See Me - 17. Chapter 17: The Good Citizen

Jackie stared at the television with wide eyes when Asia popped up on the screen and she watched her niece wave and smile at the camera.

"I just want to shout out to my dad, hey daddy! And I want to call out to my Aunt, Jackie, baby, I know you're watching this!" She kissed her middle finger and then waved, no one seemed to have noticed the subtle gesture.

Oh but Jackie had noticed it and her eyes narrowed. "What the hell has that girl gone off and done now?!" She screamed at the television.

"So, we were told you kind of apprehended the suspect yourself, can you tell us about that?" The female news caster aimed the microphone towards Asia.

"I sure did, I can't go into any details...but as soon as I found the evidence..." She shook her head. "I knew he did it...and I can assure you, this town, and the family, that the killer will be put behind bars, and that is all that matters to me, getting another dangerous man off the streets."

"Bullshit." Jackie mumbled, watching her niece put on such a circus show.

Asia looked at the camera. "They were so kind as to offer me sixty thousand dollars, I told them I didn't need that, I was just so happy to be able to help my town." She looked at the woman. "But they truly and honestly insisted, and I just knew that such money would really help out my poor father. So, for him, and anyone else I care about, I felt that it was a true win in all ways."

Jackie's eyes widened and she literally stepped back and fell into the couch, a gasp of air drawn in as she took a breath, hearing the amount of money that Asia had been given. How in the hell could her niece pull something like that off? She was simply frozen in thought, that was until she looked over and saw Asia walk into her living room.

"Oh, did you see me on the news?" Asia smiled. "Yeah, that was filmed like half an hour ago." She waved her hand. "I'm such a good citizen to my town, don't you think?" She looked down and started digging into her purse. "Now where did I put it..."

Jackie stood up and walked over towards Asia. "How did you pull that off?!" She screamed at her.

Asia laughed and pulled out a stack of twenties, banded together, that made up a thousand dollars. "Here." She looked at her Aunt Jackie. "Now...the rest of it they wrote checks...and I opened a very nice and shiny bank account, but I figured they'd give me a nice one grand to bitch slap you with. How much of Grandma's money do you have left?"

"Tell me what you did!" Jackie demanded.

"You dumb bitch!" Asia screamed. "Didn't you watch the news?! I caught Mia's murderer! Do you think I'm so stupid that I can't catch a killer?! She wrote..." She trailed off. "You know what, I'm not allowed to tell how or what or anything, it's confidential!"

Her eyes narrowed. "You? You expect me to think you caught a killer?" She started laughing. "Can you take your eyes off your diamonds that your honey daddies get you, long enough, to get anything?"

"Obviously I did." Asia fanned through the twenties with her fingers. "Now lets see...after you bought my nice little car, you had, what? Twenty five thousand left?" She grinned. "Well, Aunt Jackie, you can be a bitch and suck on that money, I got sixty thousand and if I wanted, I could hire a lawyer for next to nothing and get that remaining twenty five thousand. Get one of those pay if you win attorney's."

Her eyes widened. "You wouldn't do that, you have no grounds!"

"Want to bet? My daddy was the beneficiary! You tricked him into signing it over to you! Stupid bitch, going on about how he's a drug addict and you got him high so that he would sign those papers! You used his addiction against him! You hired that hooker too! You made him think that he had to sign a contract for a night with her!"

"I did no such thing!" Jackie screamed. "That is a ridiculous accusation!"

"Hookers don't do contracts!" Asia stepped closer to her. "My poor dad didn't know that, got him all high and shit! I saw you go in there with the hooker, got him to sign it! You didn't know I was home, then you left with the papers! I know, stupid you, ain't no pimp!"

"You knew you had to do it because my grandma left no money back for you, none at all, because you were just her Raggedy Anne old broke down step daughter!" Asia pointed at her.

"I'm not old, first of all..." Jackie started to defend herself.

"Really, Jackie? Why don't we call up your Botox doctor? How much of my Grandma's money have you been paying him? And what did you do before that? Fuck his old ass for treatments? You're the hooker! That's probably how you knew that girl, probably knew her from when she was a newbie!"

Asia shook her head, waving the stack of money. "No, I will be getting a lawyer and whatever of that money is left, he will check and he'll tell me if there is enough left, if it's even worth it."

"You go ahead and try, little girl. Your dad signed the power of attorney, lawfully and willingly and there is not a way you can prove otherwise." Jackie paused. "And I can assure you, he was in his right mind when he did it, you ask him, have your attorney ask him, do what the hell ever. As for the woman you saw, think of her what you will, none of it matters when it comes to your father and his signature or his state of mind."

"Yeah? And what about all those horrible phone calls when he begged you for money? Needing food to put on the table? How is it going to look when you took power of attorney and became a neglectful abusive bitch?! You better believe, I don't care about what I went through, but every ounce of my fathers pain and suffering will be paid for, by whatever of the inheritance is left...and more."

It was then that Asia's phone began to ring. "I have to take this, next time I see you, I hope that Botox freezes your face in fear, because you better be scared." Asia shoved her money into her purse and turned around, storming outside, leaving her Aunt Jackie behind as she yanked her phone out. "Hello?!"

"Wow...you're high strung." Emry looked around.

"Sorry...I just got into it with my Aunt Jackie, but soon enough...she won't be a problem anymore." Asia sighed. "Where are you calling from? This isn't your number."

"Yeah, it's the hospital phone." Emry said.

"Oh, right...that crap that happened." Asia sighed. "Dude, that's rough...I'm really sorry, must have been horrible."

"Yeah, thanks for the sympathy." He looked down. "I just wanted to let you know that I found a flash drive. Now...I don't know if it was given to Dolph or if he found it or if he even knows what is on it, but he left his back pack here and it was on his keychain."

"A flash drive?" Asia sat down in a plastic chair by the door.

"Yeah, labeled Kane and Bub...not too hard to figure out that Bub isn't a nick name for Bubba, rather short hand acronym for Blow up bitch." Emry explained. "On it...Kane is fucking Siera, and then there is a second MP3 where Kane is fucking Justin, of course it's not legit, since Kane is making the exact same noises in comparison to what, I would assume, is the real one."

"Yes..." Asia nodded. "Jesse mixed them up and Justin did the sound effects, copying Siera's vocals and it was mixed, really...it was just a dumb joke."

"I bet Kane wasn't too happy with it." Emry said.

"Not very much, I sure enjoyed it." Asia grinned.

Emry went quiet for a moment and his eyes narrowed. "Have any theories why Siera would have sex with Kane?"

"Nope." Asia shrugged. "Maybe the bitch freaked when Merit's little secret came crawling out and she poked another hole in her and needed a dick to seal it shut before she lost all her air."

Emry looked down thoughtfully. "Is that a joke or...did you see exactly what opening Kane was..." He made a face at the thought.

"It was a joke." Asia grinned. "Trust me, he was doing her in the right place, well...the right place for a girl, that is."

Emry was silent, thinking about how he had found out Siera was pregnant, this had completely changed everything, though there was still a chance, even with this knowledge, even with a DNA test, Merit could come back as the father. He had to make sure that didn't happen.

"Emry?" Asia questioned. "You got quiet."

"Oh, I'm here..." He sighed. "Sorry, they are just keeping me sedated so I don't get upset, I'm staying loopy, too bad you aren't here to enjoy the drugs with me." He chuckled.

"Loopy is fun." Asia smiled. "Okay, sorry to rush you but I have a lot on my planner..." She suddenly stopped. "Though, I can't go over the details, I did just come across sixty thousand dollars, don't worry, it's all legit, I earned it well."

"Sixty thousand dollars? Really?" Emry appeared confused.

"Yeah, and I'm trying to pump more out of my Aunt Jackie, since she has more money that is rightfully mine, or rightfully my dad's anyway. Point is, even with this kind of money, it's not enough to really get us out of the projects."

"I was thinking, I live in a crap place, your family lives in a trailer. Do you think your family would consider going in together on a nice crib? Seriously, we could live it up. With your dad's job and my dad getting a check, plus my sixty thousand, the loans would be easy payments over a thirty year course."

Emry thought over it for a second. "Well, I would naturally have to talk to my dad, but it sounds like a real kind idea and a good opportunity, it's really nice of you to think of us, if that is really why you are doing it."

"Why not? You're a cool guy and you've had it rough, you deserve something nice." Asia looked around. "Talk to your dad, I got to go, but maybe I'll swing by there when I can, if I don't catch you, I'll definitely call you." She pulled the phone away and hung up.

Emry hung up the hospital phone and he looked up at the ceiling. "Two possible fathers...and a guy that can manipulate the recording like nothing?" He laid back, he wasn't kidding about those sedatives, but it put him in a thoughtful mood.

Justin headed down the hall in a fast pace, clearly anxious, he hadn't heard a thing from Dolph since the previous day when he got that alarming call, he had been leaving messages and texts and had been getting no response, now his phone was going straight to voice mail, that was a dead give away that his phone had now been turned off and he had no idea where else to go. Though, he had a doubt that Dolph was still at the hospital, if Emry was, maybe he could find some things out, maybe more than just where Dolph was.

Emry's eyes suddenly opened when he heard the door open. "Christian?" He looked over, only to see that it was Justin storming into the room. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"What the hell is that doing here?" Justin pointed towards Dolph's back pack, which he immediately recognized as he moved around the bed and grabbed it.

Emry was suddenly thankful that he had tossed the flash drive in the nightstand. "He left it...he got mad about..."

"Oh, right...what happened." Justin nodded. "So sorry about that, it's always pitiful you..." He tossed Dolph's bag onto the corner of the bed. "Isn't it?"

Emry's eyes narrowed. "Okay...if you're going to be a bitch, you can leave."

"Oh, I'm the bitch? I'm not the one building the reputation of the boyfriend stealer. First, who? Merit? Though I guess I can discount that one, since his relationship with Siera was a fraud anyway. But then...you go off and mess with Trillian, what was your excuse for that? Oh, you wanted to antagonize Asia? Well, that was kind of stupid, obviously, since you can't fight her, but you did get one good blow in!"

Emry shifted up onto his elbows, staring at Justin as he went into an angry tangent.

"And now...you are getting my boyfriend to pass notes to you...and you're calling him to come to the hospital for you...and what? You get him to forget his bag so he has an excuse to come back? How'd you go distract him and do that?"

"I didn't get him to do anything. He got mad and he left..."

"Right! Now you're getting him to go chase after your fugitive rapist!" Justin interrupted him.

"I tried to stop him, he wouldn't listen to me!" Emry raised his tone. "Just like you won't shut up for a second, turning this into more than what..." He trailed off.

"More than what?" Justin leaned forward. "Come on, Emry...were you just about to lie? Decide you didn't want to?"

"I just don't think you should be assuming things until you actually know something and if you want to be detective, wait until you have your license first." Emry frowned.

It was by that point that Christian walked up to the door and he looked in. "Is everything okay? I heard shouting." He looked at Emry. "You are not being bothered, are you? You don't need to stress your body."

Justin laughed in mockery. "Oh...no..." He looked at Emry. "Maybe you just got him all hot and angry so you can get the nurse all hot and bothered."

"Excuse me?" Christian looked at Justin. "You are way out of line."

"You are insane." Emry sighed and lowered his forehead into his hand. "I'm fine...I promise not to get worked up."

Christian looked at Emry. "I'm going to trust you not to get that way, you know very well what stress on your body does and..." He walked into the room and over to Emry's bed. "I just think about what it caused to happen to you...and I want you to take care of yourself, you have to."

Emry looked up at Christian and he took a deep breath. "I know, but it's a little too late to avoid something horrible..."

"It's not too late to avoid something worse." Christian looked at Justin. "I mean it, don't upset him, he's my patient to care for...and I'm making sure that happens." He turned around and headed out of the room.

"Look...I'm sorry..." Justin looked up after Christian left. "Just be straight with me, are you fucking with Dolph too? Because...I mean, you had your chance...and what we were building..."

Emry looked up. "I think you should talk to him about him...and tell him about you, and I'm sorry, but I really don't know where he is, I wish I did, I begged him not to go, I really did."

Justin frowned. "I think you just answered my question." He looked down. "Thanks for not lying..." He looked up. "Maybe your conditions aren't entirely a curse but a two coin flip, you got raped...and yet that makes some people feel so passionately towards you, enough to send them off in a rage, to fight a battle...for you."

"Don't throw that shit on me, the cops should be doing that, not him." Emry shook his head. "I have to make a phone call, just get out of here."

He stared at Emry. "I'll leave his bag, he knows where to find it." He moved away from the bed and walked out, letting the door fall shut behind him when he left.

Emry grabbed the phone and put it on the table that swung across his bed and he picked it up and started to punch in a number and brought the phone to his ear.

Lana heard her cell phone ring and she turned around and grabbed it and quickly answered. "Hello?"

"Where is mom?" He asked.

"Emry...you called back." Lana slowly smiled and she fell onto the bed. "Mom is in a session..." Lana looked down and she started to cry. "I am so sorry...I know that you know it's my fault...I took your medicine and...I didn't think and..."

"Shut up." Emry said. "You want to make up for it, I know just exactly how you are going to do it, and you better...or else I will blow it wide open and not only will Dolph find out what you did, mom and dad will know what you did too, and they will hate you forever."

"He doesn't know?" Lana asked.

"No, he doesn't...because I was kind enough to climb into bed and make him think he slept with me, but I have no problem telling him the truth. I still have the champagne bottle...with all the residue on it." Emry looked around. "So, are you ready for instruction?"

She sighed and looked down. "What do you want me to do?"

Emry grinned briefly. "Go and have sex with Athen, tell him it's make up sex, really, I don't care how you get him to do it...just do it, and record it. I want you to bring the recording to me, don't ask me why, like I said, just do it."

Lana appeared confused. "What? Why would you make me do that?" Her eyes narrowed. "Is this his idea?!"

"No, it's not his idea, and if it was...I wouldn't do it. This serves my own purposes and...if it's unpleasant for you, well, being that you stole my medication, I won't deny that I take some personal pleasure in it, but really...it's for the greater good."

She looked down. "Fine, I'll do it...and I hope one day you will understand how truly sorry I am.."

"Maybe." Emry hung up the phone and he shoved the table back and away. He frowned and grabbed the remote and started flipping through channels on the television.

There was another knock on the door and Emry looked over. "Who is it?" He asked, hoping Justin hadn't come back, though he had a feeling that he wouldn't knock.

"It's me..." Merit walked in and he held a bag up. "I figured you might enjoy some Kentucky Fried Chicken...straight from Kentucky."

Emry slowly grinned. "Funny, you drove all the way there to get it?" He joked.

"Sure did, took a lot of gas." Merit smiled and walked over and sat the bag down. "I remember that you loved those famous bowls, and the extra bowl of gravy...because they never give you enough."

Emry smiled and then he looked up at Merit. "You didn't have to come back. I'm sure Siera is getting agitated."

"She is actually at a doctors appointment across the street and...well, surprisingly she was nice about me getting you some real food and heading over here." He sat on the edge of the bed. "I think even she can let go of some crap for the sake of..." He looked down. "Yeah."

"So, I guess I have to become a sympathy case." Emry's hand slowly slid across the top of Merit's. "How long will her appointment be?"

"Maybe about an hour, you know how those appointments are." Merit looked up. "So, I get to steal more than just a minute with you."

"Maybe more than that..." Emry sighed. "I don't know...Maiten said something about going to Colorado, taking me there to do his photography project and...I think he could keep a secret if you flew with me."

"I don't want you to become a liar, Emry...especially if you have something or...could have something nice with Dolph. Plus...I couldn't guarantee Siera would stay quiet."

"If I have anything with Dolph, then I get labeled the boyfriend stealer."

"Is that what Justin said?" Merit asked. "He stormed past me on my way in, looked high strung and upset."

"Yeah...he is, threw a bunch of stuff in my face...and really..I've just been a confused young...teenager." He looked up. "I don't mean to justify anything bad I might have done, if I have screwed with anyones head or their feelings."

"We should be mature enough to understand...and Justin should know that." Merit pulled the table over and shifted it between them and in front of Emry. "Now, eat...before it gets cold."

Emry smiled and sat up. "Want to watch Titanic with me? Not much of it left." He nodded towards the television and then dug into his bag of food.

"Titanic..." Merit looked at the television. "Oh my god...it's at the part where she finds out he's dead. If they had just..."

Emry chuckled, trying not to laugh too hard. "I know, balanced it out and got up in sync, it would have held them both."

"Yeah..." He looked at Emry. "You want to laugh more..."

Emry's smile slowly faded. "So much more...and it hurts to hold back..."

Merit took hold of his hand. "Hey...we'll manage it together, we'll find a way, as soon as they let you out, I want to go with you to see your doctor, let me be your support."

"Should we get that close? You got assigned partner with Dolph, it will make things so awkward for you both." He looked up.

"I don't care, he can get used to it, we're not together, doesn't mean our feelings just turn off or stop completely." Merit nodded towards the food. "Now eat..."

The door opens and Asia walks in, Miki following after her and she closes the door and heads towards Asia's room. The two girls look around to find that Dolph had woken up and seemed to have calmed down. Jesse and Dani were playing on Asia's XBox 360 and Dolph sat on the bed appearing in deep thought.

"Oh my god...remind me to get rid of that XBox..." Asia made a face.

"Why?" Dani looked over at her.

"Since Emry nailed her with a controller?" Miki laughed.

Dani's eyes widened and he paused the game. "Oh....I got to hear this!" He stood up and walked over to the two. "What happened?"

Asia's eye twitched. "I'm trying to forget that..." She walked around Dani.

"Boo on you." Dani said to Asia and then he looked at Miki. "Give me the four one one, Lady Red..."

Miki glanced at Jesse. "Now there is an alias..."

"Apple head." Jesse mumbled.

"So, there was a party and...well, Emry started dancing with Asia's boyfriend, probably dared him into it, he was never one to back out on a dare. Asia got pissed off and she knocked him with her gold knuckles, obviously did more damage, but then he grabbed the XBox controller and managed to bitch slap her before he went into a seizure."

"Then he showed up the next day, made some grand entrance into the cafeteria, did some sassy cute gum bubble, stopped by a couple guys who play chess all the time, without a seconds thought, he made a move, stole their queen and then offered Asia a controller." Miki explained.

"Told me he was giving me new joysticks since he stole mine." Asia turned around. "Said, at least he was giving me two to basically compensate because they were smaller."

Dani grinned and he looked around. "Well...isn't that something." He was glad to know that he came from a good family, seemed at least one of his siblings knew how to play the game. "Do any of you know if his chess move was legit?"

Jesse shrugged. "I doubt he would of made a stupid wrong move, though. It's just rare that someone could determine a chess move that fast. Likely...Trillian took a photo and he observed it before walking in."

Dani laughed. "Smoke and mirrors..."

Dolph sighed. "Tyler is getting restless, he wants to know when we are taking Chase off of his hands." He looked up, he was still angry, but now, after calming down, he was starting to have second thoughts as his rationale came back to him.

"Then we need to go." Dani said, he looked over at Jesse. "Shut the game off."

Dolph watched Jesse shut the game off and then he looked at Dani. "I don't know, this is just asking for more trouble. Maybe we should turn him in..."

Asia gasped. "We could demand more money! Police reward for anything that leads to an arrest." Her eyes widened.

Dolph narrowed his gaze at Asia. "You want to cash in on this?"

"It's for Emry too, I talked to him about his family going in with me and my dad on buying a crib. Look...I'll explain later." Asia shook her head.

"My point is..he will have a worse time in jail, once the other inmates learn he raped a narcoleptic kid...they will beat and rape his ass, they will come down on him so bad, he might even die without us having to risk our lives." Dolph explained.

"Are you two serious?!" Dani looked between Asia and Dolph, the latter is where his gaze remained. "Think about what he did, Emry was awake and aware...paralyzed while that man took advantage of him, touched him everywhere, took pleasure in all of it, used him...and enjoyed every second of it, right till he finally got off..."

Dolph frowned as he listened to Dani recount what Chase had done.

"This is stupid, we should get more money..." Asia crossed her arms. "This should be about making Emry get better...we can help get him a nice crib."

"And how do you plan to do that Asia?" Dani looked at her. "Tell the police that Tyler is holding him in hiding? What happens when Tyler tells them what we were thinking about doing? They will then realize how we knew where he was, because we were helping."

Dolph sat there, his eyes closed and he began to breath nervously, feeling the anger start to slowly boil again.

Jesse stood up. "I don't care...I don't like the idea and Miki and I won't be involved." He moved over and wrapped his arm around her. "Look, we're cool with keeping our silence, we're not stupid, but we don't want to get any deeper than we already have. There isn't anything that ties us to any of this, we don't have to tell anyone anything."

Dani looked at Jesse and Miki. "Fine, the less we have involved, probably the better anyway. The more people we have, the more chance DNA is left behind, the more chance there will be loose ends and the more chance one of us will be caught and the whole chain will go down."

"So, fine...you guys are out, but if you aren't going to help, I suggest you leave." Dani went on.

"Are you kicking my company out?" Asia looked at Dani.

"If they are asked to take a lie detector, the less they know, the better. If they are asked if they knew specifically what we plan, they can say no, and it will come out as truth." Dani nodded towards Jesse and Miki. "Now go."

"Lets go.." Jesse turned and lead Miki out of the room and the two left, the front door sounded off their exit from Asia's apartment.

"Wow, you are pretty paranoid." Asia sat down on the edge of her bed next to Dolph.

"Yeah, but it helps to be careful." Dani looked between them. "So, our plan?"

Asia began to think about the whole matter. She had just managed to get sixty thousand dollars and the possibility that Emry's family may just go in with her to possibly get a house together, a better life could be on the horizon for herself and her dad. Did she really want to risk screwing that up? She looked up and shook her head. "Sorry, I'm out too."

"Asia...how can you be out? Come on...you are hardcore." Dani pushed.

"That was until I realized I am in a good position to make a good move and I don't want to mess that up. I'll give you my gun and you have my silence, so long as I know my name is never mentioned." She stood up and looked at Dani. "If you even so much as utter my name in this mess, I will make sure that Jesse and Miki help me sink you down..."

Dani's eyes narrowed. "Fine, just give me the gun."

She turned around and headed over to her closet and kneeled down, crawling in and she came out moments later with the gun that Trillian had given to her, not directly, but he had told her where to find it. "I need to clean it first, get all my prints off." She headed out of her room and into the bathroom.

"So, we need to go over our plan." Dani fell back into the bean bag chair. "For when we arrive at Tyler's. Naturally we are going to shoot him, but we need to plan our approach, the execution...and the clean up, naturally."

Dolph frowned, it seemed like everyone could get out of it but him, as if he had signed some contract with Dani and if he tried to back out, he would just get fed more awful reminders of what Chase did to Emry. He looked over at Dani. "Well, how about we just get Tyler to get him into some BDSM and cuff him to the bed."

"No...way to messy." Dani shook his head. "Trust me, I watched The Blue Eyed Butcher, blood would splatter everywhere. You would never get it out of the carpet, the mattress would be ruined, it would be a nightmare clean up. A basement or a warehouse would be much more ideal. Cement is easy to clean, a big room, where it can't splatter the walls..."

"And how is Tyler supposed to lure him to a place like that?" Dolph asked.

"Chase doesn't know me..." Dani said. "If I deepened my voice, I could act like a cop with a search warrant, make him think cops are searching, have Tyler pretend his mom or his dad just got home minutes after, so he is able to sneak Chase out."

"And wouldn't Chase question the absence of police cars? Even a private car, there would be no cars, even his parents cars would be gone. Then there is the fact that the police would wonder why Tyler is suddenly leaving." Dolph shook his head.

Maybe Dani would eventually get frustrated at every bad idea they came up with and give up? It could be a hope that Dolph could hold onto.

"Damn it..." Dani's head fell back.

Asia had finished washing the gun in soap and water and then she laid it on a towel and pulled the plastic gloves off. She tossed the gloves in the trash and then pulled the wash rag out of the barrel of the gun and tossed it in the dirty hamper and used a paper towel to carefully wipe around the barrel, not wanting any material left behind, careful not to touch it.

She came back into her bedroom moments later with the gun wrapped up in the towel and the box of gloves in her other hand, careful not to touch the gloves. "Okay, I washed the gun, I wouldn't put your prints on it." She held up the box of gloves.

Dani grabbed a pair of gloves and pulled them on and then he grabbed the gun and he shoved it into his pocket. "There." He took the gloves off and tossed them in the small trash bin in her room.

Asia tossed the box of gloves in her closet and closed the door. "Remember, don't utter my name...or I will take you down and sink you, Miki and Jesse will help me."

"Well, as careful as you are being, we shouldn't get caught." Dani smiled. "So long as we stay just as careful." He looked over at Dolph who remained where he was, sitting in deep thought.

Emry stood at the nurses desk and he waved Merit off and then a sigh escaped and he took his release papers and walked over to a few seats that lined the wall nearby and sat down, sitting his bag of belongings into the chair next to him, at least what belongings he was allowed to have, his clothes had been taken over by the police.

He was relieved that Merit had dug into some of his old clothes and got a few things out that were more fitting for him to wear, enough to get him out of the hospital. He took his cell phone and then he looked at his dad's cell phone and searched through it to find his dad's work number, since Cedric's cell phone had been left for him.

He selected his dad's work and brought the phone up and listened to the rings. "Hi...I need to speak to Cedric, tell him that it's his son calling." He sighed, looking around as he was put on hold.

"Emry?" Cedric answered a few moments later. "What's going on?"

"Well, I checked out and I was wondering if you could get out and come pick me up. I mean, you can, right?"

"Well, I could...but we really need the money, you know I can't really afford to ever take off unless I have to." Cedric sighed. "Why did you do that? I wanted you admitted for your own protection, I can't be with you all the time."

"Yeah, and you can't stick me in the hospital forever either." He frowned. "It's okay...I'll find some way to get home, if not...I'll just wait around here and hate that I already gave up my room, I probably should have checked with you first."

"Stay there if you can't get a ride and I will be there as soon as I can."

"Yeah." Emry pulled the phone away and hung up. "Stuck in a chair...a very uncomfortable chair."

Christian walked over. "Hey...I couldn't help but hear that you kinda checked yourself out without a ride. My shift is almost over, I can cut out on it early and drive you home." He smiled. "Consider it me going above and beyond for my patient."

He looked up at Christian and slightly grinned. "That is really sweet, I would appreciate it."

"Okay, go ahead and go down to the main floor and I'll meet you there, I got a pretty flawless record, I doubt I would be denied the early leave." He said. "If I am, I'll come down and let you know, the chairs are more fluffy and comfortable there, anyway."

Emry nodded and headed for the elevator and he pressed the button and stepped onto the elevator, making it to the first floor, Christian had been right, it was a more comfortable area with thick and fluffy couches and big fluffy chairs.

He headed over to one of the couches and sat down on it and turned his dad's cell phone off to conserve the battery, it hadn't been put on charge since he left it. His attention then turned to his own phone which he turned on, memorizing his dad's work number, he put it into his own phone.

Christian made it down to the first floor and he stepped out of the elevator after the twenty minutes it took to be relieved of his job duties and to change into his street clothes in the locker room. He headed out and looked around. "Emry?" He called out, not seeing him.

Emry walked out of the little gift shop and he looked over at Christian. "I'm here...just got bored out of my mind."

He smiled and walked over and handed Emry a mountain dew. "I got you a soda and..." He looked around and held his hand out. "Just a little something if you want to feel a little out of it one more time."

Emry took the soda and then he looked down at the pill in Christian's hand. "You...want me to take that? While leaving with you?" He looked up.

Christian looked at his hand and then he looked at Emry and closed his eyes. "Crap, I am sorry...I wasn't thinking." He started to pull his hand back. "I'm sorry, this totally looks awful of me."

He grabbed his wrist and took the pill. "It's okay..." He shook his head. "You've been so great, but maybe I'll just save it for when my dad is home and I'm safe." He shoved it into his pocket.

"Okay." He looked up at Emry. "I am truly sorry, I shouldn't of been so stupid."

"It's okay." He nodded and the two headed for the door and then he stopped when he felt Christian grab his shoulder.

"Employees tend to park the furthest away, let me go get my car, you just relax here." He smiled and then took off in a jog to retrieve his car.

Christian got his car and picked up Emry at the doors of the hospital and soon the two were off and Christian was on his way to take him home under his guided direction. Emry was just happy to finally be out of that hospital, slightly annoyed that his dad had him admitted, though he knew it was out of protection and he could never complain that Cedric was so protective.

"So..." Christian chuckled. "I don't know why, I've just run a blank."

"Conversation in the hospital easier?" Emry grinned. "I mean, you kind of get a running script there. Oh how are you? Feeling alright? Need anything?" He shook his head. "Sorry, I don't mean to make you sound like a cliche, just that...it gives you an easy starting basis, a break the ice that...doesn't feel awkward."

"Yeah, pretty much." He nodded. "And it's okay, it's kind of true."

He looked over at Christian. "Well, I hope you keep working there, I've never had anyone that I've actually liked, you know? Anyone that I would ask for."

"Thanks, I appreciate that." He nodded. "I'm just trying to achieve my goals and I want to do a really good job at it."

"I think you are." Emry then gave a nod of his head towards the right and gestured with his hand. "That way." He said as Christian took the right.

"Figured out what you want to do yet? Might be premature to ask, you're a...Freshman?"

Emry smiled and that followed a single nod. "At least you didn't assume me an eighth grader." He shrugged. "And no, not a single idea. I'm just kind of beginning to navigate socially, even sexually...I mean, up until just a little while ago, I always felt like a plague. I mean...my conditions don't exactly make me popular and...well, strangely people have started to like me, sadly as I thought the jabs were over, I got a few in English class. Public presentation, an essay and...I got upset and ran out and that was what lead to..."

Christian looked down for a second. "Wow...it's hard enough dealing with the bullies, but then they put you in that position." He looked up. "Even if they didn't mean to. I mean...even if they are cold enough not to be sorry, I am at least sure they didn't want that to happen."

Emry shrugged. "Maybe they aren't sorry, I just wonder if it will make them stop, if the difference was made, if they realize it's not funny. Sometimes I guess people find it hard to step into other peoples shoes, especially when you're young."

"Yeah, well...growing up, especially becoming a teenager, it's a very 'you' kind of time. And while that might seem selfish and self centered, at the heart of it, well...it kind of has to be that way, even if bad things happen. You have to be prepared for the next stage, right now is merely the transition."

"Take a left and when you see a dirt path, go on that." Emry said, thinking about what Christian was telling him. "I kind of already got that speech, but you make it sound like...it's really okay."

"It is okay..." Christian took the turn and headed down the road and then he turned onto the dirt road and pulled up in front of the trailer that Emry pointed out.

"Well, this is it, thanks for the ride, I appreciate it." He smiled and grabbed his bag of things and slipped out of the car and shut the door.

"Any time." Christian pulled out and headed back down the path.

Emry watched him off and turned to head towards the steps. It was there that he stopped and he moved around and yanked out the duffel bag that Dani had left there and he grabbed it and headed up the steps and into the trailer.

He left the wooden door open and tossed the hospital bag onto the couch and sat down on the floor, unzipping the duffel bag. He dug around through the clothes and grabbed the folder of pictures, opening it as he pulled the pictures out and started to look through them.

He made a face. "Oh my god...why would he have these pictures of his parents? Our father?" He put the pictures up and shoved them back into the back and continued to dig, seeing a bag of white powder, figuring that was cocaine. No surprise that Dani would be a druggie, and there was another bag full of syringes, probably heroin for all he knew.

He brushed past the drugs and he came upon three stacks of banded money. His eyebrows lifted and he grabbed the money.

He pulled it out and counted through each one, coming to find that each stack was twenty thousand dollars. Sixty thousand in total, he looked up in confusion. Why would Dani be carrying this kind of cash in his bag? And then risk just throwing it under the steps?

Hell he wondered why he would be so careless with his drugs, of course those sort of things were easily replaced. Emry had to admit, while the heroin had him slightly freaked out, the idea of trying the cocaine had him slightly curious and a little tempted.

He took the money and sat it on the coffee table and held onto the cocaine and brushed the clothes some more and saw a bag of blunts, this guy was sure loaded with drugs, and even the idea of the weed was tempting, even more so because it seemed to be the safest.