I am a fucking freak, but I wonder why people fucking care so much about something that is none of their business." As she said that to me, I was then starting truly see the pain that she was in, and I was seeing how unfair it was that I had been thinking uneasy thoughts on people like her this whole time when she was trying to simply be happy.

For some reason, when I had been actually talking to her, and seeing how she had been, I realized how much I wanted to change myself. For her, as well as everybody else here. She, and other people like her, didn't deserve to have something happen to her like this just because she liked women. And I was feeling like this was the ultimate wakeup call for this.

"Thank you for being honest with me, Misty. I really appreciate it, and hearing you say all this is changing my mind a lot. It is making me see that I should have done things different than I have been with people." I said, feeling like I just needed to say what she needed to hear. She deserved to have an ally at her side, who would always be there for her, no matter what happened, and I was hoping that she would see that I was genuinely trying to extend that offer to her, and I was hoping beyond everything that she would fucking take it.

"Thank you Matt.. I knew that undernearth everything that you say and do, that you do truly feel the need to help everybody out the best that you can. You're a good man." She said, and then with that, the silence between the two of us had been growing immensely, before I felt like I just needed to ask her the biggest question that I had been on my mind the entire time.

"Does everybody else in your family know? I mean, you mentioned you doing the move with your mother so you can fucking get away from here, and be able to have a new start?" I asked, and then she looked right at me, as if she was glad to hear that I was interested in this side of things. I was hoping that if her family did know, that they were supportive of her, and they were willing to not judge her.

"My older twin brother, by one hundred and eleven minutes, Max, knows about me. He said that he knew something was up with me since we were children, but he didn't want to push the subject. I told him the night before the move, because I felt that after all he has done to be at my side over time, that he deserved to fucking know. I just hope that I don't live to regret telling him this, because I don't want to alienate him from me. But he always just seemed more busy than distant with me when we would talk on the phone after the move. Almost like he was just unable to do anything like catching up. I just hope that he is doing well himself." Misty said, and then I was thinking that maybe I should take some time to get to know that about her more, more about her brother.

"Would you be willing to talk to me about Max Dasher? I've talked in detail about my brother. I would want to know more about your brother." I said, and then I was seeing from the look on her face that she was taking a second to consider that. Then with that, she slowly nodded, feeling like she was willing to go along with that for now.

"Well, he is a really nice guy, all things considered. He just has a bit of a distant side to him. Always just seems like he doesn't really want to talk to anybody that he doesn't know too well. In a way, I can't really blame him, given the fact that neither one our parents have really been there for us, and to be honest, I think in a way, he is just as bothered by this whole thing as I am. He just has a harder time saying it loud." Misty said, feeling like she just needed to try and see where her brother had been coming from. I sighed, since I had no idea what the hell her and her brother had been going through. What I did know was that I wante to try and change it.

"You need to let me talk to your mother. Maybe if I can be able to get to know her better, I might be able to see how I can help you both out with fixing this entire thing. You just need to give me a fucking chance to prove myself." I said, and I was seeing Misty looking like she was actually considering what I was telling her for once. Then she slowly nodded, thinking that maybe she would take what I said, and run with this.

"I think if my mom were to ever find out of my sexuality, she would never be able to forgive me. She would think that I ruined her entire life. She would think that her daughter was a fucking mistake. I can't fucking run the risk of that being what happens. So please, just don't talk to her really at all. I can't have the risk being run of you just blabbing that intel to her." She said, and I was slowly nodding. I did not enjoy what she was saying, but deep down, I did understand what she was meaning here.

"Okay, fair enough. But I want to get to know the job that she does. I want to know if the job is really worth the secrecy? Why is that too much to fucking want?" I asked, and I looked right at her, hoping that she was going to take my question, and give me a genuine answer here. She looked down, thinking exactly of what I had said.

"Well, frankly, I think that she told me that she was close to finding out what was going on with Labyrinth, and she wants to expose it to the world. But that in order to do so, she has to find access to the actual dungeon. I think she wants to be the one that brings the information out to the public, and ruin the lives of all those involved with a fucking bang. She said that she doesn't care if she dies, as long as the truth of Labyrinth will be revealed. And I never heard her sounding more convinced of anything that she said in her life." She said, and I was smiling at this. If this was something that she felt like she needed to state for her mother, then she might just go ahead and have it. And I was going to let her have that moment.

But then I needed to come back to the main moment at hand. The thing that she told me, and I felt like she needed to have her moment, without anything else taking away from her. "Frankly, I think it is awesome that you told me that. And frankly, you are awesome in general. I hope that you know that nothing about you, and your sexual preferences have changed that in any way shape or form. And I will do whatever I fucking can to support you, and be a good friend, no matter what might be coming up. I just need you to promise me one fucking thing: Will you always do whatever you can to never stop being an utterly amazing person, no matter what fucking happens?"

"Thank you, Matt. I always believed you were the man to be there to listen to me no matter what. I am so fucking glad that I was right about what I thought." She said, sounding like she was coming back to her senses. "Matt, please just take my advice: If you meet any girls like me, no matter how well you know them in general, be there for them, and do what you can to show that they are still valid and respected."

"I promise you. And I promise you that for as long as we know each other, I will do everything I can to be an ally for you. And even afterwards, I will be an ally for those who need the help and support that a friend needs." I said, feeling like I just needed to run away with this. I needed to get her to see that I was willing to do whatever I could for her sake now.

"You're the first person that has told me that, and made me actually fucking believe in them. You are a fucking hero, Matt." As she told me this, I was seeing her finally looking like a weight has been lifted off her shoulder, and she had seemed like everything else was finally coming together for once in her life.

"Well, I feel awful that other people have told you that, and given you a false sense of hope. You never deserved something like this." I said, feeling like this was all that I needed to say to make her believe me more.

"Yeah, it fucking hurts. I feel like for once, I can start the road of healing." Misty said, and then with that, I was feeling so glad that she brought me out here. I was so glad that Joe agreed to let me see her, and didn't make any fights about the whole thing.

When I was back at the gas station again, doing my sixth round there, when I was once again seeing the lesbian couple walking into the gas station again. Unlike the first time, or even the second time, I was seeing them looking much more detached, and not really into the whole thing anymore. I think that they had find of lost any interest that they had in the subject earlier. And to be honest, I didn't exactly blame them considering how much they wanted this kid, and the fact that it might have seemed like they were never going to fucking have one.

"No luck this time, I'm guessing?" I asked, and I was being genuinely concerned for them, and I was not just saying that to be a smart ass. But I could tell from the looks on their faces that they did not seem to be in the mood to listen to me talking that way at the current moment.

"No, this time the guy was saying that he had no real commitment to the whole thing. While we said last time we just simply wanted a donor, we also both agreed that we wanted to let the father have one visit with them every year, on their birthday, and we also agreed that with that in mind, we did want the father to take over responsibility for the kid shall we die." They said, and I did not realize how important something like this discussion really had been at the time.

"Do you think that you will ever find a guy here?" I asked, and I was hoping that they would have better luck on the whole thing. But at the same time, the whole thing was in way over my head. Both women looked right at me, as if they were considering the question that I had just asked, and seemed to be thinking that it was a perfect question to ask, and they were willing to just take some form of a shot in the dark with this.

"Well, I guess that there is one that neither one of us had considered." She said, and then looked right at me, as if she was feeling like she could not believe it herself that she was about to even ask this… But then she just took a sigh, feeling like she needed to take a genuine leap of faith here.

"Would you be willing to do it? You've had a lot of compassion for us when we needed it, and you are a good guy. Plus, you're good looking, and you're young. If you accept, you would sleep with each of us once a week, and you will be paid twenty dollars each time. This process will keep repeating until one of, or both of us, are confirmed pregnant. After that, you will not need to see us again until the birth of the kid, and the annual birthday." She said, and I must remind people reading this, in Minnesota, the age of consent is sixteen, so I was a year above the age of consent.

"I don't really know if this is a smart idea. I mean, if my family ever has to find out about this, then this would be a really bad situation." I said, looking right at them. The older woman had looked like she was already regretting asking this, and looked like she was already aware that this could have probably happened when she thought it out.

"Would you be willing to at least think about it?" She asked me, and then I slowly considered that for a second. I then nodded at that, feeling like promising them that I would think about it was the best thing that I could do. I was still finding the whole thing utterly insane, and I was feeling like this was the worst question any of them could have asked.

"Fair enough. Thanks for nodding yes to that. We will give you one week to decide. We will hold off on questioning anybody until that point. Call us on this number once you have decided one way or another. If you don't call us back by one week, we will take that as a no." She said, and then she gave me a note with her phone number on it.

"Okay, fair enough. If I say no, I will at least find somebody who would be able to do it for me. I will just have to get him to hear my proposition." I said, looking at the sleeping room, wondering if either Sheldon, or either of the women, would agree to this idea, or if they would be brushing me off, thinking that I was insane for even suggesting this idea in the first place.

"As long as you give an actual answer, even if it's no, we will still give you a one time fifty dollar thank you compensation payment for at least taking the time to consider it. That will be your incentive to at least give us an answer, and not just ghost us, even if you say no." The younger woman said, and I was slowly nodding at that. I felt like that was fair enough, and I would roll with that compromise.

"Okay, fair enough. I can roll with that." I said, and then with that, I looked at the time, thinking about how it could be strange that if I accepted this, and it went through right away, I could theoretically be a father, biologically at least by the time I was eighteen, and by April of next year. The whole thing was really strange to think about.

As they were leaving me there that day, deep down inside, I had remembered what Misty told me to do if I ever saw any gay women who needed my help. So realistically, I had already decided that the answer would be yes. I guess the main reason I waited that entire week was to see if I could find a way around this to justify saying no or giving them off to somebody else. Plus to be honest, I was thinking about how much I would need the money, and I was thinking that alone would be enough to go through with this crazy ass idea. If not for the becoming a dad, to have an extra forty bucks a week under my belt.

Several days had passed, and I had decided to call Ocho up, and just give him the apology that I knew that he deserved but I was being way too stubborn about this whole time. I realized he didn't really deserve me treating him like crap for no reason, and that everything that did make us upset was all a while ago, and that I just needed to put that aside, for the sake of creating good community and what not.

"Hey, I know that there is a chance you either might not be hearing this, or you simply don't want to be hearing this, but I felt like it was time for me to say sorry to you. You know, for being an asshole. For being a terrible friend, who didn't show you the compassion that you deserved when you deserved it the most. I feel like you have every reason to hate me for the way that I handled this over the last several weeks. But I want to just be honest with you, I don't want to stop being friends with you. I want to give this another go. All that I want is for us to actually be good with each other again." I said, remaining silent for the time being. But I had a feeling that saying this was not going to be a comment that would truly land.

"You know, you are a much better man than I will ever be. Let me make that clear right now. You actually have a degree of honor that I respect, and you actually seem to respect what other people go through, and you don't judge them for things that are beyond their power. I feel like at the end of the day, I really do need to be more like you, and less like myself. But I guess that saying that is not going to really make a difference. We both already know that you are not going to listen to a word of what I say. We both know that you have already made your decision on hating me. But I just want you to know that I regret ever thinking that you might have had anything to do with Andrea and her case." I said, feeling like that was a good stopping point for the call, and that pushing it any further for no real good reason was going to accomplish nothing.

Once I hung up, feeling like the apology was over staying its welcome, and if I went the other way, I might start going in the opposite direction of it, and becoming very bitter for no good reason, I decided that if he heard this, and accepted my apology, I would run with it. If he did no, then I would be cool with this, and accept what he was feeling.

I sat down, looking at the outside window, and I was wondering what good what I did really accomplished. In all honesty, I felt like it probably did not accomplish a single thing at all. All that it did was possibly just simply make Ocho hate me slightly less than he probably currently did at that point. Slightly less than I deserved, given how everything had been.

After about five minutes, I heard a phone call, and I picked it up, hoping that if it was indeed Ocho, we could just get this discussion over with, and he would tell me what had been on his mind. Why he was being such a gritty asshole for no reason, when the fight had been nearly a month ago, and that by this point, we should have just put it behind us.

"Hey, thank you for making that call and apologizing. I was left wondering if you were ever going to have the courage to do so. I know I certainly did not. I was wanting to contact you for a while. Sorry for just not giving you anything. How have you fucking been lately?" He asked, and I felt like if he was genuinely trying to have conversation, then conversation was what he was going to fucking get from me.

"Ocho, we're better than this. We are supposed to be fucking helping each other no matter what. We are supposed to be people who stand at each others side no matter what happens. I think that we have kind of lost out on that, and I think that we have lost what is really important. Want to meet up in person tomorrow, and we can talk about this." I said, genuinely meaning every word of what I said, although the moment of silence did scare me a bit.

"Yeah, I guess that tomorrow might work. Not exactly sure if this is going to be the best idea in the world. But you know, I suppose that it's better to do it while the iron is still hot than when we have sort of moved on, and then we both find ourselves making excuses to justify not going through with this." Ocho said, and then with that, I took a deep breath, since I felt like I needed to know what he had on his fucking mind.

"How has the investigation been going lately? Do you think that you are any closer to finding the truth than you were when we split up?" I asked, feeling like I might as well just be straight up with the guy. I knew that the conversation was going to have to come up eventually, so I might as well just get it over with, and not press the matter any further than I had.

"Not as well as I would admit. I mean, I know that you probably want to fucking rub it in. But truth be told, I have been making next to no progress on any of this at all. I think that a small part of me just wants to not even bother with this whole thing, given exactly this. I feel like even Andrea would want me to be putting this behind me. But something about this whole thing really rubs me off. I feel like if I were to give up, then I would have done nothing for Andrea, and I would be by effect sentencing her and everybody else she cares about to death." Ocho told me, and I was feeling like I just needed to give her that. I knew exactly what he was meaning, and I had no reason to fight him on this.

"Well, I think at the end, you get to do what makes you feel better. If you feel like you need to continue this quest, then I will give you my support. If you feel like you need to just leave this go, then frankly I might actually have to agree with you, and I think you need to leave this behind. Just make sure that once you make your decision, you know what you are doing, and you don't run away from it." I said, feeling like that was the last thing I needed to say there.

"You're right. I have to put aside what everybody else thinks I should do, and just straight up do what I need to fucking do. Okay, I guess that maybe that is the obvious answer. I just don't know if I can have the courage to do something as important as that when I have been making mistakes this entire journey, and I feel like none of them are getting me any closer to making peace than I currently have been." As he said that, I was understanding what he was saying, and I was accepting that.

"Truth be told, I think that I need to do this. I need an answer. Where the fuck is Andrea? That is all that I fucking need. Once I get that answer, then I can finally rest, and I can put this whole thing behind me forever. Matt, when that time comes, I will tell you what I fucking find, and I promise that I will not be holding anything back from you." He said, and then with that, there was a moment of silence between the two of us. I could tell that neither one of us were buying what he said at all.

"If you think that you need to do this, I will not fight you or judge you. In fact, I feel better knowing that is the answer you pick. I just hope that when you try and do this, I will actually be at your side." I responded, since I felt like I might as well just run with this, and what not. I smiled to myself, knowing that Ocho was going to become a man of strong devotion as long as he was simply given the chance to.

"That makes me feel better to hear. You know, you always seemed like you were the sensible person when you were putting aside your emotions, and going ahead to do the right thing. I just really hope that I don't regret saying this. Matt, just promise me that you are not going to bring your brother into this whole thing. He is too young and too sensitive to this stuff, even if he thinks that he can handle it, I highly doubt that he will actually be able to do it.

"I promise you, I feel the same way. He is a persistent bastard though, and I think that he will do whatever the hell he wants regardless. In a way, I really respect that about the guy, and it makes him a fierce warrior, in a matter of speaking, but that doesn't mean that I have to fucking like him doing this." I said, feeling like I just needed to run with saying this, and not fight the matter at all.

"Well, I think that now we made our points loud and clear, so I think we should just call it here for now. Hopefully this doesn't become a massive fucking mistake." Ocho said, and then with that, we both ended the conversation, and I was just finding myself glad that he was willing to at least consider me on talking terms again. Which after all this time, I was scared I wouldn't be able to accomplish that.

When I finished up with my talk with Ocho, I decided that I would see how Misty had been doing. I felt like I had been putting that one off for way too fucking long, and I felt like if she was needing any help on anything at all, I had no reason to turn her down. So I was getting to my car, taking out a cigarette, starting to smoke it, and then started to head off towards her place. With ach passing minute me swearing at myself for not at least calling to see how she had been earlier.

Once I was at Misty's house, I was seeing her looking right at me, and she looked like she was just feeling really glad to know that I had been taking the time to reach out to her, no matter what happened. And that her coming out to me was still not putting an effect on our friendship and what not. I don't know, the whole thing felt so fucking wrong, to just end a friendship over something that petty, and I hated the fact that there was a part of me that was even considering it for a point in time, and I was not going to hide the fact that I was incredibly ashamed of that face.

"Hey Matt, good to see you again. Thank you for coming by, and seeing how I was doing. I was worried that I might have upset you with everything that happened earlier. Especially since we have been hanging out so much, that I am worried that you have not been able to be there for Sora and your other friends." Misty said, as if she was remembering all the fun times that we had together, and she was growing immense regret that there was a very good chance that this was all going to be gone before too long, if what she feared would come true.

"Look, you do not have to worry about anything like that. I am making my own choices here. I want to see how you have been doing. Nobody else is forcing that onto me. You don't need to be paranoid or anything like that." I said, and I was seeing him looking like he was considering where else to go. Then he just sighed, and decided to leave the subject alone for the time being.

"Well, you know, I was telling the truth when I told you that after our discussion, where I told you the truth about myself, I started to feel much better about everything. I feel like just telling somebody I care about that made me feel so much better about you know, my outlook on this town. And my respect for you went up immensely after you were there for me, and you were a good friend who didn't reject me for simply having the preferences that I have.

"That is enough to make me happy, Misty. You have no idea how much better it makes me feel to know that you are doing better because of what you did. I always wanted you to be happier, and when I see you doing well, that is enough to make me feel like I finally did something right." I told Misty, and the moment of quiet between us, where neither one of us felt the need to say anything, was enough for me to know that we both understood where this was going.

"You know, Matt, I feel like your family is really lucky to fucking have you. Knowing that they have a son who actually wants to try and help people out, by simply listening to them, and not giving any real bullshit at it. I think that if Sora knew that this was the way you were doing things now, she would change her perception of you very quickly. Or at least, I hope that she would be able to change it.

"I hope that you're fucking right. I mean, I guess that it depends on what you would count as lucky or not. Regardless, I just can't let somebody who I know is struggling a lot, suffer for no reason, because I will admit that I don't understand your sexuality. I'm not going to pretend like I fucking do. But not understanding it is fucking a terrible reason to not be there for somebody who needs help." I said, and then with that, Misty and I just stood silent for a moment, not even sure if there was any other way to discuss this.

"I don't know, I think my brother would be mildly annoyed if I am helping out in this way rather than helping out with the missing peoples cases. But that is him just trying to be a hero. I don't need to be a hero. I just need to be a friend. Sometimes, people just need a fucking friend more than they need a hero, and I think that one day, T.K. will fucking see that. If he doesn't though, then I am going to be feeling extremely fucking sorry for him, and everything that he is going through." I said, and I was thinking that when we crossed that bridge again, we would be having a long time ahead of us.

"Well, maybe I can meet your brother at one point, and I can try and explain to him the value of how you do things instead. He might be willing to hear me out if I am the one that does it." She said, and I was looking right at her, since to be honest, I had no idea if this was the smartest idea in the world.

"Well, If you genuinely think you can get him to talk, and you think he would be willing to listen to you, then be my fucking guest. Just don't be fucking shocked if he ends up telling you that he doesn't want to fucking hear it. And trust me, from personal experience, don't fucking fight it. Just let him have his moment. That would make things a hundred times easier for everybody involved here." I said, feeling like there was no need to bullshit around this.

"I don't think I can get him to talk as much as I think that I think that I can have a much better chance of making this work out than you do. At least with me, due to the fact that he barely knows me, he might be willing to give me a fucking chance to make my fucking point. And I think that is already well more than enough to make this worth the try. I mean, like you said, you know he will say no to you. You don't exactly know if he will say no to me. I think that is enough to make this work out." Misty told me, and I was still feeling like this whole thing was fucking wrong. But at the same time, I was feeling like none of this really mattered at the end of the day.

"Okay, when you put it that way, I guess what you're saying is fair enough. This whole thing is a fucking mess though, I fucking hate to admit, and I wonder if things would have been better if you simply never had to fucking deal with me ever." I said, and then I was taking another cigarette out. Misty looked at it, as if she was finally feeling like that was the one that took it way too far. Like this was the cigarette where she was finally feeling like she needed to tell me that I needed to fucking dial it back. Which I would admit, if that was the case, I would be finding myself wondering what was going on in her mind.

"Matt, do you think you should probably at least tone it down with all the cigarettes? I mean, you have been smoking them so much that I think you might just make things a hundred times worse than it already is." She said, and I was finding myself annoyed that this was the direction she was taking our talk.

"I don't think that I can. I mean, it's just me fucking smoking and shit. It's not like I am doing anything inherently offensive here." I said, and I was feeling kind of uncomfortable with this whole thing. I mean, I didn't want her to be feeling bad for me, but at the same time, I wasn't exactly wanting her to tell me what to fucking do.

"But it's been every fucking time, my dude. Tone it down, is all I said. Not even fucking stop it entirely." Misty said, and then with that, she sighed, as if she was aware that I was not going to listen to her, and that she was wasting her time even asking this. Then with that, she thought of what to say now.

"I tried to talk to Max yesterday. He was really pissed off at me though. He felt kind of offended with the fact that I never told him anything about the progress mom had been making on the investigation. He said that he felt like he deserved to know more, and that I needed to stop ignoring him. He said that he deserved to know what was going on, after all the stuff that he did for me when we lived together. I guess I get it. But just not fucking this." Misty said, and she was sounding like she was really letting the implications of what she said start to sink in.

"Well, do you think that the progress has even been notable in any way at all? I mean, if you genuinely feel like its not really worth discussing, then I think that you need to just fucking talk with him about that. Just tell him that she has found nothing." I said, and then after I started down this path, that was when Misty snapped at me, in a way that I was kind of scared over, because I thought that we were beyond the point of us snapping at each other.

"Mom did fucking find something. She found something really big. She has made it clear that she genuinely believe sto me that whatever she fucking found is gong to be the thing that blows this entire operation sky high. But she keeps telling me that I need to be more patient with her and what not. I don't know if I can fucking do that." She said, looking right at me, feeling like she was a terrible person for suggesting this, but she just had to.

"If it is true, that there is any chance at all that what she does is going to bring the truth of the Labyrinth out to the public, I need to fucking tell the world right away. I first just simply need to find out if all the stories about Labyrinth are even true in the first place." Misty said, and then I was taking a deep breath, feeling like I just needed to explain to her why she knew that this could be going very south very quickly.

"Misty, you got to think this out rationally. You know that this could be a fucking mistake and a half if you agree to this. I love you so much as a fucking friend, and I refuse to stand by the side, not do anything, while you end up doing something that could get you killed." I said, feeling on the verge of snapping at her for what she was doing.

"I know that it is a mistake and a half doing this. But I feel like it will be a double mistake if I just sit behind and do nothing. But before I do any of that, I need to make sure that my mom will actually tell me the shit that I want to fucking know. I want to make sure that my mom will actually be honest with me. Until then, I have no material to even make a mistake like this in the first place." She said, shrugging at this fact, as if seemingly willing to accept the truth of that.

"Look, I have a feeling that maybe mom and I can trade secrets. If I tell her that I am gay, then she might be willing to tell me the stuff that she is finding with Labyrinth, and what Labyrinth even is. And if she does tell me that, I will let you and your friend Joe have that intel right away. I feel like this is the best thing that I can do to make this bullshit and insanity have any remote chance of working." She said, and then I sighed in annoyance as she was telling me this. I felt like I had nothing to fucking lose by playing along with this for the time being, and maybe she could be able to convince me that I was not looking at this in any smart way.

"Misty, please don't put your entire livelihood in danger because of this. If you end up doing that, then I feel like you are going to only serve to make things worse. What if she hates the coming out? What if she thinks that she can no longer love you because of that? Are you willing to make that risk for no fucking reason? All just because you want to gain a bit of a footing on her telling you the truth? It Is not going to be that simple, and I have no idea if I can sit there, and let you do that." I said, and then Misty looked right at me, as if feeling like she just needed to be straight up with me.

"It might fucking be worth it though. You know that I am right when I fucking say that. You know that if she tells me the truth, then you will be regretting ever telling me I am doing the wrong thing here. You just need to give me fucking chance." Misty said, and I was shaking my head. I felt like this was really dumb.

"If you make this decision, I will not fucking stop you. But Misty, please don't do something if you think there is even a small chance that this will ruin your life. I can never forgive myself if you did this all because you thought that I should do things differently." I said, and I was seeing Misty looking like she was trying to respect what I told her.

"I know that my decision might be one that you regret hearing. But I just needed to be straight up with you. I know that you are going to do things that I am going to disagree with. And I think we just need to accept the fact that we will inherently disagree on these things. I think that as long as we stay together, then we will be doing the best thing for the people. You and I, we will make this work." Misty said, and we shook our hands, and I agreed with her.

Right after Misty and I finished talking, and her mother and her went inside the house, I watched from across the block as the house literally completely fucking blew up, and I was just too shocked in the moment to even be able to react any different way at all. I just remember being jaw dropped that I had just seen my friend, and her mother, murdered right before my eyes, in such a random, abrupt way, and there was literally nothing that I could have been able to do about it no matter how much I would have wanted to do that. I was then thinking about the fact that what I had seen was basically a complete loss of the potential that my friend had in her life. The potential that she had in possibly getting to be friends with the rest of my group.

On the last day of my one week deadline (which was before Misty died, I will say) I had finally made the decision on what I was going to do. I decided that this was something that I would want to do, and I decided that I needed to stop hiding behind the uncertainty of the future, and just run with it. I was looking over the window, and I was thinking of what the consequences of my choice would be. I was finding myself wondering if this was even going to be worth it at all, knowing how much I barely knew them. But I also knew that this is something that Misty would have wanted me to do. And to be honest, it was something that I was wanting to do as well.

I was also remembering the stuff that Ocho told me as I was thinking about doing this. I was thinking about how much he was telling me that if I wanted to make an impact on the world, I need to actually go out there, and fucking make the changes myself. That I couldn't just hide behind assuming that these changes would be made naturally, or that maybe said changes would never even needed to be made.

Ocho did also bring up a very valid point. Which was that sometimes people needed to do things that they wouldn't fucking like to make, in order to be the change that they were inspiring themselves to be.

So with that, I was thinking that I would just do this, and I would if for nothing else get a lot of money, and before too long, I would have a kid, biologically. Which I guess was the best of both worlds. You know, pass the family gene without having to worry about the financial issues of caring for such a kid. Plus, while it was messed up to think about, it would allow me a lot of practice on getting much better in bed.

So with that, I took the gas station phone out, and I made the call. After a moment of waiting, I got a answer from the younger woman. "Hey it's Matt. From the gas station. You gave me a week to think about your proposition." I said, thinking that it might be good to catch them up to speed just in case if they forgot.

"Oh yeah, today is the deadline. So do you feel like you have your decision?" She asked, and then I sighed, feeling like I would just do this, and be done with it, for everybody's sake. I did take about five more seconds to really think this out for a bit before I decided that I had made my final answer.

"Yeah, I thought it out, and I accept your offer." I said, knowing that what was done was done, and I was hoping that I would not find myself regretting this decision. I was already letting the gravity of what I had just said sink in, and I was letting the absoluteness be settled. The fact that there was genuinely no fucking way out of this now.

"Thank you so much, Matt. You have no idea how much we both appreciate this. We said you would have one round with both of us a week. On Wednesdays, you will have it with me, and on Saturdays, you will have it with my girlfriend. This will go on every week until one of is confirmed pregnant. Your twenty dollar payments will come after you are done for that session. Do you accept the terms of this?" She asked, and after a moment of thinking about the specific terms, I decided that I already said yes once, so I just needed to do this again.

"My girlfriend and I also agreed that if you accept this, then as a final thanks for everything you have done, that you will be able to name the kid for us." She said, and then that was the moment that I really had to take a moment to ponder what she had just said, since that was a very big thing to be given.

"Wow. Thank you. That is a lot to give me. I think that's awesome." I said, and then I was feeling like I needed to remember that I still had to answer their question. I still needed to give them one final round of affirmation, and then I would be spending the next moments of my life, wondering if I made the right decision, or if I made a terrible mistake.

"I do." I said, and then with that, she thanked me once again, and gave me her home address. Once that was done, I hung up, and wrote down the address on a paper to help me remember that first one or two times that I would do doing this. If I was going to do this twice a week though, I knew that after a point, I would be pretty used to where I needed to go, and I wouldn't even need a fucking note telling me anymore.

Once I was done with that, I took a moment to think about where this was going to go. I was taking a moment to think about if I had truly made the right decision. After a moment of thought though, I decided that I barely fucking cared, and that I needed to do this, and I hoped that they would be good moms to whoever their kid would be.

In ten months from that day, I would be at the hospital, and I would be the father of twin boys. Three years after that, when they would approach me about wanting a daughter, I would accept their offer, and one year after that, so four years after the boys were born, I would be the father of a baby daughter. Which meant that by the time I was twenty two years old, I was already the father of three children to these mothers that I barely even knew at the time. I don't mind it at all, but it is something that is interesting to think about.