See Me - 23. Chapter 23: Fuck And Forget

Several Weeks Later

Merit had the evidence and he knew exactly what it meant, it wasn't hard to put it all together, however he had remained pretty quiet about it since first discovering what was on the drive. For one he didn't want to ruin the holidays, and for two, he was incredibly heartbroken by the fact that Emry had left and he felt more alone than ever.

Aside from sadness and heartbreak, he was incredibly angry at Siera for trying to pass off the child as his own without admitting the fact that the baby could possibly be Kane's. He had been rather avoidant of her and managed to be at least neutral in his mood when around her, partially due to his own self control.

He had to wait until the time was right before he exposed the evidence, he had to wait until a test could be done to determine the babies paternity and that time was approaching.

He frowned as he stared at the computer screen and exited his windows media player and pulled the flash drive out of the port and he capped the lid over it. Now was the time and as if fate knew what he was thinking, he found his door opening just as he stood up.

Siera slowly walked in. "Your mom let me in." She said in a quiet tone, feeling rather on the edge, knowing something was wrong with Merit, but she couldn't figure out what. All she knew was that he had been giving her the cold shoulder.

"Well, I'm glad you are here. In fact I was getting ready to come and see you."

Siera uncomfortably crossed her arms. "Really? Why?"

"Because of this." Merit held up the flash drive. "There is something on it that I really think you should hear."

Siera's eyes slightly narrowed in confusion. "What is it? Where did you get it?"

"Emry gave it to me, though I hardly think he was the one that made it, given the label, I think I could take a good guess at the one who did." Merit turned around and pulled the cap off and inserted the flash drive into his computer.

"Should of known I wouldn't hear the last of him." She mumbled as she looked off to the side and then walked closer to the computer.

Merit sat down and brought up the file and quickly double clicked it. The windows media player came up and it was black, since it wasn't a video file. It was then that it began to play, the sounds of Kane and Siera having sex came forth from the speakers of his computer. He then spun around in his chair and his eyes darted on Siera with an intense look of anger and fury.

Siera was listening to the file play, however she was stuck on the way Merit was looking at her and in return the look of fear slowly began to spread across her face, mostly in the way her eyes widened as she realized that it was her and Kane having sex. "Who made it?"

Merit grinned. "Given it's labeled Kane and Bub...Why don't you tell me?"

"Asia." Siera turned away and she shook her head. "Of course...that bitch had to do something like that."

"Maybe her reasons were bitchy...but it paid off in the end." Merit paused the player and then stood up.

"And what? She gave it to Emry?" Siera turned around.

"Emry gave it to me, I don't know how he got it, though, that is probably a good guess."

She nodded. "Of course, her way of taking one more blow."

"Forget Asia." Merit said, the anger appearing to return. "When did this happen? Can I take a guess?"

She stared at him, so tempted to lie but she knew if she did, Asia was still around to tell him the truth. "I guess I can't lie...if I do, you would just ask Asia, right?"

"Smart." Merit nodded.

"It was the day I caught you and Emry together, that night, after the football game. I went into the locker room, upset and devastated as I was. I just wanted someone to make me feel better and...Kane isn't one to say no."

"I bet he says no a lot now, if he even has a choice." Merit said, thinking about Kane in prison.

Siera crossed her arms and her shoulders tensed up in a shrug that froze in it's place. "So...we had sex...and I hated myself even more after it happened, I felt disgusting and dirty and just...all around horrible for all the obvious reasons."

Merit looked down and shoved his thumbs into the pocket of his jeans. "So, given the timing, it's safe to say that your baby might not be mine." He looked up at her. "I would pray that it isn't, because I don't want my life screwed up and messed up all to hell."

"Is that what you would want to tell the baby? If it turns out to be yours? That you prayed it wouldn't be?"

"Would you be enough of a bitch to tell the kid that?" He shook his head. "Aside from that, I can't say that I would feel bad for you to get sattled with that baby all by yourself for the stupid mistake you made, first for sleeping with a jackass, and then thinking you could pass it off as mine...when it might not be."

"You might not think you want a kid...but I think I know you well enough to know that if it is yours, you will melt the first time you lay eyes on this baby." Siera shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"I'll admit...I'm a big softy, I got a heart, you used to say I was just a big teddy bear." He shook his head. "Even if it is mine...doesn't change how I feel about you now. I hate you for trying to do what you did...and I'll always hate you for that."

Siera briefly grinned and almost laughed. "Merit...you don't hate, you can't hate, even now...you try to hate but you just come off as mad." She looked up at him. "And honestly..it's not a bad thing that you are such a nice person, so much so, that you can't hate."

He stared at her and then his eyes shifted down towards the floor, knowing what she said was the truth, he was angry, but his feelings weren't strong enough to call it hate. "I wish I could hate you." He looked up at her. "Doesn't mean I'll keep you in my life."

"If this baby is yours, I will always be in your life, you would have to take this baby from me to keep me away, as it stands, the future I see is the baby living with me."

"The baby living with you? Most certainly, if it's Kane's." He looked up at her.

Siera paused and then took in a breath. "Have you told Kane yet? You will probably have to show him that evidence, he's not one to easily believe what you tell him."

"Not yet, I mean I've had this flash drive since Emry left and given the holidays, I didn't want to ruin Thanksgiving and now with Christmas coming up, I just can't go into the new year without this being resolved, I want to know what this next year is going to be for me, and what I am going to do with it."

"Oh." She looked down and nodded. "Well, like I said, you will have to take the evidence or he won't believe it." She looked up and mocked a grin. "He probably doesn't even remember it, just like Kane to fuck and forget."

"Fuck and forget, cute phrase." Merit said, he had to compliment such a way with words, it sounded like a good description to him. "You should bring your own evidence too, this will remind him that he slept with you, won't prove to him that the kid might be his."

"Right, he'll think I could of been pregnant before it happened, that maybe that was the reason I was upset, I never exactly told him why I was upset."

Merit sat back down in the computer chair. "Bring the test results."

"It was an at home pregnancy test, I don't still have it." She laughed softly.

"Then go to the hospital, tell them you need to prove your conception date, probably the only way you can do that is by getting it on paper how far along you are." Merit said.

"And hope he can do the math." Siera rolled her eyes and sat down on the bed. "I wish I could take that back, of all the people in the world to possibly be a father to this baby." She looked up. "I just want it to be you, not because I want you, I do want to be with you but...we tried, you just can't fight yourself to be who you need to be with me. Still, you would make a really great father."

Merit leaned forward and clasped his hands together near his mouth as he thought over it. "No doubt I would love my child, if it is my child."

"I know you would, because that is the kind of person you are." Her eyes began to water up. "Merit, do you have any idea how much of a good person you are?"

"I don't feel like a good person." He looked down, wanting to avoid her seeing his own eyes begin to water. "I didn't protect Emry like I should of." He sighed and looked up. "And I know he is the last person you want to hear about...but I brought him into our lives and by doing that, his confidence began to grow and once it did, he didn't know what direction to go when really he should of just stayed right here."

"That wasn't in your control and to be honest, he probably would of resented you if you didn't let him go, didn't give him the room to explore." She shrugged. "Anyway..."

Merit watched her get up. "You're leaving?"

"Have to go get that test...and I hope I can get the results fast, same night would be great. Once I have the papers, I'll bring my laptop, you bring the flash drive and...like the court, we'll present the evidence to Kane."

"And then a DNA test." He paused. "Is it possible to do that before the baby is born?"

"Uh...yeah." Siera nodded. "Anyway, I'm going to go and...I'll call you once I have the papers." She headed off and walked out into the hall, shutting the door behind her. That was when she realized that she forgot to ask if Merit had told his parents. Michelle didn't act differently towards her, she shook her head and moved off down the hall.

Jackie headed towards the front door and she opened it and saw her niece standing outside. She frowned and pushed open the storm door. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be spending that money?"

Asia looked at Jackie and sighed. "I was spending the money, do you always have to be so negative?" She held up a present box. "Christmas is the time where everything should be set aside...and we should be kind to each other."

Jackie looked at the present box and turned around and walked back towards her living room.

Asia caught the storm door and walked inside and followed her Aunt. "Could you at least try? I got you this present and I even threw the receipt away so I can't return it."

Jackie turned around and snatched the box from Asia. "Probably a gag gift." She stared at her suspiciously and then looked down at the box.

Asia let her grin slip out when Jackie looked down, she then took a deep breath. "Just open it and see."

Jackie pulled the top off the box, which had a red ribbon bow attached to it, and her eyes narrowed and she threw the box on the floor, the piece of charcoal inside had created a mess of little crumbs around it due to the impact of it hitting the floor.

Asia started laughing. "Bitch, what did you expect? You've been naughty this year, been a real bad bitch."

Jackie looked up at her and her face tensed up in anger. "I should throw that charcoal at your face!"

"Do it, bitch." Asia continued to laugh in such a sinister way. "And I'll throw you in jail for assault. If you even tap me with that charcoal..." She felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

Jackie turned around and walked away from the mess and fell down into the cushions of her couch, sitting and getting comfortable. "I am so sick of your shit." She pointed at Asia. "My father should of never married your grandmother...because bringing your dad and you into our lives was like inviting Satan and his rugrat for dinner."

Asia crossed her arms. "Is that what you think I am? A rugrat?" She grinned. "Well, if I was...I would be Angelica." She kicked the charcoal into the corner. "You really need to get laid, you are so cranky, hell it probably doesn't help that you've went without for so long that you are dry and crusty."

"I don't want or need a man, unlike you..." Jackie started.

She looked at her Aunt Jackie and her eyes narrowed. "Oh, you're saying I need a man? I've been single since Trillian left and I've done just fine. I got me a stash of money, got my revenge on you..." She glanced at the charcoal. "Multiple times now...and I just love torturing you! I mean, you're like my favorite toy that I just love throwing around."

"I'll get a restraining order on you!" She screamed at Asia.

"Jackie, honey...you and I both know that you wouldn't do that." She grinned and spun around and headed right back out the way she came, knowing Nicole was waiting in her car outside.

"Push it!" Jackie said.

Asia laughed and pushed through the door and headed towards that hot little pink ride of hers with Nicole inside of it, how much more luxurious can a person get with her car and a rich model inside of it? She grabbed the drivers side door and climbed in.

"I heard screaming. What did you get her for Christmas?" Nicole grinned.

"Just what she deserved..." Asia grinned. "A piece of charcoal, stupid bitch threw it on the floor and made a mess."

Nicole covered her mouth with her hand to hide the grin that came to be, she couldn't help it, the whole thing was hilarious to her.

Asia started the car, another round of laughter to follow as she pulled out and took off down the street. "Ah...So, what do you think we should do tonight?"

"Not all that sure..Christmas will be boring, it usually is, I already got what I want, money...and everyone who knows me knows that's what I want, I hate gifts because they are forced upon you and if you don't like them you throw them away or get rid of them and then you feel all guilty."

Asia shrugged. "Fuck that...I don't feel guilty, someone gets me something I don't want, I chuck it...and if it's actually valuable, I might hock it if I don't like it. Though pretty shiny things is a real easy way to win me over."

Nicole nodded. "Well, New Years will be much better, I can fly us out to California and we can find a good party somewhere."

"That would be awesome, I hope California is better, that club we went to in Dallas for Halloween wasn't so great."

Nicole stared at Asia. "You know that was me playing a joke on you, right?"

"Huh? You mean the fact that it was a gay club?" Asia grinned. "I didn't have a problem with it, just hated the muscle men trying to pull off cross dressing. Kind of freaked me out there."

Nicole's head fell back and she laughed. "That was the whole point. Seriously, if I am going to party for real, I go to the best and you can't get much better than California, unless you try New York, or even Miami rings up on the radar, mostly in the summer though."

"But that's just the United States." Asia said.

"Yep, anywhere else you pick the biggest city. Paris for starters, London, Prague...stay the hell out of Russia or the middle east because they are insane and dangerous." She laughed. "Tokyo is cool too, but way too big for me, it's like New York, only a nightmare."

"Fucking Tokyo has hotel rooms intended specifically for sex, I read about it." Asia said.

"Yep, they have them, and lets not forget the hole in the floor toilets. I had to leave a club one night because the bathroom was like that." She shook her head. "I didn't do Tokyo after that."

"I bet cigarettes out of a vending machine was awesome." Asia looked over at her.

"Yeah...I had a friend with me and we spent a few hours checking out all the vending machines." Nicole looked out of the window.

"So...not to bring you down, but how is Miki? Any changes?"

Asia's smile slowly faded and her eyes shifted down for only a moment and then returned to the road ahead. "I'm honestly not sure, I don't exactly talk to her parents but I've visited her and she just looks like she is sleeping." She drew in a breath and held it for a moment and then let it go. "If she doesn't wake up by the end of the month they are going to have to take her off life support."

"Are you serious? They hardly have given her any time." Nicole said, surprised.

"Yeah, well you know how it is, Medicaid gets bitchy and if they stop paying her credit will start to get ruined if she doesn't pay what stacks up." She paused. "Not to say that is why they are thinking about unplugging her but it's more like a technical reason, the more emotional reason is that they don't want her to go into the New Year like that."

Nicole slowly nodded and her eyes squinted in thought.

"I mean I have honestly thought about donating that money I made, I love Miki...she is my best friend and I don't want to seem like a selfish bitch, but my dad needs me and the money that I have to give and I just can't justify throwing it away if she never wakes up."

"That's not being a selfish bitch." Nicole looked up. "You have a friend that needs you and a father that needs you and you want to make a smart choice about who it would help more and there isn't anything wrong with that."

"Thanks for that." Asia said. "And to keep going, I half hate this...but part of me wishes they would just let her go. Miki wasn't a bad girl, she will go to the good place, can't hold her responsible for the shit I do, she simply acts as a friend and tended to be more of a bystander during some of the drama matches I've had."

Nicole again nodded, unsure of what more she could say at this point regarding the matter. The two went into silence as Asia drove around through town aimlessly. Nicole figured she would just relax until they came up with something to do.

Merit kept to himself, really only dealing with Siera and given what he had found out, he kept his interactions with her to a minimum. Unfortunately, the situation kept them together no matter the distance he tried to create and he had to be involved with her, especially now.

Time would tell if Merit was stuck with Siera or not, as well as her baby. He pulled into the parking lot of the prison and shifted the gear into park and he looked over at Siera. "Are you ready for this?"

She looked over at him. "This is just the beginning, what I'm really ready for is to...find out who the father is." Though as she went on, she didn't sound very convincing, they both knew who Siera wanted the father to be.

"Well...we have to pass level one before we get to level two." Merit pulled his keys out of the ignition. "Lets go." He climbed out of the car and walked around the front of it and fell in line behind Siera as they headed up the steps that lead into the building.

Siera moved through the lobby with the papers in her hand from her doctor and she looked at the receptionist behind the desk. "Hi, we have an appointment with Kane McKnight."

The receptionist checked a note on her desk and she looked up at Siera. "I just need to see your ID's and I'll page someone to escort you back."

Merit walked over towards the desk and opened his wallet and handed over his drivers license, Siera had pulled hers from her purse. Once the receptionist was satisfied, she returned both of their cards and paged for an officer to come and escort them to the meeting room.

Siera had began to pace until she looked up and saw an officer emerge from a door to the right of the main desk.

"Follow me." The officer said.

Merit pushed himself up from his seat on the bench and he followed Siera and the officer as they headed in the back and moved down the hall. The officer stopped at one of the doors and pushed it open to allow them to go inside.

"Thanks." Siera said as she walked inside, followed by Merit.

Kane looked up and waited until the guard shut the door before he would speak up. "Wow...Merit, I expected you to come with a blonde, but this isn't the one I was expecting."

"We have our reasons." Merit said, not appearing very amused.

Kane wanted to grin, he wanted to take some kind of humor out of it, but prison life had nearly drained any spirit that he had and drowned him in a dark ocean of depression.

Siera sat down and placed her laptop on the table and opened it up. "First...check these out." She tossed the papers in Kane's direction.

Kane grabbed the paper and began to look over it and his eyebrows lifted. "A paper that says you're nearly three months pregnant?"

"Yes, that is how far along I am." She looked at Kane. "We have the recording that Asia made."

Kane's eyebrows lifted. "The one that has me fucking Justin?"

"That's on the flash drive...but so is the original." Merit then held up the flash drive.

Kane eased back. "No need to play it, I remember."

"What a surprise." Siera said.

"So...you both come here..and you toss these papers at me and bring that night up. You trying to say that's my kid?" Kane questioned.

"Possibly...though I would hope not." Siera said.

Kane grinned briefly. "Oh, I love you too." His smile then faded. "So, by possibly?"

"I slept with Merit not long after I slept with you, kinda after Emry sort of dumped him but then they weren't technically together..."

"That's not important...right now." He looked at Siera. "Point is...after Emry did...kind of dump me..."

"You tried to force yourself straight?" Kane slowly shook his head. "I don't know whether to admire that or still think of you as not just another fag, but a fag that failed."

"Fuck you." Merit stared at him, though even such aggressive words didn't sound angry enough.

"Ooo powerful, you really said it like you mean it." Kane looked over at Siera. "So how did you two even..."

"Alcohol and Viagra." Siera shook her head. "Could you just stop with the questions?"

"Viagra?" Kane's grin returned. "That is really desperate." He shook his head. "Okay, so I get the situation now, you slept with us both and we were all three dumb and none of us used any protection. Now you're knocked up and don't know which one the kid belongs to?"

"As slutty as all of it sounds...basically yes." Siera frowned. "I still need to discuss with my doctor about the paternity test, but really the reason for our visit was to inform you and make sure that you'd participate."

Kane held up a hand. "Say no more...my saliva is yours." He shook his head and his hand fell back to the table. "I'm a man and I won't run from responsibility, what little of it I could take from in here."

"You're a man...as if Merit isn't." She frowned. "Lay off the hate or else you will never see this kid, whether the baby is yours or not."

"Fine...off the hate wagon." Kane shrugged. "So...is that it? I just wait for someone to come and get a sample?"

"Pretty much." She closed her laptop since they didn't need to share the flash drive with him. She stood up from the table. "And since we're not exactly friends...this wasn't a social call."

Kane shrugged. "Every room in this place starts to look the same after a while, nothing new to see."

Merit watched Kane and then he turned around and followed Siera out of the room to see the officer had been waiting to escort them back to the lobby and soon enough this trip would be over. As they made it outside, he was ready to leave.

"Hey...do you want to grab lunch?" He asked, walking around to the drivers side.

"Sure.." Siera said, climbing in and planting her laptop in her lap and then she pulled her seatbelt on as Merit started the car.

He pulled out of the parking space and drove out onto the road and began to think about where they could go eat, though he was open to any ideas Siera had. He figured that he at least could make the situation as pleasant as possible.

"I don't think this is a pregnancy craving, since I think those are supposed to be weird, thing is...I kind of really don't want fast food. I'm kind of in the mood for a restaurant."

Merit looked over at Siera and his eyebrows lifted.

"Oh, God...no, this is not about having a date, lunch is hardly a date. I just don't feel like having el cheapo food right now." Siera cringed. "The thought makes me ill right now."

Merit nodded and looked ahead. "I guess Dairy Queen is out of the question." He said as he drove by and left the place behind, continuing on down the road.

"Dairy Queen." Siera grinned. "That's where they found Kane's car after the robbery, he parked it behind the building." She looked out of the window. "Makes no sense why he stole the cashiers car."

"Either in a hurry or he wanted to make serious cash off of it." Merit paused. "Then again, he was trying to ditch it at the projects and that was when he was caught."

"Who knows what he was thinking, he probably just went panic and scatter brained." Siera looked around and then her eyes squinted. "How about that place?"

"Henry's Restaurant?" Merit grinned as he pulled in. "Well you can't get more basic than that, it's a restaurant, and Henry owns it." He paused. "Or the owner named it after someone named Henry."

A hint of a grin appeared briefly and Merit locked the doors with his key chain and headed away from the car, not another word was said as they headed into the restaurant, but he figured there would be some sort of idle chit chat.

Merit laid on his bed, he was enjoying the new skylight they had installed in his room along with blue LED lights that shined around the bottom edges of his bed and green LED lights that shined right beneath it and to add to the color spectrum, purple shined out from behind his headboard.

Any other additions added to his room? Well there was the artificial palm tree in the corner, the trunk of which was a tall glass cylinder with water and it created bubbles while the LED lights in the bottom faded from color to color. He had definitely just gotten his Christmas and birthday in one go, knowing there wouldn't be anymore gifts after this.

"Merit.." Siera called out from the other side of the door, barely opening it as she looked to the side and down towards the floor.

Merit stared up at the stars a moment longer and then he quickly sat up. "Come in." He said, brushing his hand over the back of his short cut hair, not wanting to have any sort of bed head.

Siera walked inside and shut the door. "Your..."

"Mom let you in." Merit said, a brief grin appeared. "She always does."

Siera let out a briefly held breath in a soft exhale and she nodded. "Pretty much." She walked further into the room, turning her back towards Merit, looking down at the papers she was holding.

"Those are the results, aren't they?"

She turned around and looked at him. "Luckily I caught my doctor before he went off to The Virgin Islands on vacation. He was hesitant on doing it because there is a risk involved with the procedure, you know...doing the paternity test before the child is born."

"What risks?" Merit asked.

"Well, for one the risk of miscarriage." Siera turned around. "Would make the situation a whole lot easier, wouldn't it? I'm horrible for thinking that."

Merit frowned. "I'm sorry, I feel like I forced you into it."

"It needed to be done, what I did, keeping Kane and I a secret, it wasn't right." She looked down at the papers. "And aside from all the high tech doctor slang...they made it very easy at the bottom of the page."

"So?" Merit's eyebrows lifted.

"The baby...is Kane's." Siera tossed the papers on the computer desk and sighed. "I didn't want it to be that way, not because I still want you, well I do...even if you can't be the perfect normal boyfriend, you would of made a great father...and instead my childs father is a felon in prison."

Merit wasn't sure how to react to such a thing, of course he wanted to jump for joy, but it's not like it made his life better, Emry was still gone, but at least he didn't have responsibilities come crashing down upon him. Hell he needed to pick a college by the end of the year and he didn't have any idea what his plans were, not without Emry.

"There is some other bad news..." Siera rubbed her hands together. "I shouldn't have said he was a felon." She looked up at Merit. "Apparently..Kane suffered a really bad beating and...well now...he's dead."

Merit wasn't sure what to say about that. "Wow...didn't survive the first year." He looked down and sighed. "It's odd but...I really don't feel anything." He looked up at her. "I never hated him, I just...never connected with him, appearances can be deceiving."

"It's nothing to feel guilty about." Siera walked over and sat on the bed next to him. "Sometimes people blank and go numb when they hear someone dies, and it's not like he was your biggest friend either."

"Definitely not and...well, it would be wrong to jump for joy, not that I want to." He looked over at Siera. "So, what is going to happen with the baby?"

"That's another news story that I have to hit you with, though the punch might not be such a blow as far as you're concerned."

"What?" Merit asked.

"Well, it's a little old school, I don't even know what you call them places, a convent or whatever." She shook her head. "I'm being sent to a place like that during my pregnancy, an all girls facility and they are pregnant too. So I won't be a big fat oddball and then once it's near time for me to come to term, I will come home and wait out the days until it happens."

Merit's eyebrows lifted. "And then?"

"And then they raise my child because compromising my education is not an option to them, which I guess is kind of true, if I want to make a good life, I need to do it without any stress or unnecessary responsibility." She pushed herself to stand up and grabbed the papers from the computer desk. "I have copies, if your parents need to see."

He stood up and took the papers and he looked down at them and slowly nodded. "I'm really sorry that you are in this situation." He looked up at her.

"I put myself there...I don't throw blame on anyone, I did it and I take the responsibility for it." She looked up and forced a half smile. "At least I won't have to put up with Asia anymore, or the jokes I'm sure she would make when I really start to blow up."

Merit stared at her as the awkward silence kicked in and they both seemed to have blanked out.

After a moment, she shook her head. "Well, I guess I should go." She headed for the door and stopped for only a second to look back at him. "Guess I won't be Prom Queen after all." She then slipped out into the hall, heading away from Merit's room and out of his life.

A lot had happened in the time that had passed. Miki being in the coma she is in left Jesse in a long time of grieving and worrying. Sailor and Jasper had taken off and returned to New Jersey and Liam had moved away and transferred out just at the start of Christmas break.

And as for Maiten? He also left to return to Africa to be with his own family for Christmas break and the remainder of the year. Emry had left to go spend some time with his sister in Georgia. Merit wasn't sure whether that was good or bad, given his future was about to be right in front of him and whatever choices he makes could determine the rest of his life. At least that is the sort of fear that his dad planted in his head.

Justin still hung around but without Miki there to be the glue, he distanced himself from Asia, still saddened by the death of Dolph, and he had become a loner for the most part. If there were any others, they likely just fell into the many faces that roamed the school five days a week.

The biggest burden had been lifted from his shoulders, he still felt like he was hollow on the inside. He wanted Emry to come back, but it didn't look like that was going to happen, he wouldn't even take his phone calls, they hadn't spoken a word to each other ever since the day Emry handed over the flash drive.

It was something he couldn't afford to dwell on but it was hard not to and over the days that went by, that feeling of finality became incredibly overwhelming and more than that, it slowly broke his heart. Despite the darkness inside, his dad had been right, he had very important decisions to make and not a lot of time left to do it, he had to plan for his future, leave the nest, and jump start his life. He only hoped that one day Emry could possibly be a part of that again.