See Me - 1. Chapter 1: Write It In The Sky

What a bad situation it had turned out to be, though Emry found himself reacting rather oddly to the whole thing as he sat there in the interrogation room, listening to all the commotion outside from two frantic parents, or maybe it was just the frantic mother and the angry father.

His eyes drifted down towards the table and they fluttered, he wasn't sure how much time had gone by, however the Investigator and his hardcore questioning had almost drained him of any little energy that he had.

It was actually taking everything he had just to stay awake, but now the family was there and he wanted to see what would play out. If he didn't like it, he could just as easily let go of his struggle, then again, he might not have a choice if his emotions were provoked even further, though he had done well to keep it all in check.

Emry was an incredible beauty, dark blonde hair, angelic and youthful, he was like a baby faced boy scout, and those blue eyes, vivid as they were. On the edge of turning fifteen, though many often guessed him as just coming from thirteen, sometimes his retained childlike youth had it's blessings and it's curses.

If one had to describe him, he had a classic boyish charm, in an adorable kind of way, he looked just that innocent. Not that it did him any good where he was at now though.

He certainly wasn't one that looked like he could hang with the popular crowd, though he appeared like he could be the popular guy of the outcasts because he was attractive. Unfortunately he only had one friend and as this friend was a senior and he was a freshman, he knew their friendship might soon be over.

Life would start for his friend and as it seemed, life might be ending for him before it even began.

"Guys!" Merit looked between his parents and the Investigator. "Look...dad, mom is upset, you are upset. You need to be here with her." He looked over at the Investigator. "Let me go in...I promise, I can handle it."

The Investigator stared at Merit. "I don't really think that is such a good idea."

"I think it is...and it was my sister...so let me go in." Merit looked at his dad. "Come on, make him."

Mark stared at Merit and then looked over to his wife who had fallen into a chair and was in a mess of tears. "Lets give it a shot...if it makes him feel better. Could it really hurt?"

The Investigator looked over at Mark and took a deep breath. "Maybe not, but this is brief."

"Thank you." Merit walked around the Investigator and over to the interrogation room that was pretty much accessible from where they were in the police station. He stopped at the door and waited while Investigator Morris unlocked the door.

Merit walked in, he shut the door and looked over at Emry.

"Come to throw your peace?" He looked up at Merit. "I'm...just...never mind."

"What?" Merit walked over and sat down across from him. "You're just what?"

"Too tired to hear it...but then...hearing is pretty passive...so I guess I can just sit back and listen away."

"Too tired? You're too tired?" Merit grinned sarcastically, almost in disbelief at the way the younger teen sounded.

"Do you care to hear the truth? Although....they are your friends, I doubt you would want to hear it...or believe it." He stared at Merit.

"Try me." Merit crossed his arms on the table and leaned forward, almost disbelieving that someone like Emry could be a killer, but the evidence was suggestive.

"Do you know why they suspect me?" Emry asked.

"Yeah, your prescription was found at the crime, my dad is actually going insane over the fact that by street name it's GHB, which...looks even worse." He leaned back in his seat.

"Your friends stole it from me." Emry's eyes shifted towards the table. "In the guys bathroom..."

Merit's eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute...I recognize you." He looked up. "You go to our school..."

"Mhmm." He looked up at Merit. "They took it, the medications that were found there, they took them from me."

He stared at Emry. "Why in the hell would you have those medications? Especially GHB?"

"Because..." He stared at Merit and lowered his voice to a whisper. "You never see...you never notice. Thing is...I don't want Liam to get in trouble." He ran his hands over his face. "He held me while Kane beat me up, and I was literally powerless to do anything...and now I feel pathetic. I've crushed on Liam...and despite what he did and the fact that it put me here...I still care."

"Okay...assuming I believe you, for a second, you would want to tell everyone about Kane, but you'd protect Liam? Why haven't you told the cops about this? Or have you tried?" He kept a low tone and looked at Emry, trying to remain calm.

"Because, what would it matter anyway?" Emry's head fell back and he looked at the ceiling. "You still don't get it." He sighed and looked at Merit. "I want to cry right now...because Liam could get into trouble, I want to cry because I like him...but he could never like me, he never would...and he held me there and let Kane..."

"Wait...so, you like Liam, that would mean that you're..." Merit's eyes slightly widened and he tensed up.

"Yeah, it would." He leaned forward. "Let me paint another picture for you...Think about me...falling asleep at Waffle House...and then waking up in some parking lot, maybe still at the Waffle House, maybe not...I couldn't move to see."

"That's right...awake, and yet I can't move. But...given my position, I could see a car, and my hand...and the wheel of the car slowly rolling by, inches from my hand, nearly running it over. Tricky thing is...not knowing if it was real or not, yet the terror was still there, just as great, because it could have been real."

Emry then went on. "Or how about when Kane and Liam beat me up for my medication, even a weak outcast could try to do something, run away, maybe fight back if they are the least little bit brave enough, but I can't...because my body becomes useless to me, I try...and the more I do, the more I lose control and fall helpless to whatever they wanted to do."

"Sometimes, it can be confused as a seizure, but it's not, the difference is that you stay awake, fully aware, just completely helpless, unless of course at some point they knock you out."

Merit stared at him and then looked down towards the table. "What would cause..."

"You hang out with both of them, so I'm just going to put it like this. I'm Narcoleptic, you idiot. Of course...I don't stay on my meds all the time, I frequently run away from home because I hate it there."

Merit suddenly looked up at him. "Narcoleptic?" He said, confused.

"Narcoleptic, I'm narcoleptic and epileptic." He sighed. "Remember when I said I wanted to cry and I don't? Because I probably couldn't even really cry for long before I..." He shook his head. "I can't even laugh most of the time before having an episode, so for anyone to think I could murder..."

Emry shook his head. "And that's just cataplexy...doesn't even factor in the seizures or if a seizure happens first and then the cataplexy, has happened, those are the worst..." He rambled on.

"So...you couldn't of murdered." Merit sat back thoughtfully. "Then I have to get you out of here."

"And how are you going to do that?" He asked.

"I can make up an alibi for you." He looked up at Emry.

He grinned at Merit. "Yeah, and how will you explain the fact that you probably went crazy when the cops dropped the bomb that they found the killer?"

"Strangely...I didn't." Merit looked down. "And I feel guilty about that, I just felt like someone in the family needed to stay calm." He paused. "I did beg to be let in here, of course I didn't say why. I just said that my dad should stay out there and take care of my mom."

"So...what's your idea?" Emry asked.

"I don't know how I feel about Kane and Liam. I don't think they would do something like that. The truth is honestly better than starting a string of lies, so tell them the truth, I'll back you up, say that I saw it, and we'll...say that it was just Kane."

Merit looked up at him. "But be prepared for Kane to try to drag Liam down with him. I honestly don't know why you would want to save him after..."

Emry looked down. "Maybe I'm foolish, not like he will ever want me anyway. I guess I just hope if I protect him...maybe something will come from it." He looked down.

"Okay, so Kane beat you up, I came in just in time to see him stealing your meds...and I helped you. And then...we went to Siera's house to chill for the night. I had been there at the time of the murder anyway, so she will just put you there too. She'll do anything for me. Just go with the story."

Emry nodded. "Okay, I just hope it works."

Merit reached over and grabbed Emry's hand. "I'm going to try, innocent until really proven guilty."

He looked over when Merit grabbed his hand and he slowly nodded and his head lowered, his eyes fluttering.

He watched Emry and then slowly pulled his hand back, appearing concerned. "Uh...just lay your head on the table...or something." He got up and then headed over to leave the room.

Emry slightly nodded and leaned forward and laid his head on the table, letting his eyes fall shut and at that point, everything went black.

By the time Emry started to wake up, he felt a slight motion and by what he felt beneath him, what he was laying on, he could tell it was the backseat of a car, and his head was laying in someone's lap. He wanted to get up, but he found himself in that state of sleep paralysis, his eyes could barely even open, but it wasn't the worst episode, he managed to ask a question. "Where am I?"

"You're in the car." Mark said, his tone cold and distant, but not entirely mean. He still wasn't sure what to believe, despite the evidence presented to him, he still had way to many theories.

"How?" He sat up fully.

"They checked finger prints again and found more than one. Of course they couldn't match it to Kane, since he isn't in the database, but they let you go because we asked them to. Sadly you aren't off the hook."

Emry looked at Merit. "I...don't know why you bothered. I am doomed, the evidence, I can't afford an attorney, they will give me one of those crappy ones they give to poor people."

"Not exactly..." Merit looked up front. "My dad is going to represent you, and I'm not sure how they will react to that, but the fact that he will represent you and defend you, as the victim's father, it will probably look good."

He listened to Merit and then looked up at Mark, able to see his face in the rearview mirror. "But, why? Don't you think I'm guilty?"

"I'm going to make this simple." Mark spoke up. "We spoke to your doctor on the phone and she also sent a lengthy letter in regards to the circumstances of the case." Mark slightly cringed. "First of all, my daughter was sexually assaulted."

Michelle frowned and looked out of the window, not wanting to hear the details of what happened to Mia again.

"A narcoleptic would or rather could suffer a cataplectic attack, those could last seconds or even minutes, or you could suffer from a sleep episode after or without a cataleptic attack which she said could last like ten minutes, though it most likely would follow a cataleptic attack. That would have possibly given our daughter time to get away, if she was conscious at all, not to mention the seizures." Mark explained.

Michelle took a deep breath, tensing up as Mark went through this.

"Strong emotions can trigger an attack, in this case, an orgasm, despite no evidence of such at the crime, a condom could have been used for all we know. So, due to all of this, it is unlikely that you would be able to pull off a sexual assault and then follow it with a murder, especially given the circumstances, it would have taken a lot of physical exertion."

Mark continued. "Given this information, the district attorney allowed your release, but you will still have a hearing and if you don't get indicted, then you will be out of the woods." Mark finished explaining.

"Okay, I understand that." Emry frowned. "But, wait...do you mean, I can never have sex? I mean, I know, right now, in comparison, that is very little to think about...but..."

Mark rolled his eyes as he stared at the road. "Your doctor said the orgasm would cause it...so I would think you still could, just the ending would be awkward, maybe for you...maybe not."

"Probably for who ever you are with, unless they really understand. The twenty minute thing, according to your doctor would be a rarity, it's unpredictable really, but if you did fall into a sleep episode, it would be brief and you might wake to a brief sleep paralysis. So...the after glow of it would be delayed. Honestly it's unpredictable." Merit's eyebrows lifted. "At least your...partner would have time to think of what to say."

Emry frowned and looked over at Merit. "That's not funny."

Merit nodded. "Wasn't trying to be, it was just a thought."

"So...where do you live? Where am I taking you?" Mark asked.

Emry quickly looked at Mark through the rearview mirror. "You can drop me off at any street corner you want...but I am not going back home. I hate it there, I hate that my parents stay together all for the sake of us when we don't want them together out of arrangement."

"I am not just dropping you off on some street corner." Mark said, finding the idea ridiculous.

"Well, what will you do then? Because unless the cops told you where I live, only I know that, and I don't plan to tell you." Emry said in a calm yet defiant manner.

Michelle sighed and leaned the side of her head against her hand, her elbow on the side of the door.

"Why don't we just let him stay with us tonight? I mean, I know he isn't cleared yet, but come on, we know he didn't do it, he couldn't of." Merit spoke up.

Mark took a deep breath. "Fine...he can stay, and I hope I don't regret making this decision either."

Emry looked out of the window. "Can someone get me some cigarettes? Mine were stolen when all my stuff was stolen and the cops only let me have some because they probably just wanted to steal my DNA."

Michelle looked over at Mark. "Just do it, not our place to parent him."

Mark shook his head. "Whatever." He said in response to his wife's suggestion of giving in to the teen's request.

Emry sat back and looked out of the window. "I hate riding at night..."

"Why?" Merit asked.

"It's the motion, sometimes it will wake me up...but then it makes me want to drift off all over again." He shifted onto his side, facing the window and brought his legs up, leaning against the back of the seat.

Merit stared at him with a longing expression, thoughts running through his mind, he wanted to move closer, he wanted to wrap an arm around him, cuddle close, and just be with him in peace. Of course he didn't know a thing about this kid, not much at all, and he hadn't been entirely cleared from his sisters murder. All he knew was that he longed for the love and the touch of another like himself.

"What kind do you want?" Mark asked as he pulled into a convenient store parking lot.

Emry winced at the bright lights above the gas pumps. "Uh...either Marlboros' or Newport one hundred, the menthols." He said.

"I'm an attorney and I'm breaking the law." Mark mumbled as he got out of the car to go get the cigarettes for Emry.

Merit looked up at the back of his mom's head as she sat in the passenger seat in front of him, for a moment, he wished he could come up with a reason for her to leave the car too. His gaze then drifted back to Emry and he stared at him.

"I'm sorry if I'm making your lives more difficult." Emry said, in a quiet tone.

"No...it's just that we're trying to get used to the idea that you might of not done it." Michelle ran a hand through her hair idly.

Emry nodded and he shifted around to catch Merit staring at him, even catching the way he tried to look away so fast as to not be caught. He shifted forward and then laid back down, his head rested in Merit's lap.

Mark soon returned to the car. "Okay, I got you one pack of each, figured that would work..." He looked back and his eyebrows lifted. "Okay..." He sat the cigarettes in the console and started the car.

Merit was surprised, yet in a way, he was happy at the move that Emry had made, even as innocent as it might have been. He reached down and one hand rubbed his upper arm while the fingers of his other hand gently and soothingly ran along the top of his head.

The four eventually got back to their home and they walked inside and Merit's parents turned around. "Okay, so we don't exactly have a guest room, but the sofa does have a bed in it." Michelle said.

"Mom, really? The sofa bed? We never use that..." Merit took in a breath, really wanting a reason to keep Emry close, and he knew this was partly very selfish of him, but at the same time this was a real concern. "I mean, what if he wakes up in that sleep paralysis thing? Or he has some other weird thing happen? Someone should be right there...and it's not like I didn't used to have sleep overs all the time."

Emry stood near the door, taking a drag off of the first cigarette he had since leaving the police station.

Mark looked between Michelle and Merit. "Fine, after all, this is...going to be one night." He looked past Merit and over towards Emry. "Whatever issues you have with your mother, you are going to have to deal with."

He grinned and looked over at Mark. "You can't deal with her, sometimes shes so high, I wonder if she even understands what anyone is saying. Hell, she probably wouldn't of even been able to pick me up from the police station, probably would of fell down the steps and bumped her head." He wanted to laugh at that, because it was so funny to him, yet he wasn't sure if his body could even produce laughter anymore, he had suppressed it so much.

Crying on the other hand, well that was an emotion that came closer to the surface. "It's...really sad when you can't laugh at something, or you have to be afraid to laugh, and then you have to be as much afraid to cry when you want to cry just because you have to be afraid."

"I'm going to take him to my room...in case he has an episode." Merit walked over and shut the door and his hands lightly moved onto Emry's shoulders and he guided him down the hall.

Michelle watched the boys take off and she frowned, a look of sympathy on her face. "I feel sorry for him, I couldn't imagine..." She looked over at Mark. "I don't think he's a killer either...I mean, it sounds to me like he wants to feel anything and everything but anger."

"We'll see. Regardless of what the legal system decides, I still want a lie detector test." Mark headed off into the living room.

Merit guided Emry into his room and then turned around and shut the door. "It's small, and I know it's not much, but it's...mine."

Emry turned around and looked at Merit. "It's better than some places I've stayed, in comparison, might as well consider it the Hilton."

"I'm glad you're okay with it." Merit walked around Emry and headed over to his bed and he sat on the edge of it. "You're not tired or anything, are you?"

"No, usually after I nap a little, I'm okay. Like I said, it's just car rides...they're so smooth and gentle, it's like being rocked to sleep." Emry looked around and saw a picture of Merit and Siera sitting on top of his dresser. "You two...look happy."

Merit looked over at the picture. "Yeah...well, we are happy when we hang out." He tensed up.

Emry grinned and sat the picture down and turned around. "And any other time?" His grin faded by the time he turned to look at Merit, taking on a serious expression, which was quite easy for him to do.

His eyes shifted to the side. "Well, that's usually all we do." He looked at Emry. "Can I tell you something...and trust you?"

He walked over and sat down next to Merit and his eyebrows lifted. "Go for it."

Merit took a deep breath. "I've never told anyone, I've never said the words..." He looked down. "Emry...I..."

"I know what you are." Emry interrupted him. "You just hang out with your girlfriend and nothing else, you get tense and awkward when I bring her up, and then you want to make a big confession to me. Why? Because you find out that I am, and so I am a safe base for you to tell."

His eyes widened. "Well, you made that easy." He said to Emry.

He grinned for only a moment as he nodded. "Why not?"

"What if I told you that...in the car, I wanted to be close to you? I know that sounds so awful and wrong, it's just...being how my life is, I've been so suppressed, and even if I did come out and be honest, I never knew of anyone else...until you. I just...watched all my other friends and how they were together with people and I never was, at least not someone I wanted to be with, and I thought about how nice it would be...and you laid your head in my lap...then you woke up. And then you got tired again and I wanted to hug you and hold you and...you came back..."

Emry reached up and placed his hand on Merit's mouth, causing his voice to muffle for a second until he went quiet. "First, you're talking to much." He lowered his hand.

"Sorry." Merit said in apology.

"It's okay." He looked down. "The idea of someone wanting to be with me...seems like a far cry from home, if I had a real home, anyway. I mean, who would want to be with someone like me? Especially now, finding out what would happen with...with the sex thing, and the fact that I could go into an episode anywhere and cause a scene just by doing the slightest thing wrong, and the fact that I've suppressed myself so much that I'm practically robotic anyway, and I wonder if I am even capable of love despite how much I would want it."

Merit attempted to cover Emry's mouth, only to have his hand grabbed by the wrist and his hand was pushed down.

"No, I have a reason to talk this much. It's not just that...Merit, you didn't even want to really be with me, you just wanted the idea of me and what you could do with me, like all the things your friends do with the people they are with. And no, that doesn't upset me, I know what loneliness is, I know it so much, so badly..." He trailed off.

He looked down and nodded. "That sounds...pretty right, I guess." He looked up at Emry. "Do you feel used? I mean, we didn't do anything...but do you feel like...thoughtfully used, for lack of a better way of putting it?"

"No." He shook his head at Merit. "Just so long as you know that...you only like the idea of me and want what your friends have, and that is what makes the difference, you want it to be more, however...you only look at me because I'm the only other person you know that would be willing."

"So, what does that mean to you?" Merit asked.

"It means that...I'm not a shut book, I never have been, it means that I don't think you would want to be with someone like me, but if I were wrong, I would be surprised, but you would have to take the time first. Love at first sight, that is one of the many biggest lies that has ever come to exist in life. It also means that...if you want to do some things with me..." Emry looked up at him. "Not sex though, only because then I would really feel used, and because I feel like I would ruin it, in love or not."

"Because of your condition." Merit shook his head. "You wouldn't ruin it."

"Yes I would!" Emry burst out and stood up. "I...I..." He moved forward and fell back onto the bed, taking deep breaths, trying to calm himself.

"Be careful." Merit looked at him, concerned, and he reached over and rubbed Emry's shoulder.

"I just mean....people always have an after glow. The time where they are happy together, and according to what my doctor told your dad, you would have to deal with what will happen to me after...and that's not how I would want it, not with you, or with anyone I ever loved." He looked up at Merit. "We can't talk about this, I'm getting upset."

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to." Merit looked down. "Maybe we should get you into bed...calm you down and get you to sleep. I mean, we can share a bed right? You'll let me hold you?"

He looked at Merit and nodded. "Yeah, that would be okay. For what it's worth, I enjoyed being close to you...in the car."

Merit smiled. "I'm glad."

Merit checked his phone, seeing it was two thirty in the morning, he hadn't slept, he had just laid there, watching Emry sleep. He quickly turned his phone down towards the mattress so as not to wake him.

"What the hell are you doing?" He whispered to himself. "You think just because you met a kid, someone like you, it's going to make a difference?" Merit frowned. "I've wanted someone for so long...I guess...I just wished..." He closed his eyes. "And I'm being desperate." He looked at Emry again, his eyes drifted down to his lips, wondering if just one little taste would really end the world.

Maybe he wouldn't notice? The more Merit thought about it, the more aroused he became. He carefully shifted up onto his elbow and took a deep breath and leaned forward, his eyes drifted shut and with so much care, his lips brushed against Emry's.

He didn't apply pressure, nor kiss him aggressively at all for fear of waking him up. He wanted to though, as he kissed him ever so delicately, brushing his lips across the other teen's and then lightly flicking his tongue out. His eyes opened and he eased back.

He hadn't felt the kiss at first, but even if Merit thought he was being so careful, his wants got the best of him and just a second of letting go of that delicacy, it was enough to stir him awake, yet he hadn't let on immediately. And then to Merit's horror, Emry's eyes slowly opened.

"I'm sorry." Merit said, his arms feeling weak and shaky and he couldn't hold himself up as his nerves wrecked him. Merit climbed off the bed and took several steps back.. "I just...I've never kissed before...never had anyone to kiss. I guess the real reason...I thought since you were so different, maybe you would be...different for me." He shook his head. "That's crazy, I know...and it's desperate."

Emry listened to what Merit was saying, at first, but then he looked at the door which happened to be in his line of sight and that was when he saw Merit's deceased sister, Mia, walk into the room.

She was dirty, covered in blood and mud, and her hair was soaked in rain and her face wore the look of anger and rage. She charged for the bed and let out a scream. It was enough to cause Emry to gasp out and he suddenly sat up, breathing heavily.

Merit stared at Emry and suddenly a look of concern appeared. "What happened?" He asked. "Oh, God...the sleep paralysis...I totally forgot."

"Maybe...a little paralysis, it was the hallucinations." Emry looked down, tears streaming from his eyes. "It was your sister...and she looked horrifying...and she was so angry. I never saw her body...but that was how she looked to me."

He walked over to the bed and sat beside Emry. "Does this happen every time?"

"Not every time." He looked up at Merit and leaned forward and wrapped his arms around his neck. "I...about what you did...I just want you to know, it's okay."

Merit hesitantly wrapped his arms around Emry. "Forget that, it hardly matters in comparison."

Emry let him go and shook his head. "No...it does. I don't dwell on the hallucinations, my doctor says it's better for me if I don't. I just...don't understand. You have the girlfriend and..." He trailed off. "Oh...right, you have the popular friends, you have to keep up appearances."

"I'm not that shallow." Merit frowned and looked down. "I like Siera, I really do. She is a great person, I can love her, emotionally, I can like her...it's just physically and intimately...it doesn't work. We would make better friends, close friends. I don't mean to use her for cover, it's not what I intended, I don't want to use her and if that's what I'm doing...I hate it."

Emry nodded and then he looked up. "I really could use my anxiety med. The only way I could get more...is to go back to my mother. Well, I could go back to my doctor for that one...it's just the...GHB that I would have to go back to my mother for. It's very strict, it gets sent through the mail...they are very controlling of it."

"I'll talk to my dad, see what he can do." Merit looked up. "Unfortunately, that can't happen until morning. So we should sleep until then." He paused thoughtfully. "My mom was prescribed Xanax, after Mia died, she was so upset, they had to take her to the hospital and sedate her, and the doctor prescribed her some. If you want, I could go and get you one of them."

"I don't want her to get mad."

Merit smiled. "She won't miss one and she hasn't really taken them anyway. So, just lay down and relax and I'll get you one or two." He stood up and then headed off and down the hall.

Emry nodded and got up and grabbed his cigarettes, and the lighter that was bought for him, off the night stand. He pulled a cigarette out and headed off into Merit's personal bathroom, since he didn't have an ashtray, the toilet would have to work.

Morning soon arrived and he knew it by the light that shined in and the red glow that it caused when it hit his eyelids, and the sound of Merit's alarm clock was the biggest indicator. He could feel the sleep paralysis and soon he heard the clock go silent.

"Uh...Emry, we are going to have to go to your mom's...like it or not. You will need clothes, although...I don't know how long my parents will keep you here." Merit turned around and lowered to his knees beside the bed. "Snap out of it."

He listened to Merit and then sucked in a deep breath and forced his eyes open and he looked down, seeing his clothes weren't in the pile where he had left them. "My jeans...where are they?" He asked, rolling over onto his back and he pushed himself to sit up.

"I just...tossed them in the dirty clothes." Merit said.

"Give them to me, I need them!" Emry said, alarmed.

"Uh...okay." He stood up and ran into the bathroom and retrieved Emry's jeans and came back out and tossed them on the bed.

He grabbed his jeans and then dug into one of the back pockets and pulled out a piece of paper that had been folded into a square. "Sorry, it's just...you should check the pockets first..."

"I'm sorry, I guess I should of." He looked at the piece of paper, wondering what it said that was so important. "What is it?"

Emry looked up at Merit. "You want to know?" He paused and after a moment of consideration, he handed the folded paper out.

He took the piece of paper and unfolded it and glanced to Emry and then he looked down and started reading it, aloud, but at the same time, quietly.

"He always wanted to explain things, but no one cared. So he drew, sometimes he would draw and it wasn't anything. He wanted to carve it in stone or write it in the sky. He would lie out on the grass and look up at the sky and it would be only the sky and him that needed saying.

The boy handed this poem to his English teacher. Two weeks later he took his
own life."

Emry took in a deep breath as soon as Merit looked up. "No, I did not write it, before you ask, and yes the last part is supposedly very true. It's just...something that floats all over the internet, some teenager wrote it and no one knows who it was or where it happened."

"I just stumbled across it and took the parts I liked, and the part that was true, because it mattered. Though, it could all be true, but it hardly sounds like the life of a teenager, could be his childhood."

Merit slowly folded the piece of paper. "Why? I mean, what does it mean to you?"

"Well, those parts were the ones that hit me, the parts that made me cry, I grew up always feeling like the outsider, kind of like who ever this person was that wrote this. That's the point of expressing how you feel about being an outsider, to be seen...because an outsider is never seen." He shook his head. "I wanted you to see me."

"It's...really sad, that's...really sad." Merit looked down and folded up the paper in a slow manner.

"But, you did see me, it's why you kissed me." He looked down, watching Merit fold the paper.

"But, like you said, it was because I was desperate." Merit handed the folded piece of paper back.

He took his paper back and walked around Merit and put it under the mattress of his bed. "I'll keep it here for safe keeping, for now at least."

He turned around. "Merit, I know what I said, and...it doesn't mean something can't form or grow, everything starts small. It always starts as wanting to be with someone, then you meet someone, and you might not be interested initially because of who they are, but that is because you don't know who they are. It's why you go through the process."

"I guess you have a point." Merit looked down and sighed. "Still, even so...I have a challenge to face if either of us are going to even consider...trying."

"The girlfriend." He grinned and sat down on Merit's bed.

"Yeah, there is that...and then my friends, well, you would probably consider them the jerks."

Emry frowned, appearing lost in thought, not really seeming to take in what Merit was saying. "You know..." He looked at Merit. "Thinking about that paper...or anything else you might find online, something someone wrote, maybe just a picture, maybe both. You know what is really sad about it all? Is if you can't find them."

Merit grew quiet as he looked over at Emry and his pacing stopped.

"This might sound crazy...but sometimes...people seem special before you even meet them, what you see, what you find...it makes you want to meet them, it makes it feel worth it...and then it's sad when you see that...whatever you find was years ago...and there isn't a trace of them after that, not a clue you can use from it to find them." He looked up at Merit. "Does that sound crazy?"

He thought about it for a moment and then slowly shook his head. "I don't think it sounds crazy...I think...it makes you sound incredibly passionate."

Emry smiled for only a brief moment. "I guess we have to go...to that horror of a place..."

"Yeah." Merit nodded and turned around to get some clothes for Emry.

Asia's 2011 Aston Martin DBS Volante Convertible spun through the parking lot and into a parking space with the screech of the tires as she slammed on the break. Miki, her best friend, was riding shot gun and and Justin was in the back seat.

Talia walked over to Merit and Emry who had been walking away from Merit's 2003 Mazda Miata MX-5 Convertible, which Merit had made sure to let the top up, as he always did.

"They always have to make a scene." Talia shook her head.

"Do you really think anyone pays attention?" Merit asked.

"I don't know." Talia shrugged and then she looked over at Emry. "I know you, well, I mean I've seen you around."

Emry looked up at Talia. "Yeah...I've been around." His eyes trailed over to Asia's car as he saw the trio climb out.

Justin had stayed behind to let the top up as Asia and Miki headed over to the trio that was giving her the attention that she so wanted.

"Hey, Talio." Asia grinned and she walked over, along with Miki.

Asia, Miki, and Justin were born into poverty and they lived in the projects and being in such a tough environment, well it taught them to be tough in themselves and that took a certain style, most might call them the scene kids, or the emo Nazis', maybe even the Goth posers, really they didn't classify themselves in any of those categories, they were just badass and they knew it.

So, how did Asia obtain such a nice vehicle? Well, unfortunately, it took her grandmother dying and a nice life insurance pay off which her Aunt kept a tight leash on, the car had simply been a one time birthday present. "Talio..." Asia grinned, knowing it annoyed her.

"Do you have to call me that? It makes me sound like a man." Talia looked over at Asia.

"What if you are?" Asia laughed. "Some people can pull it off good enough. Look at uh...what's her name?" She looked up, thoughtfully. "Hilary Swank! She made a rather cute boy, certainly not a man by my standards, she pulled it off though."

"That was a horrible movie, I couldn't sit through what they did when they found out." Talia made a face.

Asia looked at her nails and made a face. "Yeah...it was pretty brutal, leave it to Miki to pick such a movie for a sleep over...when we were twelve." She looked over at Talia.

"I didn't know what it was about! I thought it was about a boy who was sensitive and...well, in a bad situation." The flaming blood red head chimed in. "You know I like those sort of movies." Miki shrugged.

"I do too." Emry looked over at Miki.

She looked up and returned Emry's gaze and a small smile appeared. "Aren't you the one that the teachers have been bitching at for falling asleep in class?"

He slowly nodded. "Yeah, my grades are probably my biggest failure." He slightly grinned.

"And no matter how much they bitch, you just lay slumped over your desk." Miki laughed. "That is the funniest thing in the world."

Justin ran over to the group. "You guys ready?"

"Yeah." Asia said in response to Justin. "We'll be seeing you, Talio..." She turned around and with the shake of her head, Justin and Miki headed off as they walked towards the school.

"I swear...I hate her." Talia crossed her arms and paced back and forth a single time, then she looked up at Merit. "We should probably head to class."

Merit slowly nodded and then he looked at Emry. "Will you be okay?"

Emry grinned and shook his head. "May be my first year...but I think I've learned the place by now."

"Yeah...it's just, without your medication..."

"I know how to avoid triggers, at least I hope." Emry stepped closer. "How is that going to be handled anyway?"

"My dad is going to go through a judge, tell him the circumstances with your mom, see if you can get a months supply through his parental guidance. If not...you will just have to tell him where your mom lives and then we'll have to deal with her." Merit explained.

"Then lets pray the former works." Emry looked over at Talia. "It was nice meeting you." He said, then he walked by them and headed off towards the building.

"What happened?" Talia asked.

"He was a suspect for killing my sister...now he's only a semi suspect and...he's staying with us because...he doesn't like living with his mom."

Merit turned around. "I really don't want to talk about it." He didn't want to say anything that could come between Talia and Kane, despite the fact that he thought Kane was a jerk and that Talia deserved better.

Talia slowly nodded. "I see...well, that's an interesting story. Well, if you ever need to talk, I'm here."

"I know." Merit half smiled and then he walked along with Talia to try and catch class before they were too late.