The Lost And Forgotten Memories

      It’s a deep night. There is nobody at Terrence and Raquelle’s house, who would wander in the house, suffering from insomnia. Some windows are half-opened, and a cold wind spreads through the whole house and blows up light curtains. It’s so nice to sleep at such moments, being covered with a warm blanket and lying on a soft pillow in a comfortable bed… Even if Raquelle is sleeping on a big, incredibly soft bed covered with a warm blanket, and Terrence is lying next to her, it does not save her from nightmares. That’s why she tosses, winces slightly, says something unclear, and moans painfully, as if someone tortures her with the worst thing in the world. She is seeing a man called Simon Ringer, who was doing some tricks on the lovers and had to do with the death of her parents, Jackson and Elizabeth Cameron.       

***

      “One more step before you get her body in parts!” Simon screams at the top of his lungs, putting a pistol to Raquelle’s head while she sometimes sobs and tries to escape with dumbfounded eyes, a strong shake, an indescribable fear, and a coldness that gets obsessed with her body.       “Let her go, Ringer!” Terrence demands rudely, having to stand in the same place with his hands raised up. “Let her go now!”       “I appreciated your efforts and made sure that you were a psycho. But you have to admit that you have lost. You will never see your cutie. The one you left.”       “I said, LET HER GO!”       “STAND IN YOUR PLACE, BASTARD!” Simon screams and sharply points the pistol at Terrence when he takes a step forward. “OR I WILL HAVE TO KILL YOU FIRST!”       “Do not make me furious, Simon. YOU HAVE MADE ME REALLY FURIOUS!”       “No, honey, not quite… You will die of anger if I do something to this cutie.”       “If you touch her with a finger, you will be dead! I SWEAR, BASTARD!”       “Please, Simon…” Raquelle pronounces in a quiet, shaking voice, looking tear-stained and white from the shock. “Don’t do stupid things…”       “Ah, darling…” Simon pronounces with a wide smile, starting to go crazy slowly and believing that Raquelle is his love and her mother, Elizabeth. “You are so similar to your mother… Just like two drops of water… You kind of came from heaven to earth to be with me…”       Simon looks into the scared, widely open eyes of Raquelle, which he admires truly, while she is shaking strongly and crying quietly from the realization of her helplessness.       “The eyes are the same as Elizabeth’s…” Simon says in a low voice and fixes Raquelle's hair with his pistol, while she opens her eyes much wider and shakes her head sharply. “Ah… Beauty… That’s what getting all the best is… I understand why so many men in the world go crazy for you.”       Simon presses Raquelle being white from fear to himself, hugging her by the waist tightly, and tries to kiss her on the neck, while she resists too hard, pushing her offender off, trying to break free, and turning around with loud sobs.       “No, Simon, no!” Raquelle resists so hard. “No, don’t do it! No! NO!”       “Maybe, you are Elizabeth? Maybe, you came back to me? Did you understand that you would be happy only with me?”       With these words, Simon gets his free hand underneath a simple t-shirt of Raquelle and runs his dry hand over her belly, while she resists strongly with tears in her eyes.       “NO, PLEASE!” Raquelle screams with despair. “NO! SIMON, DO NOT DO IT!”       “LET HER GO NOW, DIRTY ANIMAL!” Terrence screams at the top of his lungs, clenching his hands into fists so that his knuckles get kind of white and being obsessed with a strong attack of anger that Simon provokes with great pleasure. “BASTARD! YOU WENT CRAZY! DO NOT DARE TO TOUCH RAQUELLE WITH A FINGER!”       “Better get out before I shoot at your head,” Simon demands rudely.       “I WILL NOT LEAVE WITHOUT HER!”       “SHE IS MINE, JACKSON! MINE! YOU’VE LOST HER! ELIZABETH BELONGS ONLY TO ME! SHE HAS ALWAYS BELONGED!”       “SHE IS NOT ELIZABETH! COME TO YOURSELF, SICK BASTARD!”       Terrence wants to try to set Raquelle free again, while she screams loudly and tries to get out of the arms of the man, who is disgusting to her and has too rotten teeth and by far not a fresh breath. But when the man takes one step, Simon immediately points the pistol at him, along with the scream of the dumbfounded girl.       “SHUT UP AND DON’T MOVE!” Simon screams, literally making a hole in Terrence’s forehead. “Or you will die before this gal!”       “You will not dare to hurt her!” Terrence says rudely. “If you want to get Raquelle, you have to kill me!”       “And I will do it! WITH GREAT PLEASURE!”       “NO!” Raquelle screams with wet, widely open eyes, breathing too heavily and literally choking on tears. “DO NOT SHOOT HIM!”       “You will be with me, Elizabeth. Since this bastard Jackson does not want to give you at his wish, I will have to kill him.”       “NO! DON’T KILL TERRENCE! I WILL NOT WANT TO LIVE IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO HIM!”       “You will be with me, honey,” Simon says in a sweet-nauseating voice and kisses Raquelle on the cheek with his dry and rough lips, making her hold down an attack of nausea because of the smell from his mouth. “Elizabeth… My Lizzy… You’re back to me… Back…”       “THIS GIRL IS ONLY MINE!” Terrence screams at the top of his lungs. “NOBODY ELSE!”       “You left her, Cameron! You did not pass the test, and you lost your girlfriend. So, you have no right to say she is yours.”       “DON’T MAKE ME FURIOUS, SICK BASTARD!”       “Better close your mouth and get out! Or I will kill you and bury your corpse right here.”       “NO!” Raquelle screams with despair. “DON’T DO THIS! NO!”       “I’m so happy you belong to me again…” Simon runs his free hand over Raquelle’s belly and squeezes her breasts painfully, while she screams loudly with tears in her eyes and tries to break free. “Nobody will tear us apart. You’re mine, Lizzy… Mine… I was waiting for you… Waiting for all these years… Waiting for you to understand who would love you…”       “Please, Simon, PLEASE! NO! NO! LET ME GO!”       “You will never be with Jackson, babe. He left you… Because you still think of me… You have not forgotten what kind of pleasure I could give you…”       “YOU WENT CRAZY!” Raquelle sharply gets out of Simon’s strong grip and tries to run away from him as far as possible. “NUTS!”       “Don’t move, cutie!” Simon immediately presses Raquelle against himself, squeezing her chin tightly, and puts his pistol to her forehead. “DON’T MOVE! YOU WILL NOT GO AWAY FROM ME!”       “DON’T TOUCH ME, DON’T TOUCH!” Raquelle screams loudly, trying to run away from Simon. “NO!”       “Either you will be with me, or you will die and be with nobody!” Simon throws rudely. “ESPECIALLY THIS NASTY BASTARD, JACKSON, WHO STOLE YOU FROM ME!”       Simon sharply takes off Raquelle’s denim jacket, throws it aside, pulls up her t-shirt, and gets his hands underneath it confidently. The girl barely gets out and runs away from him with loud shouts, but later, she gets caught by her offender and pressed to his body.       “NO, NO!” Raquelle screams loudly. “NO! NO! HELP! HELP ME! HELP!”       “Don’t move, bitch!” Simon throws rudely and confidently gets a free hand underneath Raquelle’s jeans and underwear. “DON’T THE FUCK MOVE!”       “STOP IT, PLEASE!” Raquelle screams as loudly as she never did before and looks at Terrence with pity in her eyes, while he looks at Simon with anger in his eyes and stands in the same place. “TERRENCE! TERRENCE, PLEASE, HELP ME! PLEASE! I DON’T WANT TO DIE!”       “There is no Terrence here. We are all alone. Nobody will stop me from thinking of the old time when we got excited thanks to the crazy passion.”       “TE-E-ERE-E-E-ENCE! SAVE ME! PLEASE! I NEED YOU! LIKE NO-M-M-M-M…”       Raquelle does not finish her thought because Simon sharply closes her mouth with a hand and presses her tightly to himself.       “SHUT UP NOW!” Simon hisses and sharply presses Raquelle shaking with great fear to himself, while she loudly moans and looks at the pistol near her face with widely open eyes. “YOU WILL BE MINE!”       Despite her hard resistance, Simon starts kissing Raquelle on the lips, trying to get his tongue into her mouth as deeply as possible and making her wish to clean her stomach. Her body is literally shaking in convulsions, while his hand squeezes her breasts rudely, caresses her naked belly, and tries to get underneath her underwear. The man does not care about the girl’s loud shouts and tightly presses her to himself, still holding his pistol with one hand and putting the barrel of it against her temple.       “TERRENCE!” Raquelle screams at the top of her lungs. “TERRENCE, PLEASE! HELP ME! I DON’T WANT TO DIE!”       But Terrence is standing in the same place as if he does not hear Raquelle’s plea and watching the way Ringer is mocking her indifferently. And at some moment, she hears the voice of someone… The voice of the woman at the age of forty with dark brown hair and expressive green eyes full of evil.       “Come on, Simon, kill that bitch!” the woman encourages with an evil smile. “May the niece of the well-known whore named Alicia Thompson go to hell. The killer of my beloved daddy. I shall make her pay for that. Eleanor Georgina Woodham will take revenge for the death of Gilbert Woodham, the man, who was loved by ABSOLUTELY EVERYBODY!”       Then Raquelle hears another voice that belongs to the man at the age of thirty or thirty-five with red, thin, and greasy hair, wide eyes, and a big scar on his face wearing old, shabby clothes:       “Oh, yeah, Ringer, come on! Take everything off her! I want to see the naked body of this stunning cutie! I’m already imagining her pleasing me, Eugene Wainwright… How this sexy baby works with her hands and mouth… How she sucks me… Oh, yeah…”       And another voice that belongs to the old man, who has half black, half white hair, gray evil eyes, a face covered with wrinkles, and dry enough skin says:       “Don’t also forget to kill that bastard – the eldest sonny of my brother, whose birth was a great mistake. Michael MacClife promised to reach the MacClifes and do it in any way. Start with that gal and then kill Terrence.”       “Don’t be shy, my love…” Simon says in a sweetly disgusting voice, caressing Raquelle’s thigh and crotch with a wide smile, sliding to her breasts, getting it underneath her t-shirt, and starting to caress the lady’s naked belly. “Trust your beloved man. I’ve always known your weakest areas. And I will help you relax.”       “No, NO!” Raquelle screams loudly. “NO! DON’T DO IT! HELP ME, SOMEONE! HELP! A-A-A-A!”       “I’ve always known you took after your auntie,” Eleanor says confidently with an evil smirk. “The same slut that fucks all men: young and old.”       “HELP ME!” Raquelle screams at the top of her lungs, while Simon sharply tries to take the t-shirt off her. “HELP! NO! HELP!”       “Ah, Lizzy, my sweet girl…” Simon pronounces with enjoyment and runs the tip of his tongue over the curve of Raquelle’s neck, making her feel disgust, as his hand squeezes her breasts painfully. “You’re still gorgeous…”       “TERRENCE! HELP! PLEASE! DON’T LEAVE ME!”       Simon kisses Raquelle against her wish, feels her up confidently, and tries to take clothes off her for some time, not caring about the loud shouts of the girl, who does not hold down the tears and looks terribly white. Meanwhile, Eleanor Woodham, Michael MacClife, and Eugene Wainwright are watching them with an evil sneer and wishing Ringer to kill the girl once and forever. But later, Terrence suddenly shows up from nowhere, being obsessed with anger that is getting stronger and stronger, grabs him by the grown hair gathered in a tale, and rudely takes him away from the scared, literally green Cameron, who keeps screaming loudly, as she is lying on the ground. MacClife strikes her offender down, gives him a couple of slaps in the face, grabs him by the collar, sharply pushes him against the ground with his face, and beats him on the back several times with his legs. As a result, Simon gets blood on his face, and his body starts to hurt strongly.       “BASTARD!” Terrence screams at the top of his lungs, gives Simon a strong slap in the face, and smashes a fist against his yawl. “DIE, SCUMBAG, DIE! YOU WILL PAY FOR ALL OF HER SUFFERINGS! FOR DARING TO FEEL HER UP AND STARTING TO UNDRESS HER!”       Simon shouts immediately and doubles over with the pain that his body gets obsessed with when Terrence strongly hits his leg against his groin.       “So, hurt, bastard?” Terrence asks rudely and does the same thing again, having the pleasure of watching Simon wincing with pain. “HURT? YOU WILL GET A STRONGER ONE IF YOU DARE TO GET CLOSER TO HER!”       “A-A-A, FUCK!” Simon screams, wincing strongly and tightly holding the crotch that is literally burning from pain. “Die, bastard… May you die… A-A-A-A-A!”       “This is for everything you’ve done to her. PAY, ASSHOLE! AND NEVER DARE TO STAND IN MY WAY! OR I SHALL KILL YOU! PUSH YOU AGAINST THE WALL! BURY YOU!”       Terrence beats Simon cruelly for some time with his legs and hands until he understands that the man is disarmed. He watches him for a few seconds with quite a heavy breath, quickly runs to the crying and doubling over Raquelle, takes her under her arms, places her on her feet carefully, and hugs her tightly, while she is still crying, shaking, and wishing to get rid of the terrible taste in her mouth.       “It’s okay, it’s okay, sweetie, he won’t come to you anymore,” Terrence says in a very soft voice, breathing heavily enough. “It’s okay, you’re with me…”       “You saved me, you saved my life…” Raquelle answers in a shaking voice, sobbing constantly and hugging Terrence as tightly as possible. “Saved…”       “Quiet, quiet, don’t cry…” Terrence kisses Raquelle on the top of her head and snuggles his nose into her shoulder for a second. “It’s okay… It’s okay…”       “Take me out…” Raquelle begs with despair, choking on tears. “Please, Terrence, take me with you. I don’t wanna be here anymore! You’re the only one, who can save me from this sick man. Please, for God’s sake…”       “I came to save you from this bastard. He won’t dare to hurt you. Never.”       “Take me, sweetie, please… Otherwise, Simon will kill me… I don’t want… Don’t want…”       “Quiet, Raquelle, quiet…” Terrence whispers and kisses Raquelle on the forehead, caressing her head tenderly. “We’ll go away now and never come back here.”       “Anywhere… I’d go to the end of the world with you…”       Terrence tightly presses Raquelle shaking and doubling over from coldness and fear to himself and wants to go away as far as possible. But Simon, watching them with anger, grabs the pistol lying on the ground not far from him, gets up, and catches them as fast as a bullet, pointing the gun at Raquelle and screaming loudly:       “You will go NOWHERE, Elizabeth! I will never let you be with this bastard, Jackson! You will be ONLY WITH ME!”       “SHE IS ONLY MINE!” Terrence screams at the top of his lungs, pressing Raquelle to himself tightly, while she grabs his arms. “AND THIS GIRL WILL LEAVE ONLY WITH ME!”       “ELIZABETH BELONGS TO ME! YOU WILL NOT STEAL HER FROM ME AGAIN!”       “I AM NOT ELIZABETH!” Raquelle screams at the top of her lungs with tears in her eyes, literally wrecking her voice. “COME TO YOURSELF, SIMON, YOU WENT CRAZY! MY PARENTS ARE DEAD! YOU KILLED MY MOTHER! SHE IS DEAD!”       “You will not be with Jackson! NEVER!” Simon sharply points the pistol at Terrence, whom he mistakes for Jackson. “Let her go now, asshole! LET GO NOW AND GET OUT BEFORE I KILL YOU!”       “YOU ARE A SICK BASTARD, YOU BELONG TO A MENTAL HOSPITAL!” Terrence screams furiously, caressing Raquelle’s head. “MENTAL HOSPITAL!”       “KILLER!” Raquelle exclaims in despair. “KILLER! BECAUSE OF YOU, I LOST MY PARENTS!”       “I say again: YOU WILL NOT BE WITH JACKSON!” Simon screams hysterically. “NEVER, HEAR ME! ELIZABETH BELONGS ONLY TO ME!”       “SHE IS NOT ELIZABETH, YOU, SICK ASSHOLE!” Terrence throws rudely. “AND I AM NOT JACKSON!”       “I am giving you the last chance to get out at your wish, bastard,” Simon points the pistol at Raquelle again. “Or I shall kill this gal.”       “Don’t dare to touch her with a finger!”       “YOU WILL NEVER BE TOGETHER!”       “STOP, SIMON!” Raquelle screams with despair at the top of her lungs. “STOP IT, PLEASE!”       “I said if you were not back to me, you’d be with nobody. I SHALL NOT LET!”       “YOU WENT CRAZY! YOU ARE SICK! SICK!”       “So, are you choosing this bastard?”       “I’m not Elizabeth, Simon! I am Raquelle! Her daughter! The daughter of the woman that you killed many years ago!”       “A-R-R-R-R, THAT’S ALL!!” Simon hisses, literally killing Raquelle with his icy look. “YOU, BITCH, GOT ME WILD! AS YOU DON’T WANT TO BE WITH ME AND PREFERRED THIS BASTARD JACKSON AGAIN, DIE WITH TORTURES.”       Simon takes the pistol off the safety and points it at Raquelle, who screams loudly.       “Yes, yes, yes, yes!” Eleanor exclaims happily. “C’mon, Simon, go! Shoot this slut! And deal with her auntie! May these bitches pay for depriving me of a very important man.”       “SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR LIFE, BITCH!” Simon laughs evilly. “YOU WILL DIE NOW!”       “NO!” Terrence screams at the top of his lungs, closes Raquelle sharply with his body, and hides her behind his back.       Simon takes a shot from the pistol with a wide, sly smile. The bullet immediately gets into Terrence’s chest – the area where his heart is.       “NO-O-O-O!” Raquelle screams with widely open eyes, jumping back at a large distance sharply, grabbing her hair, and getting horrified, while Terrence winces strongly from the pain that immediately gets obsessed with his body, doubles over, and falls to the ground. “TERRENCE!”       “YES!” Michael exclaims happily with a wide smile. “YES! YES! I WAS WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT FOR ALL MY LIFE! I WANTED TO WATCH THIS BASTARD DIE!”       “Do the same to his little brother,” Eugene sneers evilly. “I really want that puppy to die and not to stand in my way. I want to get his sexy blonde. And I’m about to reach this gorgeous brunette. OH YEAH! YES! YES! I AM SO LUCKY!”       Being obsessed with panic, horror, and fear, Raquelle shortly rushes to Terrence lying on the ground, holding his bleeding heart, and literally choking with his own blood, with which he constantly coughs. The girl falls on her knees beside him, raises his head, and starts holding it suspended and caressing the pale face of the man.       “No, no, Terrence, please, don’t die…” Raquelle begs in a shaking voice with tears and horror in her eyes, watching Terrence choke with blood, spitting it sometimes, getting deathly white, and looking at everything as though he says goodbye to the world. “Please, please… Don’t die… Hold on…”       Terrence tries to find the strength to say something for a few seconds, but the blood, with which he chokes, and a permanent cough do not let him do it. But later the man gets through this hellish pain that gets obsessed with his body and the taste of blood in his mouth.       “I’m dying…” Terrence barely pronounces quietly, while Raquelle holds his head and caresses his cheek tenderly. “Dying…”       “No, no, don’t say it…” Raquelle whispers in a shaking voice and sniffs quietly. “You won’t die… You’ll live…”       “Too late… It’s too late to say it, but… But…” Terrence coughs again and gets blood out of his mouth. “I want to say for the last time… I’m madly sorry about… What happened between us.”       “Terrence, please…”       “Please, Raquelle…” Terrence whispers with pity in his dying eyes. “Forgive me… For leaving you… I… I was an idiot… I didn’t want… Didn’t want…”       “I’m not mad at you… I’m not mad…” Raquelle presses Terrence’s head to her chest and kisses him on the top of his head, not holding down the tears that slowly roll down her cheeks and get mixed with the bright red blood of the men. “I’m the one to blame… I was an idiot… I didn’t become the best for you… I was thinking only about myself…”       “I’m dying… Dying with a heavy heart…” Terrence sniffs quietly, starting to cry from despair and the realization that his death is close. “With the thought that… I lost you…”       “No, Terrence, no! You won’t die!” Raquelle says in a shaking voice, shaking her head with tears in her eyes and caressing the face of the dying Terrence. “I’ll do anything… Anything for you to survive…”       “I feel that my time has come…” Terrence says in a quiet voice, looking at Raquelle with his lifeless, wet eyes full of despair. “I’m losing my strength… I’m about to die…”       “No, Terrence, no! You will not die!”       Terrence has to apply very much effort to raise his hand, caress the cheek of Raquelle crying bitterly, and run it over her soft, tousled hair the last time. While the tears roll down his cheeks and mix with the blood that is flowing out of his mouth and chest in a big flow.       “Don’t cry, my sunshine…” Terrence says in a shaking voice with tears in his eyes. “I don’t want to die… Seeing your tears… I want… You to smile… I want… To remember your smile…”       “Please, honey…” Raquelle pronounces with pity, smiling by force, and caress Terrence’s white, bloody cheek tenderly. “It’s gonna be okay, you will see it… Just believe it… I’ll save you…”       “You’re the best thing that I’ve ever had in my life…” Terrence says in a shaking voice. “Nobody… Nobody could keep a fire inside me… The way you did… Thanks to you… I always felt… Alive… You… You breathed into me…”       “Tell me what I should do… I swear, I’ll do anything for you to stay with me.”       “Just be happy… And take care of yourself…”       “Don’t leave me, Terrence, please! I madly love you and don’t wanna lose you! I need you! As much as never before! I realized I couldn’t live without you! You’re everything to me!”       “I’m sorry, Raquelle… About everything… And remember that I love you very much… Despite nothing… And I will always love…”       “No, sweetie, no…”       Even if the blood flows out of Terrence’s mouth, and he chokes with it, Raquelle cannot hold down her wish to kiss him on the bloody lips, grabbing his face tenderly with both hands and bending to him with a heavy breath. The dying man finds the strength to answer this goodbye kiss, being sure that this is a breath of air that would help him survive. As if the girl’s act would heal him and bring him to life just like in a kind tale. She thought so when she decided to kiss him. But alas, when Raquelle breaks the kiss with tears in her eyes, Terrence, looking at her with a dying look and silently saying goodbye to her, starts to get weaker and whiter quickly and closes his eyes slowly.       “Terrence…” Raquelle pronounces in a shaking voice and caresses Terrence’s head tenderly, sniffing quietly. “Terrence!”       “I love you…” Terrence whispers. “Love…”       Terrence’s head that Raquelle is holding on the bent of her arm bends to the side, his breath stops, the dead eyes remain open widely and set into the distance, and he makes a quiet, painful moan. The last moan, after which the soul leaves his body. His body, which slowly gets softer and much whiter than before in the girl’s arms.       “IT HAS HAPPENED!” Michael laughs evilly and loudly. “THE ELDEST SON OF MY BROTHER JAMIE DIED! YES! I LIVED UNTIL THIS MOMENT! I LIVED!”       “Excellent, Simon!” Eugene exclaims cheerfully. “You have killed that unsinkable bastard!”       “Nobody will suffer because of his death,” Eleanor says confidently. “His star has faded away, and the people have forgotten him. The story of Terrence MacClife ended once and forever.”       “No, Terrence, no…” Raquelle pronounces in a shaking voice and tries to wake up the dead Terrence, clapping him on his cheeks and rubbing them. “Please, don’t die… I need you… No, no… Terrence, please… Please…”       Raquelle tries to feel the pulse on Terrence’s neck and wrist with a shaking hand and gets horrified after she finds out that he does not have it. No matter how hard she tries to relieve the man, nothing helps her. He is dead. Her arms are holding and embracing the dead man with dead, open eyes, blue lips with tracks of blood, and the chest that is still bleeding, even if it seems like all the blood has already left him.       “Please, come back to me!” Raquelle begs, crying hysterically and barely speaking because of the realization that she lost her beloved man. “I can’t live without you… I madly love you… Terrence… Terrence, please…”       Raquelle does not care that she is all in blood. The blood of the man, who died in her arms, and whom she is pressing to herself, kissing every part of his face as if it would bring him to life.       “NO!” Raquelle screams loudly, crying bitterly, pressing Terrence’s head to her chest, kissing him on the forehead tenderly, and caressing his cheek, and runs her fingers through his thick, disheveled hair. “TERRENCE! A-A-A-A! NO! I DON’T BELIEVE IT! I DON’T!”       Meanwhile, Simon is gloating and smiling widely, as he watches Terrence die in Raquelle’s arms. As well as Eleanor, Michael, and Eugene, who are not hiding their happiness caused by the death of this man and the girl’s suffering, who is loudly screaming from the pain.       “FINALLY!” Simon screams happily at the top of his lungs, raising his hands. “THIS BASTARD DIED! HALLELUJAH! I DID IT! MACCLIFE IS DAD! HE WILL NO LONGER STAND IN MY WAY!”       “AND MINE!” Michael whoops. “I DIDN’T KILL HIM BY MYSELF, BUT YOU DID IT! MINUS ONE BASTARD!”       “NOW I CAN GET THIS FREAKING SEXY HELLCAT,” Eugene rubs his hands. “MACCLIFE WILL NOT STOP ME FROM DOING WHAT I WANT!”       “WHAT DID YOU DO, SIMON?” Raquelle screams loudly, holding the head of the dead Terrence and caressing his cheek. “YOU KILLED HIM! KILLED TERRENCE! I LOST HIM!”       “I SAID YOU’D BE MINE ANYWAY!” Simon laughs evilly, raising his hands. “AND NOW YOU ARE! BECAUSE YOUR BELOVED JACKSON IS DEAD!”       “BASTARD! I HATE YOU! YOU KILLED TERRENCE! KILLER! YOU DEPRIVED ME OF MY BELOVED MAN! FIRST, MY PARENTS, BUT NOW MY BOYFRIEND!”       “ONE NEPHEW OF MINE IS DEFEATED!” Michael rejoices. “THERE IS ONE MORE THAT I CANNOT TAKE! THE ONE I HATE MUCH MORE THAN HIS FUCKING FATHER!”       “I CURSE ALL OF YOU! I HATE YOU! YOU DEPRIVED ME OF TERRENCE!”       “You have a little time, too,” Simon says confidently in a low voice. “Now you will be bleeding as strongly as this bastard, who dared to steal you from me.”       Simon sharply runs to Raquelle, grabs her by the hair, and pulls her away from the dead and bloody Terrence, whose lifeless body rolls onto the side. Meanwhile, Michael comes to him and starts to beat him with his legs painfully and even smashes his fists against everything he sees, not stopping to curse him and wish him to burn in hell.       “HELP ME, HELP ME, SOMEBODY!” Raquelle screams with tears. “NO! HELP!”       “SHUT UP, IDIOT!” Simon throws rudely and strongly slaps Raquelle in the face. “It’s too late to ask for help! You’ve got no protector! He died! Jackson is dead! DEAD! DEAD, HEAR ME, DEAD! HE DIED!”       “STOP!” Raquelle tries to creep back sharply, while Simon comes to her confidently, looking at the white girl shaking strongly with wild eyes. “KILLER! CURSE YOU! I HATE YOU! HATE!”       “We will deal with you now, fucking bitch,” Eleanor says confidently with a sly smile. “You avoided death the last time, but this time, nobody will come to save you. We will destroy you, Raquelle Cameron. DESTROY!”       “Come to me, my sweet dolly,” Eugene sneers evilly. “I want to play with you. I want you to belong to me… Give me the best sex in my life… Do me an unforgettable blowjob… Spread your legs and let me get my dick in you…”       With these words, Eleanor, Eugene, Simon, and Michael come to Raquelle confidently, laughing loudly and smiling evilly.       “No…” Raquelle pronounces in a shaking voice, creeping back sharply. “No… NO! DON’T DO IT! DON’T TOUCH ME! STOP! NO!”       Raquelle keeps screaming loudly and begging for help when Eugene runs to her sharply, tears her t-shirt with one easy movement, lies over her, and painfully sinks his teeth into the tender skin on her neck, letting his hand squeeze her breasts rudely, slide over her naked belly, and get underneath the lady’s jeans. Nobody cares about the strong resistance of the girl, who is about to fall into a strong hysteria and feels some adrenaline that makes her fight with a few offenders at the same time.       “Come on, whore, undress!” Eleanor says rudely, gets down on her knees, takes off the torn T-shirt of Raquelle sharply, and tries to spread her legs. “Spread your legs! Just like your aunt did it for lots of men! So, three men fuck you!”       “Ah, cutie, you’re so gorgeous…” Michael pronounces with enjoyment, slowly running his hands over the legs of Raquelle, while Eugene’s hand is in her underwear and rubbing her clitoris painfully. “I want to know if people are telling the truth… To know if you are as sexy as so many men in the world think…”       “Elizabeth…” Simon laughs evilly. “My Lizzy… I want you… My sweet girl… I want to fuck you hard… I want you to suck me enough…”       “NO, STOP IT!” Raquelle screams loudly, looking at all her offenders with wet, dumbfounded eyes. “LEAVE ME ALONE! NO! NO! A-A-A-A! I DON’T WANT IT!”       Raquelle opens her eyes widely when Eleanor takes a new knife and deeply gets it into the stomach of the girl. She screams from the pain that immediately gets obsessed with her body and winces strongly after she sees that the blood starts getting out of her strongly. The bloody tracks appear on her neck after Eugene’s strong bites, and Michael’s strong hits on her chest, stomach, arms, legs, and face deprive her of all the strength to find and try to run.       “Please, stop…” Raquelle begs quietly. “Stop it…”       “Now, there will be a sea of blood,” Simon says confidently. “An OCEAN OF BLOOD! YOU WILL GO AFTER MACCLIFE!”       Simon takes a chainsaw from nowhere with a wild laugh. Raquelle starts wrecking her cords with widely open eyes and shakes in convulsions, while Eleanor, Michael, and Eugene are mocking her. Ringer comes to her confidently with a wish to cut her body with the chainsaw and smiles widely when he brings the blade closer to her neck and wants to cut her head. Not caring about the loud screams of the girl, who closes her face with both hands and doubles over in the hope that it will somehow save her.       

***

      Raquelle sits up sharply with a quiet cry. The girl’s dumbfounded eyes are running from one side to another, her whole body is covered with cold sweat, her breath is too heavy, and her heart is beating so fast that it might not take this load. The shocked girl thinks her nightmare is a reality for two seconds but assures herself it’s not the truth when she looks at herself and understands that she is in her room, in her bed. Since this night is a little cold, goosebumps run over her skin because of this. Still breathing heavily and getting sharply weak after such strong tension, Raquelle puts her hand on her forehead and chest, trying to slow her heavy breath and heartbeat, and then runs her hands over her face and her little disheveled hair.       When she comes to herself a little, the girl sharply moves her eyes to the place on the bed beside her and sees Terrence. At first, she thinks he is not alive, but then Raquelle looks at him closely and hears the quiet, calm breath of the sleeping man, who is lying with his back turned to her. To make sure he is really alive, she carefully puts a hand on his neck and checks out the pulse, finding out that his heart is beating quietly, and he seems warm enough. The girl exhales with great relief, puts her head on the pillow, and moves her eyes to the ceiling, still breathing too heavily and being shocked by the nightmare that seemed so real.       Raquelle lies in the bed for a few seconds and tries to calm down. Make herself remember that Simon Ringer got what he deserved, Eleanor Woodham is dead, Michael MacClife and Eugene Wainwright are in prison, and Terrence is safe and sound and is now lying next to her and sleeping well. But it does not help her enough. Her body is shaking strongly, her heart is beating like crazy, she can barely breathe because of the feeling that something is squeezing her chest, and tears come to her eyes. She barely holds down her wish to scream at the top of her lungs, but she is afraid to wake the man up and does not want to bother him, even if she madly wants him to hug her tightly and kiss her.       Some time later, Raquelle slowly raises herself in the bed, trying to swallow up a weird lump in her throat and holding down a wish to cry loudly and fall into hysteria, fixes the strap of her nightgown, and looks at Terrence sleeping quietly on the side and looking so cute and peaceful. The girl smiles through the tears, as she listens to his quiet breath, and calms down with the thought that he is next to her and sharing the warmth that she needs on this cold, dark night. At some moment, she reaches her fingers into his hair, strokes the black rebel strands, touches his cheek carefully, and runs the back of her hand over it. Raquelle kisses his temple very softly, feeling the nice smell of his hair and his tender skin, puts her head on the pillow, covers herself with a blanket, turns on the side, and embraces the man from behind with the hope that it will help her fall asleep again and dream something nicer. But after lying for some time, she cannot relax and fall asleep.       Raquelle sits up slowly and just sits for some time, looking at the whole dark room with a sleepy look and sometimes watching Terrence sleep deeply enough without reacting to her actions. And then she decides to go to the kitchen and drink some water. After throwing another short look at the sleeping man, she, shaking strongly from coldness, stands up carefully from the bed, puts on the sleepers placed near her and the silk robe placed on the chair near the writing table, and ties it up tightly around the waist. The girl comes to the door carefully, opens it quietly, leaves the room, closes it, and slowly goes down the hall, embracing herself with both arms and looking around with dumbfounded eyes. Now any quiet sound or slight movement of the curtains can make Raquelle shake and breathe heavily. She thinks that Simon might appear from somewhere with a chainsaw, or Eleanor, Eugene, and Michael. The memories of the nightmare make her shake with horror after she calmed down a little. She does her best not to scream at the top of her lungs when thinking of Terrence literally drowning in his own blood and choking on it. Her hands, lips, and clothes were covered with bright red tracks… His dead eyes, which did not close after his death…       While Raquelle goes down the long hall and goes down the wide stairs in a slow step, holding the rails, she does not stop remembering the nightmare… Terrence’s terrible death… The shoot, the blood, the kiss, the realization that her beloved man was dead… Simon, Eleanor, Eugene, and Michael’s terrible tortures… She also thinks about the terrible time when it seemed that she would split up with the man, whom she could have lost because of her own fault. Because she forgot about him shortly after she moved into his house and got busy with her career. Raquelle feels the bad coldness and strong weakness in her legs, breathes heavily enough, understands how fast her heart is beating and how tense her body is, and does not hold down the tears rolling down her cheeks. The girl feels a slight dizziness and a desire to sit or fall on the floor. But she overcomes it and barely reaches the kitchen, crying bitterly to let her emotions go out somehow. In the dark, Raquelle feels the switcher and switches it on. That’s why the white kitchen lights up with the light that is the reason her eyes start to hurt. Her condition gets much worse, and the feeling of panic and anxiety gets stronger. She understands that she needs someone to help her come to herself. But she does not want to wake anyone up in the middle of the night and tries to overcome her feelings and emotions by herself.       Raquelle barely stands on her feet and feels that something presses on her chest and does not let her breathe well. The girl, feeling slight nausea and strong weakness and seeing everything not very clearly, gets very white and cold. At some moment, she has to lean on the kitchen counter, understanding that she is about to fall to the floor. Struggling with this condition, the weak Raquelle barely reaches the kitchen cabinet, opens it, and takes a high glass from it. The girl takes a few steps with difficulty and feels that she stops controlling her body, which possesses terrible weakness, and a lack of air makes her panic and literally use every single chance to breathe. Raquelle tries to use any chance to stay awake for some time. But at some moment, she stops realizing what’s happening around her, her weak body falls sharply to the floor, and her lips get terribly white. The girl, rolling and closing her eyes sharply, lets the glass go, which breaks against the floor into many pieces. All of them fall near Raquelle, who is lying on the side without movements and barely breathing, while her face looks white and exhausted, tears keep rolling down her cheeks slowly, and her hair color strongly stands out against her white skin.       

***

      A bad presentiment makes Terrence wake up. After opening his eyes, the man looks into the distance, then sits up sharply, and looks at the whole dark room.       “Raquelle?” Terrence whispers in a little hoarse voice.       After looking at the empty place beside himself, Terrence notices that he is now alone.       “She’s not here…” Terrence says under his nose. “I wonder how long ago she left? And what time is it now?”       Terrence reaches for his phone placed on the table near his side of the bed and unlocks the screen.       “Hm, five past three…” Terrence pronounces thoughtfully. “Time to sleep… Oh…”       Terrence puts his phone in its place, runs his hands over his face with a quiet moan, and looks at the whole room with his sleepy eyes again.       “Hey…” Terrence pronounces quietly. “Did I dream that Raquelle said something in sleep? Moaned quietly… And even cried something…”       Terrence suddenly gets obsessed with a weird feeling that makes him nervous and suspects something bad.       “What if that’s true?” Terrence asks himself, grabbing his throat and putting his hand on his heart, the strong beat of which he can feel clearly enough. “I have a bad presentiment… As if something is not right…”       Terrence, feeling that it’s very cold in the room, embraces himself with both arms with a wish to get warm.       “G-r-r-r, what a cold night…” Terrence says under his nose. “It’s kinda summer…”       A strong coldness does not let Terrence get up and try to find out where Raquelle is because he feels so good lying under the blanket, which is the only salvation on such a cold and dark night. But a bad presentiment literally pulls him out and makes him get out of bed and find the girl.       “Damn, it’s so cold that I don’t wanna get up… But this presentiment doesn’t leave me… It tells me I must do it… What if Raquelle needs my help…”       Terrence resists for a few seconds, not wanting to stand up when it’s so cold in the house. But his anxiety about Raquelle gets a victory and makes him stand up. The man exhales sharply, gets up from the bed lazily, puts on his slippers, and leaves the room, slightly closing the door that, however, opens some time later. The man goes down in the hall in a slow step, looks around closely, and sees that the rooms of the servants are closed, and there is no light in there, trying to be very quiet and not to wake up anyone. Terrence goes further and comes to the rail, on which he leans, and looks at the whole first floor, the view of which is good from the place where he is standing. The man quickly notices that there is light in the kitchen and, being sure Raquelle might be there, decides to go there.       Terrence quickly goes downstairs, looks at the whole living room again after switching on the light with a switcher, and goes to the kitchen, where there is light. After entering it a little hesitantly, the man sees nobody, but sharply glances down when he understands that he almost hurt his foot with something sharp. He sees a few little pieces that were thrown after the glass had been broken and asks himself how it could happen. But since he cannot find the answer, MacClife, Sr., decides to take the glassy pieces, so nobody hurts, and goes further to find a dustpan and a brush. On the floor, Terrence sees the broken glass and then notices the unconscious Raquelle lying beside it. The deathly white girl is lying on the floor without any movements, and her hand is placed near the broken glossy pieces.       “Raquelle…” Terrence pronounces quietly, rounds his eyes, and gets immediately obsessed with panic and anxiety. “Raquelle!”       Terrence rushes to Raquelle shortly, falls on his knees beside her without fear of hurting himself with pieces, and rolls the unconscious girl’s body carefully.       “Damn, Raquelle, can you hear me?” Terrence jabs excitedly, grabs the deathly white face of Raquelle, and rubs her cheeks. “Raquelle! Raquelle, wake up!”       Terrence quickly moves strands of hair off Raquelle’s face and caresses her head tenderly, holding her by the chin with a free hand.       “Sweetie, answer me!” Terrence begs with despair. “Open your eyes! Raquelle! Hear me?”       Terrence raises Raquelle’s head, starts to hold it at the bend of his arm, and tries to wake her up, clapping her cheeks slightly.       “No, no, don’t scare me, please…” Terrence begs with a heavy breath in a shaking voice and caresses Raquelle’s cheek tenderly. “Say something! C’mon!”       After two more unsuccessful attempts to wake her up, Terrence presses the head of the unconscious Raquelle to his chest and caresses it with a free hand, looking at her face better and getting horrified by how white it is.       “Oh, damn, she’s so cold and white…” Terrence pronounces in a much more shaking voice and carefully wipes tears under Raquelle’s closed eyes. “And tear-strained…”       Terrence checks out the pulse on Raquelle’s neck and wrist with a shaking hand and the pupillary response to light.       “Fuck, I can barely feel her pulse, and the pupillary response is very bad…” Terrence gets horrified quietly and checks the way Raquelle is breathing, raising her head and bending to her face. “She’s barely breathing… Fuck…”       At first, Terrence gets confused and does not know what to do, letting his emotions get obsessed with him and getting horrified when seeing the deathly white face of Raquelle and holds her soft body suspended and presses it against himself.       “Please, Raquelle, wake up,” Terrence begs with pity, moves off some strands of hair from Raquelle’s face, while her head is pressed to his chest, and claps her on the cheeks two more times. “Please, please…”       Terrence tenderly kisses Raquelle’s forehead and buries his nose in the curve of her neck for two or three seconds.       “My girl…” Terrence pronounces with a strongly shaking voice and caresses Raquelle’s cheeks, looking at her white, indifferent face with pity. “Don’t scare me…”       Terrence braces himself somehow and decides to carry the unconscious Raquelle to the living room and wake her up with ammonia. But when the man wants to take the girl in his arms, he hears that she moans quietly and painfully, puts her hand on her forehead, and starts to move her hands and legs little by little, wincing slightly.       “Raquelle?” Terrence pronounces quietly, puts his hand on Raquelle’s cheek, and claps on it slightly, looking at the girl with pity in his eyes, as he is holding her suspended. “Raquelle, can you hear me? Say just one word! Look at me!”       Raquelle needs a few seconds to find the strength to open her eyes and look at everything, breathing a little heavily and not understanding what happened or where she is. But a little later, the girl slowly moves her eyes to Terrence and sees his anxious face not very clearly, struggling with terrible weakness and a feeling of slight dizziness.       “Terrence…” Raquelle says very quietly.       “Gosh, Raquelle…” Terrence pronounces with relief, presses Raquelle’s head close to his chest with quite a heavy breath, and kisses her on the top of her head. “You’re okay… Thank God…”       Terrence caresses Raquelle’s cheek tenderly, while she looks at him and everything around her, being confused.       “You really scared me,” Terrence adds. “I almost went crazy!”       “Oh…” Raquelle moans quietly and closes her eyes for two seconds, exhaling slowly. “But what happened to me?”       “You fainted. I found you here lying unconscious on the floor.”       “You… Came here?”       “Yes, I woke up with a bad presentiment, saw you weren’t with me, went to the kitchen, and found you here. You were lying on the floor and not moving.”       “Oh…” Raquelle puts a hand on her forehead with a quiet moan, while Terrence tenderly caresses her head. “I feel bad… Feel dizziness…”       “It’s okay, sweetie, breathe deeper.” Terrence presses Raquelle to himself and kisses her on the temple. “It’s okay…”       Raquelle says nothing and makes a quiet moan, grabbing Terrence by the wrist of his hand, with which he caresses her head or cheek, and snuggles her nose in his chest.       “Damn, you scared me…” Terrence exhales sharply. “I came here, but you were lying here, being white and not moving… I briefly thought you were dead. I felt bad because of just one thought about it!”       The word “dead” helps Raquelle remember everything shortly and open her eyes wider. The girl felt weaknesses and absolute calm, but now she gets obsessed with excitement, fear, and anxiety.       “Dead…” Raquelle pronounces with dumbfounded eyes. “Dead…”       “I couldn’t bear it,” Terrence replies in a soft, quiet voice and kisses Raquelle on the temple tenderly. “You know that my life wouldn’t have the meaning without you.”       “Wait, but…” Raquelle slowly moves her dumbfounded eyes to Terrence. “But you died…”       “What?” Terrence opens his eyes widely, looking at Raquelle questioningly. “I died?”       “You were killed… How could you be alive? It… It can’t be the truth…”       “Gosh, Raquelle, what are you talking about? Who told you about it?”       “I saw it!” Raquelle makes a quiet sob. “I SAW IT!”       “Hey, quiet, quiet,” Terrence caresses Raquelle’s head tenderly and kisses her on the forehead. “Don’t scream… Everybody will wake up now…”       “You died…” Raquelle replies in a quiet, shaking voice, while tears come to her eyes, and she starts to breathe loudly and heavily. “In my arms… I saw it… You died… I lost you…”       “What do you think so, silly? I am with you! This is me!”       “No, no, it’s not the truth!” Raquelle sits up sharply and steps back from Terrence, whom she looks at with widely open eyes. “You’re not Terrence! No! Terrence is dead. I saw it! I saw it!”       “Raquelle, c’mon?” Terrence gets confused. “It’s me, Terrence! Alive and healthy!”       “That was horrible…” Raquelle says in a shaking voice, stops holding down the tears, and begins crying bitterly with the feeling that she gets obsessed with anxiety, fear, and panic. “The body… It was in all blood… It was getting out from everywhere… Even from the mouth… And the eyes… They… They were dead… Dead…”       “Raquelle, please, calm down,” Terrence says quietly, tightly hugs Raquelle crying bitterly and breathing heavily, and caresses her head. “I didn’t die. I’m fine, I’m safe and sound, and I’m with you.”       “I don’t want to live… I don’t want to live without my beloved man… I don’t want… He’s the meaning of my life… But I was deprived of it!”       “Quiet, my girl, quiet,” Terrence grabs Raquelle’s face and kisses her on the forehead tenderly, while she keeps crying bitterly and shaking strongly. “Sh-h-h… It’s okay.”       “It can’t be the truth…” Raquelle sharply steps back from Terrence and closes her white face with both hands. “That’s not the truth! Not the truth!”       “Of course, not the truth! Because I’m here, with you!”       “You’re not Terrence… You’re not him… Terrence died… Died in my arms… Bleeding… He said goodbye to me… And died… He left me once and forever…”       “You don’t know what you’re saying, my sunshine,” Terrence softly takes Raquelle by the shoulders, looking into her tear-stained eyes confidently. “Look, here I am! I’m here! Safe and sound!”       “Terrence is dead… Dead… I lost him… Lost…”       Raquelle starts to breathe heavily enough, feels a strong weakness, a strong dizziness, and a fast heartbeat, and understands that she hears everything as if she wears earplugs. And due to the lack of air, the feeling that something strongly presses on her chest, and the thought that she is about to lose consciousness, the girl starts to panic.       “Hey, Raquelle!” Terrence jabs excitedly and starts clapping Raquelle slightly on her cheek, looking at her scarily. “Don’t faint! Don’t lose consciousness! Hear me? Stay with me! Look! Look at me!”       Terrence raises Raquelle’s face and makes her look into his eyes, even if she keeps looking into the distance with a dead look and literally chokes from a lack of air.       “It’s okay, honey, it’s okay,” Terrence says quietly, caressing Raquelle’s cheek softly. “Nobody died… Everybody’s safe and sound… I’m here… It’s okay… It’s okay…”       Raquelle hears all of Terrence’s words through a deaf wall and gets closer to fainting. And no matter how hard the girl resists the loss of consciousness, she understands that she is about to fall into infinite darkness.       “Don’t faint, hear me!” Terrence jabs excitedly, clapping Raquelle on the cheek and hugging her around the shoulder with a free arm. “Stay awake! Hold on! Breathe deeper…”       “I want to die…” Raquelle barely pronounces with tears in her eyes. “I don’t wanna live… Without him…”       A few seconds later, Raquelle leans her head back with a painful moan and stops controlling her body, which gets sharply soft, and which Terrence catches just in time.       “Raquelle, no!” Terrence gets horrified loudly with widely open eyes and claps Raquelle on the cheek two times. “Wake up! Raquelle! Raquelle!”       However, Raquelle does not react to these actions and is unconscious now, looking very white and cold and kind of barely breathing. Despite the forced excitement, Terrence looks much more braced this time and finds the strength to brace himself quickly enough, even if he is still discouraged by the way the girl behaved before fainting for the second time.       “Oh, my girl…” Terrence shakes his head. “What scared you so much that you say I died and then lost unconsciousness? My poor baby…”       Terrence caresses Raquelle’s head softly and kisses her on the temple. Then he gets up, picks up the unconscious girl in his arms, and carries her into the living room. The man places her soft body carefully on the sofa, caresses her pale cheeks, and goes to the kitchen quickly. He finds a bottle of ammonia and fills a high glass with clean water. Terrence shortly returns to the living room, sits on the edge of the sofa beside the unconscious Raquelle, turns her head on himself, raises it slightly, and lets her breathe in what is in the open bottle after he places the glass on the table.       “C’mon, c’mon…” Terrence whispers excitedly a few seconds later, keeping the bottle of ammonia at some distance from Raquelle’s nose. “Wake up, sweetie… C’mon…”       But a few more seconds later, Raquelle breathes deeply and turns her head toward the bottle that Terrence brings to her nose. Then she slowly starts to move her body and makes a couple of quiet moans. A little later, the man puts his hand under the girl’s back and raises her to let her drink some water from the glass that he gives her. When she drinks a little bit, she lies down again and puts her hand on her forehead with another moan, while MacClife, Sr., holds another and caresses it as well as her head softly.       “S-h-h-h, calm down, honey, it’s okay,” Terrence says softly. “I’m with you. You’ve got no reason to worry.”       “Where am I?” Raquelle asks in a hoarse, quiet voice, running her hand over her face with closed eyes. “What happened?”       “You fainted again.”       “Again?” Raquelle moves her unclear look to Terrence, understanding that she feels dizzy. “What do you mean ‘again?’”       “You’ve fainted twice,” Terrence replies quietly and caresses Raquelle’s head.       “Twice?”       “Don’t you remember?”       “Nope…” Raquelle pronounces quietly, shaking her head. “The last thing I remember is… How I barely went to the kitchen… I didn’t feel good… Then I grabbed a glass and wanted to go to the water jug. But next, I felt a strong dizziness… I got a terrible weakness… I lacked air… And… I fell into darkness…”       “And anything more?”       “No… But I think I heard a crush… The glass… I… I let it go… And… Broke it…”       “You could wake me up and say you felt bad instead of going to the kitchen by yourself,” Terrence says softly, caressing Raquelle’s shoulder. “I would’ve done everything you needed.”       “I didn’t want to wake you up… And I just wanted to go to the kitchen to drink water. I didn’t think I’d lose consciousness.”       “I would’ve given you water. Why did you go somewhere when you felt bad? What if I hadn’t woken up? You would’ve lied on the floor unconscious for nobody the hell knows how long!”       “Sorry…”       “You know how much I got scared when I saw you like that!” Terrence softly caresses Raquelle’s cheek and moves some strands of hair off her face. “You were half alive and barely breathing! I thought of all the worst things! And I forgot everything I should’ve done for a few seconds.”       “Sorry, sweetie, I didn’t want to scare you,” Raquelle caresses Terrence’s cheek with a slight smile. “I’m really very sorry.”       “But why did you faint?” Terrence wonders while his hand is placed on Raquelle’s belly. “Maybe, you go to a doctor?”       “No, no, don’t need… I just… Erm…”       “You got scared by something? So much that you said weird things before you lost consciousness for the second time?”       “Did I say something?” Raquelle rounds her eyes.       “Yes.” Terrence takes Raquelle’s hand and caresses her wrist. “You said something about my death. I died, I was killed… I wasn’t Terrence… Terrence was dead…”       Raquelle opens her mouth slightly to try to say something but says nothing for two seconds, opens her dumbfounded eyes wider, and shakes her head.       “Erm…” Raquelle pronounces quietly.       “I know you didn’t understand anything and said some delirium, but trust me, you’ve got no reason to worry.”       “B-b-but It’s not delirium… Not delirium… That’s the truth!”       “Listen, Raquelle…”       “I don’t remember how I said it or how I lost consciousness for the second time, but those words weren’t delirium,” Raquelle makes a quiet sob. “I swear! That’s the truth!”       “Quiet, quiet, sweetie, quiet,” Terrence says softly and quietly, seeing that Raquelle starting to panic, shaking and crying again, and caresses the girl’s head and cheek at the same time. “It’s okay, my sweetheart. It’s okay.”       “I could’ve lost you…” Raquelle replies in a shaking voice, looking at Terrence with pity in her wet eyes. “That was horrible… Horrible…”       “No, no, Raquelle, stop being nervous.” Terrence puts his hand on Raquelle’s chest, feeling how fast her heart is beating. “I don’t want you to faint for the third time.”       “Everything seemed so real… I thought you really died in my arms…”       “Nobody killed me, darling. Look, I’m sitting with you safe and sound. Why do you think I died?”       “I saw the nightmare, Terrence!” Raquelle confesses loudly and excitedly and makes a couple of loud sobs. “The nightmare, in which you were killed!”       “Nightmare?”       “You were shot down with a pistol and died.”       “Gosh, my girl, what are you talking about?”       “I’m not dreaming, sweetheart. You were killed in my nightmare…” Raquelle falls into silence for two seconds and shakes her head. “You were killed by… Simon… Simon R-ringer…”       “What?” Terrence rounds his eyes. “Simon? Ringer?”       “Yes… He killed you before my eyes.”       “But, Raquelle…”       “It happened in the woods. But there were only you, he, and me… No policemen… I mean… At first, there was nobody… And then… Then some people showed up…”       “Which people?”       “Your uncle… Michael MacClife…”       “Michael? Uncle Michael?”       “And Eugene Wainwright… The one, who almost raped Natalia… And…” Raquelle makes a quiet sob. “And… Eleanor… Eleanor Woodham… Who took revenge on my aunt Alicia for killing her father… But died…”       “Oh, my gosh…” Terrence gets horrified.       “They encouraged Simon… They said he should’ve killed you and me… They wanted to see us dead…”       “What a twist…” Terrence shakes his head.       “Simon was threatening me for a long time and wanted to rape me…” Raquelle says in a very quiet, shaking voice with tears in her eyes. “He… He thought I was Elizabeth… He thought I was my mother… He said she was allegedly back to him… And alongside… He pointed the pistol at you and me… Ringer threatened to kill you…”       “Something like that was happening at that meeting.”       “Yeah, but nobody could help us in my nightmare…” Raquelle shakes her head, crying quietly but bitterly and not moving her eyes off Terrence, who caresses her cheek with his tender, warm hand. “Simon hinted that he wanted to rape me… He thought I was my mother… And I was screaming and resisting… Begging you for help… At first, you were standing like a column in the same place, but then you pulled Ringer away from me and beat him…”       Raquelle closes her eyes tightly for a second and starts shaking much stronger from the horror that she still feels.       “We wanted to leave, but Simon didn’t let us go and began threatening with a pistol again… And Michael, Eleanor, and Eugene were encouraging him… But for them and you, I was Raquelle, and I was Elizabeth for him.”       “You’re very similar to your mother,” Terrence says thoughtfully. “He said it, and I’ve seen photos of that woman at your age.”       “Right… And he thought you were Jackson, my father…” Raquelle falls into silence for a second and shakes her head. “He said you stole Elizabeth from him… She’d be only with him…”       “I was your father for him and was Terrence for Uncle, Wainwright, and Eleanor?”       “Yes… Simon was telling you to let me go… He said if I refused to be with him, we would both die… And I refused… And you said you wouldn’t give… So, when he understood it, he decided to shoot at me… Pointed the pistol at me and wanted to kill…” Raquelle begins choking with her own tears, feeling how tense her body is. “But you closed me with you and…”       Raquelle closes her face with both hands for a second and makes a couple of sobs.       “He shot at you…” Raquelle adds with despair. “He shot at your heart! While everybody was happy and waiting for your death, you were bleeding with blood in my arms and choking with it… There was very much of it… I’ve never seen as much blood as then…”       “Raquelle…”       “That was horrible… I begged you to hold on, but you said your time came, and your death was close. And… Before dying, you… You asked me to forgive you… For leaving me… I kissed you and then… Then you said you loved me and… Died! Died, Terrence! Right in my arms! Your eyes… They looked at me… Your dead eyes didn’t move and expressed nothing… I could do nothing! Just curse Simon and hate those, who were laughing loudly.”       Not holding down the tears and breathing loudly and heavily, Raquelle closes her mouth with a hand.       “And after dealing with you, they decided to do it to me…” Raquelle continues to speak in a shaking voice. “Everybody… I tried to run but couldn’t… Wainwright was feeling me up… Michael wanted to fuck me… Eleanor put a knife into me… And Simon… Simon wanted to kill… And… At some moment… He took… Took a chainsaw and wanted to tear me apart… I woke up when he brought that to my neck… I barely held myself down not to scream…”       Raquelle slowly runs her hands over her tear-stained face.       “That was horrible, Terrence,” Raquelle makes a loud sob. “I thought I’d die from a fear… From the thought that… I’d stay alone… That I’d lose you… I still can’t come to myself after that nightmare… That was so real… Too real… That was horrible… I… I can’t…”       Raquelle sits up slowly, turns on the back of the sofa, buries her nose in it, and hides her face in her arms, crying bitterly and thinking of the nightmare that she will not forget soon. Terrence reflects on everything he heard for a few seconds, getting a little nervous, grabbing his throat for some time and understanding that he can barely breathe due to the excitement, and his heart is beating much faster. The man cannot say anything and just looks at Raquelle crying too bitterly and shaking strongly with his dumbfounded eyes. But later, he braces himself with the thought that he must do his best to calm the girl down.       “Oh, Raquelle, my little girl…” Terrence pronounces with pity, hugs Raquelle around the shoulders, presses her to himself from behind, and caresses her head tenderly. “I can’t believe you saw such horrible things…”       Terrence kisses Raquelle on the top of her head and caresses her back softly, putting his hand on her knee at some moment.       “It’s okay, baby, it’s okay…” Terrence calms down softly. “It’s just a dream… It’s okay… I’m here, with you… Safe and sound…”       “Gosh…” Raquelle pronounces in a shaking voice, turns on Terrence slowly, sniffs, and looks at him with red eyes full of tears. “You can’t even imagine how much I was frightened. Everything seemed so real that I thought it was happening in real life. I… I was obsessed with some adrenaline… But when I saw you lying next to me… I felt relief… Short weakness…”       “I completely understand your feelings, Raquelle. But please, don’t take it all so seriously. It’s just a horrible nightmare.”       “But that was horrible! I won’t forget it for a long time!”       “Don’t cry, sweetie, I’m here.” Terrence caresses Raquelle’s head and cheek and kisses her forehead tenderly, holding the back of her head. “Trust me, I’d feel all the same if I saw a nightmare about your death. You know I’m afraid to lose you more than anything in the world.”       “I can’t believe it… I saw the death… Your death…”       “It’s okay. We’re all alive and healthy, and Simon got what he deserved. Uncle Michael has been in prison for a long time. As well as Wainwright. And Eleanor Woodham is actually dead.”       “I know… But…” Raquelle sniffs quietly. “I can’t… It seemed too real…”       “Damn, do you still think of those people if you see him in your nightmares? Think of the tricks that Ringer did to you? The way Uncle Michael almost killed my family? The way Wainwright was mocking your friend? And you decided to recall how Eleanor was chasing Alicia?”       “No, I didn’t actually think of it,” Raquelle shakes her head. “I haven’t done it for ages…”       “Maybe, you are afraid of something? Worried?”       “Of course, I’m worried! We’ve got such a hard situation!”       “Maybe, there is something else? Huh, sweetie? You’ve been kinda weird for a long time! No matter how hard I try to find out what happened to you, you always say everything’s okay.”       “Nope…” Raquelle pronounces hesitantly, while her eyes nervously run from one side to another, and she, fingering over nervously, moves her eyes aside sharply and wipes the tears off her face. “No… Everything’s okay…”       “No, Raquelle, that’s not true. I do know there’s something you don’t wanna tell me.”       “I… I’d tell you if… If something happened…”       “Not this time. This time, you’re hiding something from me.”       “I’m just worried about what’s happening now. That’s all.”       “Yeah, but excuse me, you mustn’t be so worried! To have nightmares and faint at night. Our problems aren’t so shocking to react to them like this. The case is complicated, I don’t deny it. But that’s wrong!”       “But I don’t always faint. I was just scared to death because of the nightmare, in which you died in my arms. Here’s the reason!”       “You’re slowly torturing you. But you’re telling nobody about it. You see nightmares and faint now, but what about tomorrow? Will you start to starve? Cut yourself? Swallow tablets or jump from a window? Will we become witnesses to what happened to Natalia and Peter?”       “No, I ain’t gonna do that!”       “If you kept torturing yourself, everything might lead to that.”       Raquelle says nothing and just inclines her head, still crying quietly and shaking from coldness and fear.       “Please, Raquelle, stop killing yourself and making me worry about you,” Terrence begs with pity and softly grabs Raquelle’s face. “It’s hurtful for me to see you like this. I’m terribly afraid that you might have a wish to harm or kill yourself. Something is kind of slowly killing you and taking all your good emotions.”       “You’re worried for nothing, Terrence,” Raquelle replies hesitantly in a shaking voice. “And you’re thinking of nobody knows what.”       “Please, tell me what you’re worried about, and how I can help you. Open yourself to me and tell me what hurts you. I am your fiancé. We’re close people. Whatever that is, I promise I will support you and do everything to help you.”       “I know…”       “I swear I won’t leave you. I’ll give my everything to do something that will solve your problem.”       Raquelle looks at Terrence as if she feels guilty about him. She kind of wants to tell him something and get much easier, but she is afraid that he will not understand her and will even leave her. But understanding that the man might not get off her, the girl decides to tell him she feels something bad because of the nightmare that she saw.       “I have a bad presentiment, Terrence,” Raquelle confesses with a scare in her eyes. “I’m worried about you…”       “Gosh, Raquelle, what you’re talking about,” Terrence shakes his head.       “It’s a sign. The sign that something horrible might happen to you if you don’t watch out. I don’t know what, but something might be over bad for you.”       “Honey…”       “It all happened for a reason.” Raquelle sniffs quietly. “It’s a sign. My nightmare is a sign of something horrible. And I’m sure that something bad is supposed to happen very soon.”       Knowing how many times Raquelle’s presentiments have become real, Terrence also gets a little nervous and thinks of the worst, feeling that it’s hard for him to breathe and getting more obsessed with anxiety and the thought that the girl’s dream is a sign. A prognostic of trouble… However, seeing the bad condition of his fiancée, the man decides to pretend that she is worried for nothing.       “Raquelle, please, stop saying it,” Terrence says quietly, grabs Raquelle’s face with both hands, raises it, and looks into the girl’s red, wet eyes. “It’s just a bad dream. It means nothing. You might see anything. Some bullshit that may get you surprised.”       “You don’t believe me?” Raquelle wonders and sniffs quietly. “Don’t you believe I feel something bad?”       “Your fears are the consequence of the shock. You got too nervous.”       “Please, Terrence, trust me!” Raquelle begs with pity in her eyes.       “It’s okay, sweetie, don’t think about some horrible things and believe someone would shoot at me.”       “Not only shoot! Anything might happen! I might lose you at any time if you weren’t careful.”       “And who should I expect it from?” Terrence exhales slowly. “Wainwright or Uncle Michael would run away from prison? Or Eleanor would come back from the dead?”       “I don’t know, honey, but you should be very careful.” Raquelle caresses Terrence’s cheek tenderly, and looks at him with pity and tears in her eyes. “Remember how many times I was right when I had a bad presentiment. And you never listened to me! I’ve said so many times that I can foresee something bad! Just like my mother did.”       “I know, but if you saw a nightmare, it doesn’t mean something is supposed to happen. Dreams are a stupid thing! I’ll never believe they could give us a sign. That’s a tale.”       “You don’t believe me, but I do know something bad should happen.” Raquelle makes a quiet sob. “Something that would deprive me of you. I’m trying to save you from trouble, but you don’t believe me. You think I say bullshit. Go crazy! Dream everything up! But that’s all the truth! I wanna save you, but you look at me like a crazy lady. And you don’t wanna listen to me.”       Raquelle doubles over, still crying bitterly and not being able to get rid of the strong tension, which makes her whole body shake. Terrence looks at her with pity in his eyes, shakes his head, and caresses her back, completely understanding that she is right but not finding the courage to speak about it because of the wish to calm the excited girl down.       “Please, sweetie, try to calm down,” Terrence says softly and puts his hand on Raquelle’s knee. “You give me pain… I can’t look at you like this.”       “Please, don’t say my presentiments are bullshit,” Raquelle begs with pity. “You’ll see, you’ll remember my words when you understand where danger is waiting for you. When you shouldn’t do one or another thing.”       “Just don’t think about it. If you keep doing it and make yourself think so, something will surely happen.”       Raquelle says nothing for two or three seconds and slowly moves her tear-stained eyes to Terrence, deciding not to keep talking about it because she thinks changing the man’s mind would be worthless.       “I’m cold, too cold…” Raquelle pronounces with a quiet, shaking voice, trying to warm her cold hands up by rubbing them. “Hug me…”       Terrence hugs Raquelle with no words and tightly presses her to himself, noticing that she is really freezing and shaking not only because of the shock.       “Oh, damn, you’re so cold…” Terrence says quietly and tries to warm Raquelle up, rubbing her back and arms with both hands, while she tightly presses herself against him. “My girl…”       Terrence tenderly caresses Raquelle’s head and kisses her on the temple, smiling slightly at some moment, as if he believes his positive mood would impact the girl, whose head rests on his chest, and her hands caress or scratch his back tenderly.       “Why did you break down like this?” Terrence wonders. “What’s going on? You’re my strong and brave lady! But you started to faint from nightmares! When have you become so sensitive and defenseless? Where’s the sassy and confident girl that I met?”       “It’s just hard…” Raquelle sniffs. “Very hard…”       “Ah, Raquelle…” Terrence caresses Raquelle’s head and runs his fingers through her hair, stroking her matted, loose hair with a slight smile on his face. “You’re kinda an adult girl, but you’re such a baby. The baby that is wanted to take care of, protect, and hug. Edward often says the same about Natalia… He always says it. For him, that girl is also a baby that he wants to defend from the world and take care of like nobody else. And she’s more sensitive than you are.”       “Maybe, Natalia and I are babies, but we have someone, who’d take care of us and protect us from bad things,” Raquelle shyly smiles through the tears, slowly drawing some figures on Terrence’s chest, and sniffs quietly. “I don’t doubt that I could always count on you.”       “You’ll always be under the hopeful wind,” Terrence says with a slight smile. “I will do my best for you to feel happy and be behind a brick wall. If you’re happy and smile, I’ll do it, too. Because for me, happiness is when I see you happy.”       “And my happiness is to be next to such an amazing man as you. The one, who always makes me feel protected, wanted, and beloved.”       Terrence smiles much wider, looking into Raquelle’s eyes, wipes tears off Raquelle’s face carefully, and buries his nose in her shoulder, while her fingers slowly stroke his hair. The man was right when thinking that his positive mood would help the girl calm down a little because his fiancée really gets better. For that, MacClife, Sr., bans himself from thinking about the fears that the girl made him feel and hides them skillfully under the mask, not showing that he is afraid of something, too. And some time later, Terrence steps back from Raquelle and caresses her forearms softly, seeing that she has become much quieter and more relaxed.       “So what?” Terrence shows anxiety. “Do you feel better?”       “More or less,” Raquelle nods and runs her hand over his face. “But I can’t get rid of the feeling that something bad should happen…”       “Don’t think about it, baby.” Terrence tenderly kisses Raquelle’s cheek, holding the back of her head. “It’s gonna be okay. And don’t take everything you dream of too seriously. What you saw is horrible, I don’t deny it. But don't get stuck on that.”       “How could I? The case is about you!”       “Anyway, I can protect myself.”       “You might not deal with it.”       “Okay, sweetie, let’s not talk about it.” Terrence carefully wipes tears under Raquelle’s eyes. “Let’s better go to sleep. It’s a late night yet. Almost four hours in the morning, if I’m not mistaken.”       “I don’t know if I can sleep…”       “You should sleep. You’ll sleep and should be fine in the morning.”       “I know… But my sleep is gone…”       “You think so. Let’s go to the room and try to sleep. And if you can’t do it, I’ll look at what we have from drugs and find something that will help you calm down.”       “Okay… Go…”       “Yeah… We need to pick up the pieces of glass that you broke…”       “Ah, yeah, right…” Raquelle scratches the back of her head and wants to stand up slowly. “I will pick up the pieces… And you go to the bedroom.”       “No, don’t need!” Terrence puts his hand sharply on Raquelle’s hand. “I’ll pick up everything! But you wait for me here. We will go to the bedroom together when I do it.”       “But I broke the glass… I let it go when I lost consciousness…”       “Your health and quiet are more important to me.”       “But, Terrence…”       “Wait for me here.” Terrence puts his hand on Raquelle’s knee. “And don’t go without me.”       “Oh…” Raquelle exhales slowly. “Okay… I’ll stay here…”       “I’ll be back soon, my sweetheart. Wait for two minutes. Drink some water to get better.”       Terrence caresses Raquelle’s cheek with the back of his hand with a slight smile, stands up slowly from the sofa, switches off the light in the living room, and goes to the kitchen. After entering it, the man stops in the middle of the kitchen and allows himself to get rid of the setting to forget about his fears and anxiety, thinking of the words of his fiancée again with closed eyes. He starts to get nervous enough while trying to imagine himself dying in the girl’s arms after getting a wound in the heart. He feels that everything squeezes inside him at the thought of her crying bitterly and begging that the man does not leave her. He even swallows up nervously and understands that his heartbeat gets a little faster, looking around the whole kitchen with his widely open eyes full of horror.       Terrence just stands in the middle of the kitchen for a few seconds and looks into the distance with dead eyes, getting horrified by thinking of the days when everybody considered him a stinker. And then he shakes his head sharply, runs his hands over his face, claps his cheeks slightly, and looks around, seeing the broken pieces of the glass and thinking of his wish to pick them up. After bracing himself quickly and exhaling sharply, MacClife, Sr., finds a scoop and a mop in a dark corner and starts picking up the pieces of glass thrown in the whole room, trying not to hurt or step on them. But he does it slowly enough and recalls his talk with Raquelle, not stopping to think of a bad presentiment that does not leave him. The man does not know if he can make the girl sure that she is worried for nothing. But he does know that he cannot get rid of these thoughts so easily. Because he understands that danger might really wait for him somewhere if he takes the wrong step…       Nevertheless, Terrence picks up the pieces of the glass for a few minutes and checks out all the surfaces, bowls, plates, and other things to make sure that nobody is hurt. Then he puts all the pieces in a black bag, closes it, goes outside through the back door near the kitchen, and throws it into a garbage can. The man does not rush to return to the house and decides to stand outside and breathe in some air that he definitely lacks, seeing that it’s quiet and empty, streetlamps light up the whole territory, on which there is his house and a few more big residences, and the light is turned off in them. Only dogs’ barking and some other sounds can break the silence. The man does not care that it’s a little cold outside and keeps standing not far from the entry to the house, wearing only a simple t-shirt, pants with elastic, and home slippers.       Terrence stands on the street for some time, looks around, and moves his eyes up to the sky, seeing the beautiful view of lots of stars of different sizes that might be very bright or too unseen. Looking at them, the man smiles slightly and looks into the distance, feeling a little better, while the cold wind is nicely blowing his face, his lungs get full of air, and his mind gets clear. But some time later, MacClife, Sr., decides to go home because he starts to feel cold. Crossing his arms over his chest, he slowly enters the kitchen through the back door and closes it. But he does not rush to go to the living room. The man decides to wet his whistle, taking a clean glass from the closet, filling it with some water, and drinking it quickly. Then he washes the glass under warm water, puts it in its place, and decides to leave the kitchen.       Terrence switches off the light and goes to the bathroom to wash his face. He opens the door, enters it, switches on the light, comes to the faucet, turns the warm water on, and quickly washes his face, leaning on the sink with both hands at some moment and looking at his sleepy, little exhausted, pale face. He has always had little pale skin. Even the shoots of the sun do not help him look more tanned. That’s why his luxurious, tousled black hair differs from the skin and the tired blue eyes… Drops of water slowly roll down his face and neck, and his gray t-shirt got a little wet. Though, he does not care about it… He just keeps looking at his own reflection silently, not thinking about the fact that nobody could be compared to him.       After standing here for some time, Terrence turns off the faucet, leaves the bathroom, switches off the light, and closes the door. And now he finally decides to go to the living room to go to the room with Raquelle and fall asleep. But when he comes to the living room and wants to come to the sofa, he sees her lying on the sofa. The girl’s head is slightly turned to the side and placed on the armrest. Her shoulder is naked because a sleeve of her silk robe fell off it. One hand of hers is placed on her belly, and another is straight and relaxed. And her little disheveled hair has fallen off her shoulders. She has tracks of tears on her cheeks, her eyelashes are moving slightly, and her white, exhausted face seems quiet and relaxed. Terrence comes to Raquelle and makes sure that she does not lose consciousness. Later, he hears her quiet breath and sees that the lady’s chest is getting up and down, depending on the way she breathes. It calms the man down, and he understands that the girl is just sleeping and did not wait for his return. The man squats beside her and looks at her with sadness, caressing her cheek tenderly at some moment and wiping off the tears that she has on her face. And when he caresses her head, he gets up again.       Terrence takes carefully the sleeping Raquelle in his arms so that her head lies on his shoulder, and her hands are bent and folded in front of her, and goes to the stairs. The man quickly goes up to the second floor, goes to the bedroom, the door of which was opened by the wind, enters it, and carefully places the girl on the bed, noticing that she moans quietly and winces slightly. He wants to cover her up with a blanket, so she does not feel cold, but he looks at her silk robe, unties the belt at the girl’s waist, puts his hand under her back, raises her carefully, and successfully takes off the robe that he puts where she usually leaves it. And then MacClife, Sr., takes off her slippers, places his fiancée, so that she feels comfortable, covers her up with a blanket, sits on the bed, caresses her head, and runs his hand over her soft hair, smiling slightly at the thought that she looks very cute and tender when sleeping.       “You’re the best thing I have in my life,” Terrence whispers. “I’ll never stop saying I’d do everything for you to be happy.”       Terrence smiles slightly, looking at Raquelle tenderly, and carefully moves aside some of the strands of her hair.       “I love you, sweetie,” Terrence adds in a whisper. “I will always love.”       Two seconds later, Terrence slowly bends to Raquelle, leaves a short kiss on her lips, steps back, and caresses her cheek. He watches her for two more seconds, listens to her quiet, calm breath, stands up then, takes off his slippers, leaves them not far, comes to his part of the bed, and lies, covering himself with the blanket and giving a bigger part to the girl. The man snuggles his beloved sleeping beauty, presses her to himself, and promises to protect her sleep and make sure that she sees good dreams. A little later, Raquelle turns to Terrence and puts her head on his shoulder and her hand on his chest, pressing herself as close to him as possible. MacClife, Sr., lies on the bed in this pose and cannot fall asleep for some time, letting his fiancée get warm and thinking about what she told him. And he does not notice how he starts to close his eyes slowly and fall asleep in the arms of the one, for whom he is ready to take everything.       

***

      It’s about two in the afternoon. Peter, Edward, and Terrence agreed to go to an unpopular café to talk about the latest news and the band’s business. At the moment, only Peter and Terrence have met, bought some food and drinks, and sat down at a table placed in a quiet place, while Edward has not come yet. However, the young men do not care about where he is because they are busy talking about the problems that rained thick upon them at the same time.       “They’re still sending bad things to Daniel,” Peter gets horrified, scrolling down the Twitter feed of tweets on his phone. “The people keep asking us to kick him out.”       “Yup, I’m still shocked,” Terrence replies thoughtfully, scrolling the Instagram feed. “His account is literally exploding from these evil comments.”       “Damn, how cruel people could sometimes be… The people openly wish Dan to die and burn in hell for what he allegedly did.”       “I know… It’s been a few days, but they can’t calm down yet.”       “I’m starting to doubt that they’d understand that this is an insolent lie. That Perkins is guilty of nothing.”       “I do wanna reply to those people and make them open their eyes,” Terrence exhales sharply. “But it seems like George is right. We must not show up.”       “My hands itch, as well. I’m literally burning from this injustice. From what they’re doing to my friend.”       “Not just you, Pete.”       “Oh…” Peter exhales sharply and puts his phone aside, getting sick of reading the negative comments. “I’m surprised that it’s easy to make someone believe a lie. Seriously! You can tell people anything, and they'll believe it easily. And the worst thing is that it’s hard to make everybody sure that it’s not the truth.”       “Get used, Peter,” Terrence replies tiredly. “I don’t wanna scare you, but every one of us may be instead of Daniel. Every one of us may be bullied, and people may bully us for what we didn’t do.”       “But that’s unfair! It’s okay if some haters, who crave to insult us, did it! I can get it. But all those people are our fans! Or someone, who just viewed our photos and picked up an idol.”       “Agree, that’s bad.”       “Oh, fuck…” Peter runs his hand over his hair with a quiet moan and leans back in the chair, throwing a short look at the window. “Do you think there’s a chance to find those, who don’t believe this shit?”       “I think there is,” Terrence nods.       “What?”       “Look!” Terrence gives his phone to Peter to show him something. “Examining tweets with the hashtag #DanielOutOutOfATS, I found a couple of tweets from people that are by our side.”       “Come on?” Peter brings Terrence’s phone closer to himself and really sees some tweets from people, who do not believe the rumors that someone spread. “Wow! Look! At least someone has the mind!”       “Yeah, as it turned out, the situation isn’t so hopeless,” Terrence notices cheerfully. “There’s a chance that the bullying of Perkins will be stopped soon.”       “Wow, they do openly let us know they don’t believe in the rumors,” Peter smiles slightly.       “I’m gonna read a couple of the best tweets.” Terrence looks at the phone and searches for something for two seconds with a slight smile. “Oh, yes! How could these two be enemies? People! You just look at these two sweethearts. How truly these guys smile! How well they communicate!”       In this tweet, there is a photo of Daniel and Peter being photographed talking about something interesting with wide smiles on their faces. The men do not like people, who hate each other. Perkins is not aggressive toward Rose, and the blond has the pleasure of talking to his buddy about something and laughing hard along with him.       “I think this photo is from an entertainment show,” Terrence says thoughtfully. “We were answering our fans’ questions.”       “I remember,” Peter nods with a slight smile. “It was so funny. We were laughing so much that we almost lost our voices. And we got our stomachs hurt…”       “Not only us, but also everybody who works at the shootings.”       “Right!”       “Hey, here’s another tweet.” Terrence glances at Peter and starts to read something on his phone. “Wow! I didn’t know the one, who was brought to a suicide attempt by the other, beat him, and threatened him, could have a lot of fun with him. And the other, who suffers because of him, would not only let him come to himself, but also have the pleasure to play the fool with him.”       “Well, I’m happy someone’s by our side,” Peter smiles slightly.       “Oh, dude, we should’ve just scrolled the feed slower. We’ve found a couple of good tweets from those, who see how you and Daniel really treat each other.”       “I’d like to believe our fans would understand that they’re doing a bad thing to Daniel. That they shouldn’t have started such serious bullying.”       “It will happen early or late,” Terrence expresses hope, exhaling slowly. “Everything may be forgotten if nobody reminds you about it.”       “I know…”       Silence settles in the air, during which Terrence and Peter put their phones aside, eat a little bit from what they have on the table, and drink something from their plastic glasses. And while quiet pop music is playing at the café, and people are standing in a line, sitting at tables, or going somewhere, the blond looks at his friend’s face closely and frowns slightly, being a little worried about his appearance.       “Hey, Terrence, you look kinda tired,” Peter notices thoughtfully. “Sleepy eyes, pouches under them, pale face…”       “I know…” Terrence throws gloomily, running his hand through his hair and leaning on the table with an elbow. “I got dumbfounded when I looked at my reflection.”       “Are you so worried about what’s happening?”       “Nope… I just had a ‘great’ night.”       “Didn’t you sleep?”       “Sort of.” Terrence moves his eyes to Peter and frowns slightly. “You don’t look very cheerful, as well.”       “Right…” Peter pronounces tiredly. “The past few days have been tense enough for me… I barely make myself hold on…”       “I think not only do we look so. Yesterday, I met Helene and Natalia, and they both looked kinda tired and sad. I asked them what happened, but they didn’t wanna say it…”       “I guess they’re worried about Anna.” Peter drinks a little bit from his glass. “She has disappeared and hasn’t answered our calls and messages.”       “Yeah… I still don’t understand her…”       “Me too… How it would be good if she was with us… Daniel does need her help, but Anna ran away.”       “Oh, honestly, I don’t actually know what would help him…” Terrence sighs heavily. “We’ve tried so much, but we’ve gotten almost nothing.”       “Yeah, he just decided to go nobody the fuck knows where… Why didn’t the guy stay home? Why did the fuck Perkins go to that hole? He never walked in those places! He could only be found at a nightclub with a drink in his hands. And now!”       “We just assume he could be hit by a car. But we don’t have any clue.”       “I think it doesn’t matter. We should only think of making Daniel recall everything.”       “And think of solving our personal problems that don’t have to do with the band.”       “Oh, do you have some problems?” Peter frowns slightly.       “Something bothers me… For a long time…”       “Wanna share it?”       “You see, buddy, the case is…”       Terrence does not speak his mind because Edward comes to the table, at which he and Peter are sitting, also looking tired and sad and holding a can of cold Sprite.       “Hey, guys,” Edward pronounces in a low voice. “Sorry for being late.”       “Hey, Edward,” Peter and Terrence say tiredly by one.       Edward greets Peter and Terrence, giving them a five lazily and clapping them on the shoulder, sits next to the blond, and places his can on the table.       “Yeah, bro, you look, saying softly, not very well,” Terrence says thoughtfully. “Kinda exhausted…”       “Really, dude, you kinda weren’t sleeping all night long and trying to catch criminals,” Peter chuckles quietly.       “You don’t also spread happiness,” Edward replies quietly, looking at Terrence and Peter tiredly, opens the can of Sprite, and drinks some drink from it. “You look down in the dumps…”       “Oh, we have no reason to be happy, honestly,” Peter exhales slowly, folding his hands on the table and pulling them forward. “We’re getting more problems, and they are getting harder…”       “I agree…” Terrence agrees, clapping his cheeks slightly and running his hands over his face. “New day, new difficulties…”       Silence settles in the air for some time, during which Terrence looks into the distance and rubs his forehead, not minding sleeping a little, Edward drinks Sprite and glances aside, and Peter massages his neck and eats something from what is lying in front of him.       “Hey, Terrence, you wanted to say something…” Peter says thoughtfully.       “Yeah…” Terrence pronounces, clearing his throat. “I remember…”       “So, bro, you got exhausted after too wild sex with Raquelle?” Edward laughs quietly. “You spent too much strength? Cameron was on the right wave?”       “Oh, what kind of sex… We don’t care about it now!”       “Okay. What happened then? Did you decide to wake up in the middle of the night again and wander into the house again?”       “No, Raquelle was the first one to wake up.”       “Raquelle?” Peter asks surprisingly. “What happened to her?”       “She fainted the last night…”       “What? Fainted?”       “I found her in the kitchen. I woke up from a bad presentiment, went there, and saw her lying on the floor.”       “My gosh…” Edward pronounces with sadness in his eyes.       “I barely woke her up, and then she fainted again…”       “Oh, shit… I hope she’s okay?”       “Yes, yes, she’s fine.”       “But why? Why did she faint?”       “She saw a nightmare that got her too shocked… Raquelle couldn’t calm down for a long time. She was shaking and crying… And she would’ve screamed if it hadn’t been nighttime.”       “Wow, I wonder what the poor girl saw that she fainted?” Peter asks, drinking from his glass.       “My death.”       Edward and Peter look at each other surprisingly and sharply move their shocking eyes to Terrence.       “Your death?” Edward opens his eyes widely.       “Yup…” Terrence replies amazingly quietly, looking into the distance. “Raquelle dreamed that I died after getting a heart wound.”       “Fuck…” Edward shakes his head, closing his mouth with a hand.       “Not surprised that Raquelle got so overwhelmed…” Peter says thoughtfully with sadness in his eyes.       “Me too…” Terrence exhales sharply.       “Hey, who shot at you? She didn’t say?”       “That was Simon Ringer.”       “Simon?” Edward asks surprisingly. “The one, who almost destroyed her career by slandering? The one, who dragged her with him when falling off the roof?”       “He is. As Raquelle said, everything happened in the woods. No police were there – only Raquelle, Simon, and me.”       “Wow…” Peter pronounces thoughtfully.       “That man was threatening us with a pistol, wanted to rape Raquelle, and thought she was her mother, and I was her father.” Terrence drinks something from his glass and exhales sharply. “At some moment, I struck Simon down, beat him, and wanted to take Raquelle away. But he threatened to kill us again… He said he’d kill us if Raquelle wasn’t with him… It didn’t happen. So, Simon pointed the pistol at her and wanted to shoot. But I closed her up with myself, got a bullet in my heart, and died shortly…”       “Oh, my gosh…” Edward exhales sharply.       “And after dealing with me, Simon decided to kill Raquelle. Not with a pistol… With a chain saw… And then Raquelle woke up.”       Edward and Peter shake their heads with widely open eyes full of horror and look at Terrence, being deeply shocked by what happened.       “Oh, fuck…” Edward pronounces quietly. “It’s some kind of scary movie… A ripper with a chain saw…”       “Sort of,” Terrence nods.       “Did she overwatch some horror movies?” Peter wonders. “What did you watch last night?”       “We did watch nothing! And she says she didn’t think of Ringer.”       “So, she did if she saw your death in her dream.”       “Oh, honestly, I shake when I hear it…” Terrence confesses, exhaling sharply and being nervous enough. “When I try to imagine myself… My own death… And Raquelle told me all the details… I had to apply some effort to hold myself down.”       “I imagine what the poor girl felt after that horror.”       “Me too, but I’m afraid to think about it. That’s the disgusting feeling when you hear something about your death… But the worst thing is that someone sees it and literally lives those horrible moments.”       “Maybe, she thinks about something if she sees it in her nightmares?” Edward assumes, folding his hands on the table. “Moreover, Raquelle hasn’t been herself for a long time.”       “That’s right.” Terrence drinks a little bit from his glass and puts it on the table. “By the way, yesterday, I met Steven. The photographer, who’s been her long-time friend, and with whom she often works. We talked a little, and he started to ask me about her weird behavior and said Raquelle’s assistant saw her crying in a restroom. And nobody knew why.”       “Oh, gosh…”       “We all noticed it and can’t deny anything.”       “You know, Terrence, I believe you should do something,” Peter says confidently. “If you don’t find out what’s happening to her as soon as possible, it will probably be too bad for Raquelle.”       “I’d be happy to, Peter, but she tells me nothing and always says she’s fine.”       “And how long has Raquelle been so weird?” Edward frowns slightly.       “Since the trial of Uncle Michael.”       “Seriously? You’re lying!”       “I don’t know what happened to her, but her behavior became weird some time later after the beginning of the trial of that old bastard.”       “But, Terrence… Why do you think everything started at that moment? We were all worried! Whether Uncle and his gang would’ve been put in prison… Whether the judge would sentence me… There were many reasons to be nervous!”       “I originally thought so, but even when the trial ended, nothing changed. Raquelle kept behaving weirdly. Yes, she smiles and gets happy if something makes her get lost. Not always, though… But when she’s alone, she becomes thoughtful and thinks of something bad.”       “Do you have any assumptions about it?” Peter asks.       “No, nothing…” Terrence throws his hands up. “She may be worried only about her close people. But Mr. Cameron and Alicia are absolutely fine, and we got Daniel and Anna’s problems some time ago. So, the case is not about them.”       “Maybe, the problems of Anna and Daniel were added to the ones she was worried about?” Edward assumes. “And it made her much more worried!”       “Maybe.”       “Is everything really fine between you?” Peter frowns slightly. “Maybe, you two fought again?”       “No, everything is good! Raquelle and I live well and getting ready for the wedding. But to be honest, sometimes I blame myself for what’s happening to her. I think… Maybe, I did something wrong… Maybe, I hurt her… Didn’t give something…”       “At least, she doesn’t complain to the girls about you,” Edward replies thoughtfully and drinks some Sprite.       “I’d like to believe it… But no matter what, I’m really worried about her. Seriously, guys. I understand that girls get weird sometimes, but it’s been happening to Raquelle for a long time. And the worst thing is that I can do nothing because I don’t know why she’s suffering. And Raquelle refuses to speak and explain something.”       “Yeah, girls may be too weird…” Peter exhales sharply, running his hands over his hair. “You never know what to expect from them…”       “Right…” Terrence falls into silence for two seconds, glances aside, and looks at Edward and Peter. “Hey, guys, do you remember the day of our latest show, before which I took a nap?”       “Well, yeah, I remember,” Peter shrugs. “Why?”       “At the night before the interview, I didn’t almost sleep because of Raquelle. Because of what happened to her.”       “She fainted again?” Edward wonders.       “No… But I also woke up because of a bad presentiment, didn’t see Raquelle in the room, and went to find her to make sure she was fine.” Terrence drink a little bit from his glass. “So, I went to the bathroom where there was the light and saw her sitting on the cold floor… And… Crying bitterly…”       “Wow!” Edward pronounces surprisingly. “It means…”       “I was calming Raquelle down and trying to find out the reason for her tears for half of the night. But I couldn’t get anything outta her, and she barely came to herself. And… As you can understand, I couldn’t get enough sleep on that day because we were supposed to wake up too early and go to the interview and performances.”       “I understood you didn’t definitely sleep on that day, ‘cause you didn’t look good.”       “I didn’t wanna say it ‘cause we were busy thinking about the interview and the performance. And as they weren’t too good… I decided not to make everything worse…”       Edward and Peter shake their heads with sad eyes, getting seriously worried about Raquelle, who, in their opinion, should be saved from something they do not know about yet.       “Listen, Terrence, it ain't normal,” Edward says confidently. “I’m also worried about Raquelle and her state of mind. If it keeps happening, we’ll have to bring her to a doctor…”       “It seems like we’ll need a doctor’s help soon, ‘cause I don’t know what to do…” Terrence says and runs his hands through his hair. “Seriously! I wrecked my brain, reflecting on the reasons for her behavior.”       “I think what she’s worried about is very strong if she sees nightmares and faints,” Peter assumes.       “I swear, if I find her on the floor again and hear her talking about my death and actually thinking I’m not Terrence, I will go crazy. I almost went insane when I found her unconscious in the kitchen. I was really stunned and could do nothing, looking at her deathly white face. I dunno… I can’t brace myself immediately when I see Raquelle suffering. I’m stuck…”       “Don’t worry, bro, I get it,” Edward says quietly.       “It all drives me insane.” Terrence rubs his forehead with his hand. “And her nightmare with me… Raquelle constantly says she feels trouble. As if something is gonna happen to me soon. And to be honest, it scares me…”       “Don’t think so, buddy,” Peter says quietly, clapping Terrence on the shoulder. “It was just a nightmare. Yes, it’s horrible, but it’s not true. Why do you think you’re supposed to die or suffer?”       “Raquelle has just been right so many times when she tried to stop me from doing something, but I could do it anyway and regret it. And knowing it, I’m afraid that her anxiety is not groundless. Raquelle feels those things very well. If something should happen, her presentiments come true early or late.”       “I believe you,” Edward says confidently. “And to be honest, you scared me with what you said. But you shouldn't always think about it and wait for you to suffer. Yes, Raquelle’s presentiments have been true many times, but if you always think and wait for that, you’ll go crazy, or it will really happen. Get trouble attracted. But we don’t want anything to happen to you.”       “I’m trying, Edward, but I can’t. I’m starting to think more and more that something is really gonna happen to me.”       “Maybe, not you? Maybe, someone else?”       “I don’t know… But damn, I’m really afraid! I shake at the thought that I might suffer at any moment.”       “Stop, Terrence,” Peter says quietly. “Raquelle was just shocked and said nobody the hell knows what.”       “I don’t think…” Terrence leans on the table with an elbow and on his hand with his head. “She understood everything… Though, I tried to assure her that she dreamed it up. I wanted to calm her down and not to talk about it. Raquelle was close to hysteria, and I knew I could make her condition worse if I didn’t stop her.”       “Anyway, try not to think about it too much. Or you’re gonna go crazy if you have this paranoia.”       “I’d like to, but I can’t. I didn’t almost sleep because I was waking Raquelle up and thinking a lot about her warning.”       “Listen, we have so many problems, but you decided to torture yourself with these thoughts.”       “I know, but the nightmare was about me. About my death.”       “Indeed, Terrence, don’t think about it,” Edward says a little excitedly. “We’ve really got many other problems that we’ve gotta solve as soon as possible.”       “Damn, just don’t tell me something happened to you, as well.” Terrence gets straight sharply and frowns slightly, looking at Peter and Edward. “And yeah, can you tell me why your beauties are so sad?”       “What do ya mean?” Edward frowns slightly.       “Yesterday, I met Natalia and Helene at the café, where I was talking to Steven.”       “You met Natalia?”       “Yup, I saw her.”       “My gosh… She didn’t tell me…”       “The girls and I were talking about Raquelle’s behavior. I thought they knew something, but none of them said anything. She says nothing to her friends. Not only her own husband.”       “Wow…”       “Hey, I thought Helene was kinda strange, as well. She spoke a little and looked kinda tense… I asked Natalia about it when Marshall went to talk to someone on the phone, but Rochester could say nothing, even if she saw something wasn’t right with her friend.”       “And there’s the reason…” Peter confesses quietly with sadness in his eyes.       “You fought?”       “Not quiet, but… I could say so…”       “What do ya mean?” Edward frowns slightly. “Something happened?”       “You see, guys…” Peter runs his hand over his little tired face. “I was just talking to Mrs. Marshall, Helene’s grandmother, one day… And she told me something about her parents…”       “What?”       “Helene’s parents rejected her after she was born.”       “Helene’s parents rejected her?”       “Helene herself didn’t know it but was shocked when she heard our talk. In which Mrs. Marshall told me the story of her father and mother.”       “Do you wanna say that’s why Helene is behaving like this?” Terrence wonders.       “Exactly! Helene refuses to take care of Sammy, who madly misses her and suffers. And she doesn’t let me get close to her.”       “Doesn’t she wanna talk?”       “Not quite. Helene decided to take it out on me and blame me for all the sins.”       “Are you serious?” Edward rounds his eyes.       “Helene literally hates me for just wishing to let her and Mrs. Marshall solve everything. I got involved in this story against my wish and become guilty. I just promised to say nothing, but she literally added me to the list of betrayers.”       “But that’s stupid! You aren’t guilty of her!”       “Yeah, but she treats me like I betrayed her.”       “Was she so shocked by the news about her parents that she started to say nobody the hell knows what?”       “Most likely. I understand that she’s a little out of her mind and can say anything. But on the contrary, I’m hurt. Hurt because that girl treats me like this, while I’m ready to move a mountain for her. Do anything for her to be happy.”       “How long has she been behaving like this?” Terrence asks.       “For about three-four days… And two days ago, when I went to her home to talk to her again, she actually kicked Sammy and me out of her room. She had showered me with mud, beaten me strongly, and kicked my ass, screaming, ‘Get out of my house!’”       “My gosh…” Terrence shakes his head.       “Don’t be mad at me, Peter, but Helene really went crazy,” Edward says confidently. “How could she do that? What bit her?”       “I don’t know, guys…” Peter exhales quietly with sadness in his eyes. “But I feel spitted. If not for my relationship with her, I’d piss her off a long time ago. But I understand I must be with her, I love her and owe her. Even if she literally forgot everything we’ve experienced, I make myself take it.”       “We’re really very sorry, dude.” Edward claps Peter on the shoulder. “And we don’t understand her actions.”       “Yeah…” Terrence exhales sharply. “We did count on that girl! We thought you’d be happy with her. But here’s what she did!”       “I don’t believe it, either,” Peter shakes his head. “Everything was so good, but then she went crazy… It would be okay if I was really guilty. But I did nothing bad to her! I just decided not to meddle in her family’s business and to take care of Mrs. Marshall, who started to feel bad because of worrying. Because Helene despises and hates her.”       “So, is that woman also guilty of her?” Edward wonders.       “Exactly.” Peter glances aside. “I dunno… I thought she’d calm down the next day and understand she did a bad thing. But nothing changes… And I decided not to try. She wouldn’t listen to me. She’d give me lots of hits and blame me for what I didn’t do… I see no other choice but to, speaking rudely, piss Helene off for a while, and take care of her grandmother and Sammy. Do my best for him not to feel lonely and left.”       “You know, Pete, it kind of reminds me of the situation with Raquelle,” Terrence confesses thoughtfully. “Somehow, Mr. Cameron was hiding her parents’ death from her for a long time. And when she found it out, she was mad at him and didn’t talk to him. Cameron even ran away from home but was quickly found by the police. That’s good the situation was solved by itself when Raquelle calmed down and realized that her grandfather just wanted to save his granddaughter from a shock.”       “I thought about it. And Helene’s grandmother thinks the same. But Raquelle didn’t behave the way Helene does. That girl hardly let herself insult, humiliate, and even beat someone.”       “Right, but Mr. Cameron had to suffer a lot because of his granddaughter’s behavior.”       “But on the contrary, the girls could be understood,” Edward replies thoughtfully. “Yes, someone wanted to save them from the truth, and lied all the time for that. But early or late, any truth would come to light. Raquelle would’ve found out about her parents’ death, and Helene would’ve had to accept that her father and mother didn’t need her.”       “Yeah, what do you mean they rejected Helene?” Terrence specifies. “Did her parents just give the girl to Mrs. Marshall and refused to educate her?”       “Not quiet,” Peter says quietly. “Her father was forced to forget about the child and was sent to study abroad at his family’s wish. And her mother actually wanted to get an abortion. When that man left her, she said she didn’t need her child, even if her parents promised to help her.”       “Well, as her father didn’t wanna fight with his family, he didn’t really need the child,” Edward replies confidently. “I guess he needed Helene’s mother for fun. And when he found out that she was pregnant, he got out quickly.”       “They were teenagers when Helene was born.”       “Teenagers?”       “Yeah, Helene’s mother was sixteen when she found out about her pregnancy, and her father was seventeen. While the family of her father reacted badly to the news about the baby and did everything not to let him see his daughter, her mother’s relatives let her know they’d help her raise the child.”       “And did she want to get an abortion ‘cause she wasn’t ready for motherhood?” Terrence asks.       “Yes, but the fact that the baby’s father left her also had to go with that. But Helene’s grandparents banned her from getting an abortion and made her give birth. They thought their daughter would get the love for the child early or late, but no… Nothing changed… Her mother rejected her little girl and actually left later. She hid so that the police couldn’t find her.”       “And haven’t they shown up yet?”       “Alas. No father, no mother. But I don’t think they died… Now they’re supposed to be about forty, knowing Helene’s age.”       “Oh, poor girl…” Edward shakes his head with sadness in his eyes. “Although Helene did a terrible thing, I’m sorry for her. She couldn’t have been born if her grandparents hadn’t meddled.”       “I completely understand what she feels, knowing that her parents didn’t need her,” Terrence says quietly. “But Helene shouldn’t be angry and push everyone away off herself. She must be grateful to her grandparents, ‘cause they literally gave her life. Her mother wouldn’t have let her be born. If she hadn’t gotten an abortion, she would’ve caused a miscarriage. Because she didn’t want that child…”       “And it makes Helene angry,” Peter says with sadness in his eyes. “She’s angry ‘cause the truth was hidden from her… That she was always told her father died before her birth, and her mother died during childbirth. That her mother wanted to kill her… She says she wouldn’t do that and would let her child be born anyway.”       “Yeah, but she must not make guilty those, who don’t have to do with that,” Edward replies confidently.       “Anyway, I completely understand her feelings… Because my mother literally rejected me. And I’ve lately thought that she was also made to give birth.”       “Do you think your mother would’ve also gotten an abortion if someone hadn’t tried to make her stop?” Edward asks, looking at Peter with sympathy.       “Likely… If she had loved me, she wouldn’t have given a fuck about me. My mother probably wanted to give me to someone, but it seems like there was nobody. We don’t have relatives, and she refused to talk about my father.”       “Hey, what do you know about their relationship? They were married? Divorced? Or just dated?”       “I don’t know, Edward. The only thing I've understood over these years is that my mother definitely hated my father. I don’t exclude that he could leave her when she counted on him. Maybe, she never loved me because I reminded her of him. The one, who betrayed her.”       “And would you forgive her if she met you somewhere and begged you to forgive her?” Terrence asks.       Peter says nothing for two seconds, setting his eyes into the distance and not knowing how to answer. But later, he drinks a little bit from his plastic glass and shakes his head before saying quietly:       “I don’t know, Terrence… She’s my mother, and I shouldn’t reject her. But since she didn’t care about me and never tried to do something to make my life better, I don’t want to forgive her… I don’t wanna help her. My wound is too deep… As my mother left, may she live as she wants. I don’t care.”       “Although I had a different situation, I also thought I would’ve never forgiven Father…” Terrence says with sadness in his eyes. “But it happened that I changed my mind and found the courage to forgive him. Though, he could actually be blamed only for one thing: for being a coward when running away from Mother at a hard time. But I’m glad Father recognized his fault and is now trying not to make the same mistakes.”       “No matter what our parents are, we should respect them and love them for just giving us life,” Edward notices quietly. “Maybe, some parents don’t raise their children, but they gave them a chance to be born… Thanks to them, we have come to this world.”       “I’m afraid I’ll never understand it because I don’t know what parental love is,” Peter confesses tiredly. “At all. There was no hint at that.”       “Helene grew up without parents, too.”       “Yeah, but she was loved. And she is still loved. Her grandparents were ready for anything for her. They agreed to take responsibility for their granddaughter when her mother ran away, and her father was sent abroad.”       “But that woman could be understood. She was only sixteen… She was a kid. But she had to give birth to her baby when she wasn’t ready for that. I think nobody is ready to become a parent at this age. Yes, I don’t approve of the fact that she left her daughter and never thought of her. But everything could be explained.”       “Anyway, that girl has always been surrounded by love and care. But sadly… She forgot about it…”       “Okay, her mother’s case is clear,” Terrence says confidently. “But her father… Hasn’t he decided to find his daughter and help educate her? It’s okay that his family decided something for him when he was a little boy under the legal age. But that man is an adult and lives his life. Relatives can’t decide everything for him and ban him from speaking to his daughter forever.”       “Mrs. Marshall said he was too dependent on his family’s opinion. I wouldn’t be surprised if he forgot his daughter and married the one, who his family considered a decent partner.”       “So, was there a chance that Helene’s father wouldn’t have left her mother?” Edward frowns slightly.       “Most likely. He originally agreed to accept the child. But after the talk with his family, he took his words back.”       “Oh, what a twist…” Edward, exhaling sharply, runs his hands over his hair.       “You know, I think we wouldn’t better bother Helene now,” Terrence says thoughtfully. “May she calm down and understand it all. She could be understood. It’s hard to hear this type of thing that you didn’t expect to hear. She heard the lie all her life, but she suddenly heard that. And it wasn’t said personally to her, looking into her eyes.”       “Mrs. Marshall is regretting deciding to tell me everything first,” Peter confesses.       “Let’s be honest, guys. Every one of us would be shocked if we found out something like this, or much worse. Anyone would be mad and wouldn’t believe that’s the truth. Helene won’t be mad forever and would go to ask for forgiveness for her behavior someday.”       “Oh, sometimes I wanna give a damn about her and let her solve her problems on her own. I’m sick of tolerating the way she treats me. I understand I can’t leave her, but I have little strength.”       “No, Peter, you shouldn’t leave her,” Edward says confidently. “If you leave her, you two won’t forgive yourself for that. Marshall will swear at herself for bringing everything to that, and you’ll be ashamed of leaving her after what that girl has done to you.”       “This is the only reason I stay by her side. I owe her and know I wouldn’t thank her enough for everything. And I’m used to remembering what people do to me.”       “Listen, if you decided not to bother her, let it happen,” Terrence advises. “Since the situation between Raquelle and Mr. Cameron was solved, it’s gonna be okay between you and Helene.”       “I’ve decided to do it,” Peter replies with sadness in his eyes. “I’ll be supporting her grandmother and taking care of Sammy, whom Helene forgot about. I told her everything I wanted, and may she think about what to do. I’ve got nothing to add.”       “It won’t happen forever. Early or late, she’ll understand it and come to you and her grandmother with apologies. Or maybe, Sammy will help her come to herself.”       “If only… She doesn’t pay attention to him. It’s like, if I took Sammy home, Helene wouldn’t even care. Though, that doggy does suffer a lot… He eats almost nothing and doesn’t play… He just whines and lies on a corner all day long.”       “Poor Sammy…” Edward pronounces with sadness in his eyes.       “Yeah… Not only do her grandmother and I feel bad…”       “If only he didn’t bring himself to a terrible condition…” Terrence expresses anxiety.       “Mrs. Marshall and I are doing our best to prevent it.” Peter drinks a little bit from his glass. “I got strongly attracted to Sammy and love playing with him. And I’m grateful to him for helping me survive this hard time.”       “Don’t worry, Pete,” Edward smiles slightly. “Everything will be okay, early or late.”       “Yes, blond, don’t get sad,” Terrence encourages. “Nothing lasts forever.”       “I’m trying to hope for the best…” Peter exhales sharply.       Silence settles in the air for a few seconds, during which Terrence eats what he has on the plate, Peter looks into the distance tiredly and wraps his finger around his glass, and Edward leans on the table with an elbow and on the head with a hand, looking around without emotions, thinking about something, and running his hand through his hair. A little later, the blond moves his eyes to MacClife, Jr., and just notices a couple of bruises and a bandage, which were hidden with a few strands of thick hair falling on the forehead.       “Hey, Edward, what’s wrong with your forehead?” Peter frowns slightly. “How did you get these bruises?”       “Indeed, Edward!” Terrence exclaims, looking at Edward closely, and chuckles quietly. “Where did you hit your head again? You decided to check a concrete wall for strength?”       “Yup, bro, you know…” Edward scoffs ironically. “I felt kinda boring… And I thought, why I couldn’t hit my head against the wall.”       “Look, MacClife, we don’t need another one to have memory loss,” Peter says confidently. “You might go too far and stare at everything with dumbfounded eyes and act like a child.”       “My bro does miss a drive,” Terrence laughs quietly. “He calmed down for a few months, but now he craves adventures again.”       “You know, I don’t wanna joke now,” Edward says gloomily and gets straight slowly, running his hands over his tired face.       “Fuck, don’t tell me you got into something again…” Terrence moans tiredly. “If it’s so, I shall kill you. I swear, kid.”       “We got one more problem. But I got it against my wish.”       “Problems with Natalia?” Peter asks.       “I could say so.”       “Okay, bro, let’s get to the point,” Terrence says quietly, leaning on the table with a hand. “What you and Natalia got into, and who made your pretty face worse.”       “Oh…” Edward exhales sharply, says nothing for two seconds, and looks at Peter and Terrence a little hesitantly. “Guys… Do you remember the bastard, who almost raped Natalia? Who wounded my arm when I hid her behind me.”       “Wainwright?” Peter asks. “Oh, yeah, I remember that crazy man and those wide eyes! I will never forget that face!”       “As well as the disgusting way he smelled,” Terrence adds.       “So…” Edward says quietly. “As it turned out, he ran away from prison some time ago.”       Terrence and Peter look at Edward with widely open eyes full of horror.       “What?” Terrence gets horrified. “Wainwright? Ran away from prison?”       “He did,” Edward nods. “And that bastard is now walking on the streets of New York.”       “But how? How did he do it?”       “I don’t know. But I know he stole a pistol from security and shot at one of the prison staff before running away.”       “So, is that sick deadbeat free?” Peter asks hesitantly.       “Yup… And it means Wainwright might harm our girls if we weren’t near them.”       “Wait, Edward, wait…” Terrence says quietly. “But how did you know that? Did someone say Wainwright ran away from prison?”       “Natalia and I met him two days ago,” Edward confesses quietly. “He showed up from nowhere.”       “C’mon?”       “And yeah, our parents found it out a little earlier.”       “What?”       “They were spending time with Mr. and Mrs. Rochester, Mr. Cameron, and Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and heard about that asshole’s escape on TV. They said it happened three weeks ago, but the police were hiding it not to scare people. They just announced it. They thought they’d find him quickly. But alas… Wainwright hid nobody the fuck knows where.”       “Oh, shit…”       “Hey, dude, tell us more about that,” Peter says confidently. “Where did you and Natalia meet him? What did he need?”       “Natalia and I were spending time together at a quiet place,” Edward says and drinks some Sprite. “And at some moment, someone pushed her back. But I didn’t believe it at first ‘cause there was nobody around. But then Wainwright showed up and let us know it was him.”       “That bastard accosted her again?” Terrence asks.       “Oh, accosted is too soft to say! Wainwright wanted to try to rape her again. Right before my eyes. He told her about all his dirty fantasies and wanted to take her to where he was hiding to do anything to her. And the fact that the bastard stole the necklace, which I gifted her, is nothing.”       “If there had been nobody in the courtroom, he would’ve killed her right there,” Peter says with anxiety.       “Oh, I almost killed that bastard… Because of just one lascivious look at her… And when he started to feel her up and kiss her, I got enraged and beat him with my legs and hands with no regret. I didn’t care that he was a big bull, who was impossible to knock out with a few hits on the head.”       “Poor Natalia…” Terrence shakes his head. “I imagine what she had to experience.”       “She was so scared that she ran far away when Wainwright and I were fighting,” Edward confesses a little excitedly and says nothing for two seconds to drink some Sprite from a small can. “She didn’t listen to me when I told her to be close to me and go nowhere. That bastard beat me strongly and followed her… I barely made myself get up and went after them… And I almost went crazy… I thought that asshole took Natalia with him…”       “Did she run so far that you couldn’t find her?”       “Very far. And that bastard closed her mouth, so she didn’t scream for me. I thought I’d be running the whole territory and finding Natalia if I didn’t hear her voice. I found Rochester only thanks to her scream. I saw that deadbeat trying to strangle her, got furious, and beat that asshole again.”       “He left?” Peter asks.       “Yes, when he understood I wouldn’t give Natalia to him. I beat him so strongly that he was limping and holding his balls, wincing in pain. Wainwright didn’t care about it.”       “Do the Rochesters know you met him?” Terrence specifies.       “Yes, Natalia and I told her parents everything. And I went to ‘The MacClife Shipping’ on the same day and told my father what happened. He was with my mother, and I didn’t have to repeat the same thing a million times. And we also talked to Mr. Johnson on the speakerphone. That man said he was working on that case, and the police were searching for him.”       Peter and Terrence say nothing for a few seconds, getting horrified at realizing that they have one more problem.       “Oh, fuck…” Peter moans tiredly, running his hands over his face. “One more problem…”       “I wanted to tell you everything yesterday, but I had too much to do,” Edward confesses quietly. “I had a few meetings with representatives of some singers, who wanted to talk about working on songs with me. And then I should’ve worked on repairs at my house.”       “And how do you feel?” Terrence shows anxiety.       “I’m okay. But it was a little hard at first ‘cause that bastard beat me strongly. He hit my head against a stone several times and slapped me in the face… I got much blood and a nosebleed…”       “Oh, fuck…” Terrence rounds his eyes full of horror. “That’s bad you were alone. As a few policemen couldn’t deal with Wainwright when he was running in the whole courtroom and screaming like crazy, you wouldn’t have dealt with him alone.”       “He’s a bull. But not such an invincible one. Knowing he was half-dead when leaving Natalia and me alone.”       “Indeed, man, you must be careful with that bastard,” Peter says confidently. “He might easily kill you. And we could never know what happened to you.”       “No, no, I couldn’t let him defeat me,” Edward shakes his head sharply. “I understood I should’ve held on to protect Natalia. I was terribly afraid to pass out… If it had happened, Wainwright would’ve dealt with her. I swore to protect her and do my best to provide her with safety and calm.”       “But that’s very risky,” Terrence notices with anxiety.       “Right, but I’m not afraid. Wainwright does underestimate me, thinking I’m still the same little puppy that can only bark. If that bastard stands in my way again and touches my fiancée with a finger, I’ll bury him alive. He’ll give his life for all the suffering that he gave poor Natalia. For everything he made her feel while I was trying to find her in the place where she ran, being in despair.”       “So, guys, congratulations! It seems like, we got one more problem! Now we have to do everything to protect the girls against that sick bastard. He saw them in the courtroom and memorized them well… And if he meets them when nobody is near him, it will be too bad for them.”       “But he’ll hardly go to popular places,” Peter assumes. “I think Wainwright is not an idiot and does understand that he might be caught by the police if he showed up in public. That man understood that he must’ve hidden.”       “And I’m sure he chose a very good place.”       “Yeah, very good to hide the girls and mock them,” Edward throws gloomily. “Inject them with some shit…”       “Damn, we must tell the girls about it and tell them to be careful. So, they don’t think of showing up where Wainwright might go.”       “I banned Natalia from going to those places alone. We agreed not to go there, at least until that bastard was caught. And our parents warned us about it.”       “I hope she’ll talk to the girls and tell them,” Peter expresses hope. “I said I didn’t wanna try to get closer to Helene. She wouldn’t listen to me.”       “I’m sure we wouldn’t have to do it. Natalia will tell them everything.”       “Yeah, but nobody can be sure that Wainwright wouldn’t show up in public,” Terrence says confidently. “That man has some mental disabilities and was officially pronounced mentally sick. I won’t be surprised if he goes where there are people and does something terrible. Shots everyone down to the fuck, or kills someone.”       “No, I don’t think he’d go to this type of place,” Edward shakes his head. “Wainwright doesn’t wanna go to prison. So, he’s gonna be hiding and walking where nobody can catch him.”       “And if he really stole a pistol, the case is horrible,” Peter says confidently. “A gun in a sick man’s hands is a catastrophe!”       “Oh, that’s good he didn’t have a gun when Natalia and I met him,” Edward moans quietly, running his hands over his face. “I’m afraid to imagine what could happen in the opposite case. Maybe, Wainwright would’ve killed her… And he would’ve done it to me…”       “We would’ve hardly known it if everything happened somewhere in the country,” Terrence assumes with anxiety.       “That man is sick. I’m starting to be afraid of him and understand that we may expect anything from him. And I understand Natalia, who is afraid of him like a bunny fears a wolf, better and better. Because that man really makes you feel fear and a wish to get out. But on the contrary, I must not show it. I’m still a barking coward puppy for him. And I must protect Natalia. In any way.”       “Listen, guys, did I tell you Raquelle saw not only Simon Ringer but also Wainwright in her nightmare?” Terrence gets straight sharply.       “What?” Edward rounds his eyes. “Raquelle? Saw that bastard?”       “Yes. And there was also Uncle Michael.”       “Uncle Michael? That old man, who should’ve died a long time ago?”       “And there was Eleanor Woodham.”       “But Eleanor is dead!” Edward exclaims. “The policeman shot at her so that she couldn’t survive!”       “I know. But Raquelle saw those people in her nightmare.”       “Listen, what if it really means something?” Peter asks. “Maybe, Raquelle’s anxiety is explainable? If she saw Wainwright in her nightmare, that was a sign. The sign of the fact that he’s gonna make us very nervous.”       “Fuck, if only that old bastard Michael and his gang didn’t run away,” Terrence says confidently. “Otherwise, he’ll obviously take revenge on us! He will not forgive Mother, Father, Edward, and me for putting him in prison.”       “No, no, bite your tongue!” Edward jabs, shaking his head sharply. “I’ll hang myself if that scumbag runs away. Along with that bastard Eric.”       “And Natalia is gonna hang…” Peter pronounces thoughtfully. “Because her offender is free…”       “I know…” Edward falls into silence for two seconds, looking into the distance with sad eyes. “I still can’t believe that asshole is free now.”       “Hey, how does Natalia feel after meeting that bastard?” Terrence asks. “She’s fine?”       “Yes, now. But at that moment, she looked horrified. She had a nervous breakdown… She got terribly scared, fell into a strong hysteria, and was screaming even after Wainwright got out for a long time. And then she lost her strength… The girl was so scared that she even fainted.”       “Poor girl…” Peter pronounces with sadness in his eyes.       “To be honest, I was madly scared.” Edward swallows up nervously. “That’s a terrible feeling when your beloved girl gets white and cold… When she pronounces, ‘I’m dying’ and loses consciousness… And when you’ve got nothing that would wake her up.”       “I get it,” Terrence nods. “I felt all of that when I found Raquelle unconscious in the kitchen last night.”       “I was frightened that I couldn’t wake her up for a long time and looked terrible. I barely made myself hold down and not to panic.”       “Now I understand why Natalia was a little scared. And I unconsciously thought about her condition that she had when telling Raquelle and me about what happened to her…”       “I wanna be next to her all the time to be quiet. But I understand we can’t always be together. She should spend time somewhere, and I wanna go somewhere and put my mind in order.”       “I think she’ll be careful. She made a mistake once and wouldn’t do it again.”       “Though, many things wouldn’t have happened if Natalia had run nowhere and been with me. But sadly, she didn’t do what I asked her about.”       “I agree. She made a mistake in this case.”       “I imagine what kind of horror Rochester felt when being next to that freak,” Peter exhales sharply and runs his hand over her hair. “Remembering how she was shaking at the trial.”       “I still remember him running at the whole room, insulting us loudly, and trying to feel all the girls up,” Edward says with sadness in his eyes. “All those people were cursing us, but Wainwright outdid everybody.”       “Yeah, we had to hear a lot…” Terrence agrees.       “Oh…” Peter exhales sharply and leans back in the chair. “Yeah, lads, living is getting ‘better’… And we don’t know what to start from, how to get rid of this shit, and start to live a quiet life again…”       “I’d be happy to get out somewhere…” Edward confesses thoughtfully, running his hands over his hair. “Anywhere. Just to be far away from this shit.”       “It would be great…” Terrence says tiredly, throwing a short look at the window. “Far away…”       Silence settles in the air, during which Edward, Peter, and Terrence think about their personal problems that have been added to the other ones. They silently look at each other or around without emotions for some time, understanding that they have no appetite and do not want to eat the rest of the food that they have. And a little later, the silence ends because a young guy comes to their table and lets them know about it, pronouncing surprisingly:       “Guys?”       Terrence, Peter, and Edward move their eyes to the man, getting truly surprised when they see Daniel looking at the three a little hesitantly.       “Daniel?” Terrence wonders.       “Oh, dude, what a meeting!” Edward smiles amicably.       “What are you doing here? What brought you to this place?”       “Erm…” Daniel stutters, biting his lip slightly and scratching the back of his head. “I… Just came here to eat and saw you three.”       “Wandering in the city for nothing?” Peter asks.       “Yup… Just walking. The doctor said to walk outside as much as possible. So, I walk…”       “Good decision.”       “Hey, sit down with us!” Edward suggests. “Let’s talk a little.”       “I can?” Daniel asks hesitantly.       “Sure!” Terrence exclaims and claps at the free place near him. “C’mon, sit down with me!”       “Well…” Daniel throws a hesitant look at Edward and Terrence and a little scared one at Peter. “Okay… If you’re inviting…”       Daniel hesitates for two seconds, hesitantly sits on the tabs in a free place next to Terrence, and puts something that he bought at the café on it. The man still keeps looking at Peter scarily, asking himself why the blond can be next to him so quietly if he brought him to the suicide attempt and even threatened to kill him. Rose himself notices these suspicious immediately looks and starts to feel a little embarrassed, but tries to stay calm and amicable.       “Hey, I thought you’d looked sad before I came here,” Daniel notices thoughtfully.       “We have lots of problems,” Terrence replies tiredly, running his hand through his hair. “So, we’re worried.”       “Because of me?”       “Not only. I’ve been trying to find out what’s happening to Raquelle.”       “Raquelle?”       “Yes, my fiancée. She’s been very depressed. And I wanna know the reason why she’s suffering.”       “She has problems?”       “I think so.”       “Oh, I’m sorry…”       “Don’t think about it. It’s the business of my fiancée and mine. We’ll solve it somehow.”       “I see…” Daniel throws a sad look at Edward and Peter sitting in front of him. “What about you? Worried about the girls, too?”       “Yeah, we are…” Peter replies with sadness in his eyes. “I have some problems with Helene. My girlfriend.”       “What happened?”       “Well… Helene is worried about some personal problems and doesn’t let me get close to her. And she forgot about Sammy, her dog.”       “Everything’s so bad?”       “It’s a tragedy for her. And I feel pain that she doesn’t wanna accept my help.”       “At all?”       “At all.”       “It’s okay, everything’s gonna be okay soon.”       “I hope…” Peter pronounces with a slight smile.       Daniel nods, thinking about something silently, and moves his eyes to Edward, who frowns slightly, noticing that Peter and Terrence do not rush to share their problems. However, he also decides not to say everything because he thinks Perkins will understand nothing or forget everything.       “Well, Natalia and I have our own problems,” Edward says quietly with sadness in his eyes. “But I wanna believe everything will be okay early or late.”       “Doesn’t that girl doesn’t let you get closer to her?” Daniel frowns slightly.       “Nope, I have a different situation.”       “I think you’re gonna get married?”       “Yeah, but now we put aside the thoughts about our wedding. Natalia and I and Raquelle and Terrence ain’t gonna marry immediately. When we’re ready, we’ll have a wedding.”       “You don’t rush?”       “Nope,” Edward cracks a smile to get rid of some tension in the air. “We can get married at any time – now or a year later. Nobody rushes us, and we don’t rush.”       “I see…”       Daniel glances aside and unconsciously thinks about his engagement with Blanca, noticing that Edward talks about his wedding with Natalia with a slight smile on his face and a gloss in his eyes and understanding that he does not crave to marry the Spaniard, who is literally obsessed with him.       “Well, what about you?” Terrence asks, folding his hands on the table and locking his fingers. “How do you feel?”       “More or less,” Daniel replies hesitantly.       “Have you recalled something?”       “Erm, no yet…” Daniel bites his lip slightly. “I’m just reflecting on what I hear and see…”       With these words, Daniel throws a suspicious look at Peter again and frowns. Edward, Terrence, and Peter do notice this look, and the blond feels embarrassed and moves his eyes aside for a second. It makes them suspect that Perkins could remember something about Rose. Or try to do it.       “Don’t you wanna share it with us?” Edward suggests.       “What do you want to know?” Daniel asks hesitantly.       “Everything you’ve recalled.”       “Well… As I met you… Then… I’d like to know one thing… Something that bothers me…”       “Speak,” Terrence says quietly. “We’re listening.”       “Oh… How to say it…” Daniel throws a hesitant look at Peter, who looks at him questioningly. “I…”       “Erm, excuse me, Daniel…” Peter pronounces hesitantly, pulling out the words strongly. “But why are you looking at me so weirdly? You’ve been doing this since you came to us…”       “Actually, I’d like to talk about it…”       “You recalled something about me?”       “Oh, no, no, nothing… I just… Erm…” Daniel shakes his head and moves his eyes aside for a second. “Answer one question.”       “Which?”       “Say… You say we’ve known each other for a long time and even befriended… So, I wonder… Did we have arguments and conflicts? What if we had misunderstandings or something like that?”       “Erm…” Peter stutters and scratches the back of his head, throwing a short look aside. “Yeah… We fought… I said it when you went to my home.”       “Really?”       “But don’t think of anything bad. That conflict started because of me.”       “Not because of me?”       “Nope. It could’ve been avoided if I had held myself down. But sadly, I could not… I craved to get my emotions out…”       “So, am I not guilty of that?”       “Relax, dude, you’re guilty of nothing. I did behave like a real bastard when I started to scream and wave my hands. The fact that you got nuts and were literally beating me on the head was fine enough.”       “And nothing like that happened later?”       “No, that case was the only one. We’ve always had a good relationship.”       Daniel frowns slightly and starts to think that there is something that does not fit the story of his conflict with Peter, which, as the media said, was much crueler. And the fact that Perkins asks about it makes Terrence and Edward frown slightly, looking at each other and shaking their heads.       “Hey, Perkins, why do you care about it?” Edward asks.       “I just wanna know the truth,” Daniel replies quietly. “To know how serious my conflict with the blond was.”       “Everything got better after we found out what made Pete so excited,” Terrence replies confidently. “Yes, you were fighting like cat and dog, but it happened only once. You two have always gotten on well. Even too well.”       “Yes, that’s true,” Edward confirms with a slight smile.       “So, may I not worry?” Daniel frowns slightly.       “Don’t think about it, dude,” Peter smiles slightly. “It’s all over. There’s no meaning to come back to that.”       “Okay… If it’s so… I just asked… Expressed curiosity…”       “Huh, I just…” Daniel stutters. “I just asked, it’s okay. Yup, it’s okay.”       While Peter, Edward, and Terrence frown slightly and look at each other, Daniel starts to doubt that these guys are telling him the truth, seeing that they are a little nervous. It makes him much more sure that the conflict, which the press is talking about, is not a dream, and that the three are really hiding the truth.       “Hey, did you really go to my home and talk to the girls one day?” Terrence decides to change the subject.       “Yes,” Daniel nods. “I wanted to talk to you, but you weren’t home. At least the girls said so.”       “And did you recall something about them?”       “I… Remember the one to be with me when we found Peter in the bathroom said something about the girl named Raquelle.”       “Raquelle?”       “Yes, I told her, and she explained what the words of that man meant.”       “And what were they about?” Edward frowns slightly.       “Erm… Something that made someone wake her up… She said it had to do with strong excitement.”       “Right…” Terrence nods. “That’s the truth.”       “Do you remember Raquelle?” Peter asks. “The girl, whose name was mentioned?”       “Nope…” Daniel shakes his head. “I don’t remember…”       “Okay, what do you remember about the girls? Raquelle? Natalia? Helene? Anna?”       “Erm…” Daniel pronounces hesitantly. “Maybe, the fact that the blonde is Valeria… Oh… Or Natalia…”       “And Anna?” Terrence asks. “You remember her?”       “That’s… A girl with red hair? Her hair color stands out, and that’s the only thing I remember about her.”       “Yes, that’s her.”       “I would love to talk to her. And find out why I haven’t seen her since I was in the hospital. Why she never talked to me and stopped visiting me at some moment.”       “You see, buddy, the case is that Anna has disappeared,” Edward confesses hesitantly. “We’d be happy to give you a chance to talk to her, but she suddenly broke contact with us.”       “Yeah, the girls said it. But why? What happened to her?”       “We’d like to know…” Terrence sighs tiredly.       “Maybe, one of you hurt her? Or… Did I do it?”       “We didn’t hurt her,” Peter replies confidently. “We’ve always treated that girl well.”       “Sorry that I can’t speak to her.”       “Daniel, tell us, didn’t you have a sense of shame for her when she was in your hospital room?” Terrence asks thoughtfully, putting his finger on his lip. “Maybe, you felt you should’ve apologized to her? Or you understood she hurt you?”       “Yeah, I had this feeling…” Daniel nods, biting his lip. “I thought I hurt her… I really wanted to apologize… But I don’t know for what… Erm… Well, at least for not being able to remember her. For making her cry.”       “Do you think you had a big fight before you ended up where you were found?” Peter frowns slightly.       “I dunno, maybe,” Daniel shrugs and falls into silence for a second. “Maybe, she doesn’t wanna talk to me because of that.”       “At least, we didn’t see you fighting,” Edward shrugs. “Of course, you could be silent and not tell us about your fights, but… You got on well.”       “But if I really hurt her, I want to apologize to her. Even if I don’t know why she’s angry at me and doesn’t speak to me.”       “And what are your feelings?” Terrence asks. “How do you think much she got mad at you?”       “I think, too mad.”       “You were supposed to hurt Anna too much to make her leave your house, ignore all calls and messages, and stop caring about you, at all,” Peter assumes.       “I can say nothing…” Daniel shakes his head.       “Sorry…” Edward pronounces with sadness in his eyes. “Anna is the only one to be able to say what happened between you. But sadly, she doesn’t talk to us… As if we’re also guilty of her.”       “Maybe, yes…” Daniel replies, looking into the distance with sadness in his eyes. “But I can’t deny she’s beautiful… Very beautiful…”       Daniel feels how his heart starts beating faster, gets some nice feelings, and wants to smile after hearing Anna’s name. Terrence, Peter, and Edward look at each other, smiling slightly and feeling sorry that Anna does not want to help them get his memories back. Some time later, a short, dark-haired teenage girl with a small backpack on her back comes to their table and looks at Peter, Terrence, and Edward with a slight smile.       “Hey, young men, are you from the band ‘Against The System?’” the girl asks gently.       “Yes, we are,” Terrence replies with a slight smile.       “Oh, God, God!” The girl smiles much wider and claps her hands, jumping happily. “I adore you! That’s so good I met you here!”       “Have you listened to our single?” Peter asks.       “Yes, that’s so amazing. I listen to it on my iPod all day long. And I really liked the music video. I’ve watched it a hundred times.”       “Thanks a lot, it’s a pleasure to hear something like this,” Edward thanks with a slight smile.       “You’re all incredibly talented, guys!” the girl confesses happily. “I can’t wait for you to release your first album! I’m gonna buy it on the first day of selling.”       “Thanks,” Peter thanks truly. “We worked on that for a long time and hope you’re going to love it.”       “Listen, guys…” The girl folds her hands in front of herself, as if she feels very shy. “Could you sign my CD with your single? Please, please! I promise I will go to your show if it’s in New York.”       “Sure, we’ll sing it with pleasure,” Terrence replies gently with a slight smile.       The girl takes the CD and a black marker from her backpack and gives them to the young men. Terrence takes these things and gets ready to leave his signature. But at the last moment, Edward looks at the CD better, frowns slightly, and sharply takes the thin pack from his brother. On the front, it’s possible to see the cover, on which there are the MacClife brothers and Daniel and Peter wearing black leather clothes and being photographed from a high position. The single title “The Story About Us” is written with a thin white light font on the bottom, and the logo of “Against The System” is placed on the top. It seems like everything is fine, but Edward sees that the cover is ruined a little. To be clear, Daniel’s photo is destroyed. His face is with scissors and painted over with a black marker. MacClife, Jr., thinks this is disrespectful to his bandmate but decides not to ask about it openly and just says hesitantly:       “Oh, sorry… The cover is a little torn.”       “I cut and painted it,” the girl says a little coldly, crossing her arms over her chest.       Peter sharply takes the CD from Edward and looks at it closely, noticing that Daniel’s face is really cut and painted black.       “Oh, you did it?” Peter asks hesitantly, frowning slightly, and throwing a short look at the girl.       “Yes, I did,” the girl replies coldly.       “But why?” Terrence wonders. “Why did you destroy Daniel’s photo?”       “Such scumbags like this man must not be in your band and this world. I do hate when one person puts another to psychological violence, beats them, insults them, humiliates them, threatens them, and brings them to a wish to kill themselves.”       While the girl speaks, Peter, Edward, and Terrence look at each other with widely open eyes, getting nervous enough and watching Daniel starting to feel embarrassed at the thought that the article about his conflict with Rose might be the truth.       “Gosh, girl, what are you talking about?” Edward gets horrified.       “As if you don’t know!” the girl says rudely and throws a contemptuous look at the confused Daniel. “Everybody knows you are covering the ass of this bastard by the order of your manager. You are banned from talking about the way he humiliates the guy, who did nothing to him.”       “What a twist…” Peter says under his nose.       “Guys, why don’t you kick Daniel Perkins out of the band?” the girl crosses her arms over her chest. “All your fans ask you about it, but you do not want to hear them! And you keep pretending that you are a team! One piece!”       “Show respect for our friend, please,” Terrence says quietly.       “Respect? Are you serious? How could the scumbag, who treats the innocent person like THIS, get respect?”       “Did you see him treating one of us badly?” Edward wonders.       “You are hiding it! Pretending that everything is okay! Lying to your fans and making them believe you have a wonderful relationship.”       “Listen, girl…” Terrence takes a word quietly.       “He is not a part of the band!” The girl looks at Daniel with hate. “Daniel is a talentless man, who cannot play and, especially, sing! Everybody heard him singing in real life. This asshole cannot sing without autotune! And I doubt that he plays the guitar by himself! A different man plays instead of him, and Perkins just pretends to play and sing. And you are covering his ass!”       “Even if one of us doesn’t take notes sometimes, that’s fine,” Peter says confidently. “We’re humans, not robots! We may get sick, forget, get excited, and feel confused! What’s wrong with someone, who doesn’t take notes or plays in the wrong tempo one time?”       “One time!” the girl sneers contemptuously. “This idiot has been ashamed a million times! He forgets the lyrics, plays the guitar wrongly, or starts to bleat like a sheep!”       “And what?” Terrence wonders. “Many singers may get confused! It’s okay, people don’t stop loving them!”       “Trust me, experienced people see everything. They see that Perkins should not try to sing and play. Anyone can sing with autotune! But not everyone could sing live as well as at a studio.”       “Listen, did you come here to get an autograph or insult our friend?” Peter wonders.       “As I got a chance to look into the eyes of this bastard, I will tell him everything I think of him. May he hear he is a bastard! He probably doesn’t read the comments about him and doesn’t suspect how he’s getting showered with mud. So, he can hear it from me!”       “We tell you again, respect Daniel and all of us,” Terrence demands confidently.       “Gosh, guys…” the girl shakes her head, looking at the resentful Terrence, Peter, and Edward by one. “Why do you need this talentless freak, who must burn in hell for what he is doing? You can easily find a more talented bass guitarist! This one will drag you down, and you will not get famous! Wake up while you have a chance to change everything! Read the comments of your fans! Everybody says if Daniel doesn’t leave the band, they will stop following you.”       Terrence, Peter, and Edward are discouraged by the insolence of the girl, who seemed so cute and shy a few seconds ago. Of course, they knew they would run into something like this someday, but they did not think their own fans would be openly insulting Daniel, who did nothing bad and just became a victim of the media that started this scandal.       “I do not actually understand how this type of person can live in this world,” the girl adds with recentness, literally killing the shocked Daniel with her icy look. “I want Perkins to feel everything Peter felt when he had to tolerate the tricks of this stinker. I wish this stinker to die and will never regret saying these words, looking at his insolent face!”       “Stop it now!” Edward demands coldly.       “Die, Daniel, die! All the fans of the band want it! You are a freak that nobody needs! Burn in hell for daring to treat Peter like that! This wonderful guy, who is loved by everyone! His fans are ready to cut your throat because YOU were the one to blame for making him wish to try to kill himself. Pete almost died because of YOU! YOU must die! YOU! ONLY YOU!”       Peter, Edward, and Terrence look at each other for a few seconds and shake their heads, while Daniel getting a little white is fingering over and swallowing up nervously, as he throws a scared look at the men sometimes. A little later, Rose moves his eyes to the CD placed in front of him on the table. So, as the blond knows everything his friend is blamed for is a lie, he does not want to pretend that nothing happens. So, the man sharply puts the CD aside, saying confidently:       “Excuse me, but I will not sign it.” Peter glances at Terrence and Edward. “Do what you want, guys, but I’m not going to close my eyes to what I heard.”       “I won’t do it, either,” Terrence says not less confidently.       “Me, either,” Edward says determinedly.       Edward, Terrence, and Peter move their eyes to the girl.       “Excuse us, girl, but we will not leave autographs,” Terrence says quietly.       “B-b-but…” the girl pronounces in a little shaking voice, being a little discouraged and shaking her head. “Why? Why don’t you want to sign my disc?”       “Because we are not going to pretend that we didn’t hear your words about our friend, who is not guilty of anything,” Edward says confidently.       “And it’s especially unpleasant for us to hear you openly wishing Daniel to die,” Terrence adds confidently.       “Stop covering his tricks!” the girl demands confidently. “Stop having your fans wrapped around your finger! They do see what this shameless man is doing. You are the only ones not to wish to see it!”       “Enough, girl!” Peter exclaims loudly. “Stop insulting the man for nothing and especially wish him to die! How you actually dare to wish the person something like this!”       “But, Peter, he was insulting you! Why are you defending this duplicitous person?”       “Because he is my friend! And I’m no longer going to be silent and pretend that I don’t see or hear anything they say about him. Stop it! I don’t care about the managers and those, who say we must be silent. I will not be silent!”       “Listen, I completely understand that Perkins terrified you and threatened to kill you if someone knew about your conflict,” the girl says much quieter. “But trust me, you’ve got many fans, who are ready to stand by you. They’d cut the throat of this bastard if he touched you with a finger or brought you to self-murder again. You know how much people were worried when they found out about your suicide attempt!”       “Daniel did not bring me to the wish to die! He is guilty of nothing to me! And I want you to stop bullying this man.”       “Don’t worry, nobody will hurt you. Your fans love you very much. We will protect you from this snake and make him kill himself. Burn from shame and regret getting in touch with you. Tell everyone all the truth.”       “I am telling the truth. Daniel has nothing to do with that suicide attempt. Everybody lies about self-murder! And there were enough reasons for that desperate decision. And the guys know them very well.”       “Stop pretending that you have a good relationship!” the girl says coldly, crossing her arms over his chest. “Everybody knows you’re just pretending to be good friends, and the band is suffering because of your scandals. And Daniel Perkins is the reason for that.”       “Someday, I will tell my fans what made me do that,” Peter promises quietly. “But now I want our fans to stop believing the rumors that the media spreads. And stop the bullying. It’s unpleasant for us to see everybody bullying the poor guy.”       “Yeah, poor…” the girl sneers. “He does pretend to be a lamb too well. He’s sitting as quietly as a mouse, saying nothing, and looking at me scarily… He knows he is guilty but keeps bullying you.”       “Sweet girl, here’s my advice: don’t believe everything that newspapers write,” Terrence says with a slight smile. “We don’t know who spread that false gossip, which is the reason why Daniel is getting showered with mud, but we aren’t happy with this situation. If the one to start it does not apologize to our friend and publish a rebuttal, we will have to take measures.”       “Yeah, what about the photo on Instagram? Which Perkins posted with a signature that insulted Peter but removed it after someone told him they should’ve pretended to be friends. He re-uploaded the photo with a different signature! But he forgot that there were very fast people, who took screenshots.”       “He posted that photo with our pretense,” Edward says confidently. “And there was not the signature the media talked about! But the one there is now!”       “Not true! You’re lying! You’re just doing what your management team tells you! They told you to pretend to be Perkins’ friends and defend him – you do it. And Peter is also terrified by this shameless bastard, who should’ve died a long time ago. Someone said he was recently hit by a car. I wish it hit him to death! Why did he the fuck stay alive?”       “Stop saying these things!” Terrence demands coldly. “We will not take it!”       “Daniel and I have a wonderful relationship, and we’ve been friends for many years,” Peter says confidently. “We had been friends before we came up with the idea of starting a band.”       “How hard you are lying…” The girl exhales sharply and shakes her head. “How well your managers worked with you… Maybe, you always had everyone wrapped around your finger. But now everybody sees the real way this ugly one treats those he works with. And I understand that he has no talent for music.”       “Stop believing the shit that a certain smarty writes. Why are people like sheep: all follows one? Why is there not at least one person, who would go against and do opposite things? I’m shocked by how easy it is to manipulate people.”       “Ha, I would bet on who manipulates!”       “If you don’t like something, just stop being our fan. We have enough and know that there are those, who will be by our side until the end.”       “Ha, it’s possible to count all your fans on your fingers!” the girl smirks contemptuously. “Moreover, you got a bigger half of fans thanks to Terrence MacClife, who all little girls had a crush on. Without him, you three are nobody! Just pathetic idiots, who were just madly lucky.”       “Oh, you decided to insult us!” Edward opens his mouth slightly. “What kind of fan are you if you started to say these things?”       “I do not insult you, Edward, I’m telling you the truth. That you these two have to accept the fact that you are just the shadow of Terrence. The shadow that follows him. Even if he is your relative, you would get nothing without his protection.”       “You know, you cross all the lines,” Terrence says coldly. “At first, you insulted Daniel and wished him to die, but now start to humiliate Edward and Peter.”       “Is that not true?” the girl opens her eyes widely. “You just let them be famous and use your former fame. If one of these idiots started this way on their own, these talentless men would get nothing.”       “Peter said it right: if you don’t like something, stop being our fan,” Edward says coldly, crossing his arms over his chest. “We don’t make anyone love all four. It’s okay if someone dislikes one of us, but likes another. But our fans must repeat us. Not insult, not humiliate, and especially not wish someone to die.”       “I don’t want you three to die. The only person, the death of who your fans and I dream about is Daniel Perkins. Nobody loves this scumbag! Everybody wants him to disappear once and forever and not to hurt anyone’s eyes.”       “Real fans of us don’t behave the way you do it, girl,” Terrence replies gloomily. “They support us and give us the motivation to keep working and growing as artists. And I’m personally sorry that nobody taught you just to respect a person. Didn’t let you know someone might dislike hearing such terrible things about a close person.”       “So, do you think your fans are only those, who praise all of you, say how handsome and talented you are, scream like crazy, and find you literally Gods?” the girl resents, putting her hands on her hips.       “I think those, who love artists, are always by their side, and love and respect everyone, with whom they work,” Peter replies quietly. “Disgusting rumors have been spread about celebrities many times, but they didn’t get fewer fans.”       “I repeat, your fans could be counted on fingers. And there are only little girls among them. Adult people will never care about your pretty faces, muscular bodies, and worthless songs. Your beloved Terrence MacClife did gain popularity thanks to that. He thinks he is talented, but he just got good managers and everything little girls drooled over. Who have never cared that he’s got great mental issues, which everyone has always known about.”       “Listen, madam, stop insulting us!” Peter barely holds himself down. “We came to sit here and eat quietly, but you bothered us to tell us everything we don’t care about. What makes us enraged.”       “Of course, I get it… You don’t want to recognize the truth. Neither the truth about Daniel being a real bastard nor the truth about Terrence MacClife, who has always been sick and egoistic, and Peter Rose and Edward MacClife just decided to use such a good chance and get worldwide famous thanks to him.”       “Excuse me, are you really our fan?” Edward frowns slightly, looking at the girl suspiciously and making a rooftop gesture. “You aren’t similar to the one!”       “Yeah, you pretended to be our fan to get our trust well,” Terrence notices. “I highly appreciated it. Bravo, girl, bravo!”       “Be sure, your band will not exist for a long time!” the girl says rudely, clenching her hands into fists. “When the small number of your fans stop worshiping you, you will understand that you better break up the band. And start to find a job. Though, I don’t know where you could work because none of you have an education.”       “Better think about it yourself,” Peter advises quietly. “As I understand, you are a student yet. So, start to think about where to keep studying. And how to find a good job.”       “I will care about it!”       “Then go, now!” Terrence exclaims. “And remember, we will get what we want, early or late. Because we didn’t get used to giving up after taking half of the way.”       “We will see it!” the girl throws coldly. “But don’t forget that a bigger part of fans wants you to kick Daniel out of the band. And not everyone loves all of you. They surely hate at least one of you.”       “My gosh, what piece of news,” Edward scoffs ironically and puts his hand on his heart. “The guys and I didn’t know… Thank you so much! Thanks! Many thanks! What we would do without you!”       “I wish your band would break up, talentless idiots! I wish everything was bad for you! I wish nobody needed your album! Nobody wished to work with you!”       The girl glances at the CD lying on the table, takes it, and strongly throws it on the floor before the eyes of the surprised Terrence, Edward, and Peter. She steps on it demonstrably, takes the cover, tears it apart, and throws pieces on the floor. Then she sharply turns around and leaves the café with her head proudly raised. The men watch her without emotions and chuckle quietly when looking at the broken CD lying on the floor.       “You know, I didn’t even get upset because of that girl,” Edward says with a slight smile, leaning back in the chair. “Really! I just laughed at what she said about us.”       “To be honest, me too,” Terrence replies confidently, fixing his hair with his fingers. “Well, she said something… But I don’t care about it at all.”       “As for us, yes,” Peter says thoughtfully, putting his arm on the back of the chair. “But the situation about the charges is not very good.”       “Yeah… It seems like we’ve gotta give a fuck about George and tell the people the truth.”       “Yes, it’s time to make everybody wake up,” Edward says confidently.       “Hey, guys, what was that girl talking about?” Daniel asks hesitantly, looking at Edward, Terrence, and Peter with rounded eyes. “Why did she blame me for bringing Peter to the suicide attempt?”       “It’s a lie, Daniel, don’t listen to her!” Peter says confidently. “You aren’t guilty of anything! You don’t have to do with my suicide attempt.”       “But she just said everything! So, am I guilty? You wanted to die because of me?”       “Please, Daniel, don’t believe what they say and write about you and Peter,” Edward says confidently. “The only truth about that article is that you really fought with Peter, and the band was almost broken up.”       “Yes, there was a conflict, we don’t deny it,” Peter adds. “But it wasn’t as serious as the media wanna say.”       “But I did read!” Daniel exclaims. “I read everything they wrote about me!”       “Someone's just trying to slander you, Daniel,” Terrence says confidently. “We don’t know why the media decided to bully you, but that’s the open lie. I do know it well because we were together and trying to help Peter all the time.”       “Helene can confirm it!” Edward exclaims. “At some moment, she also helped you along with her friend, who has known Pete since school.”       “I don’t believe it…” Daniel shakes his head. “You’re lying to me. You and your girls have me wrapped around your finger. You don’t wanna tell me all the truth.”       “That’s not true, dude!” Terrence protests. “Nobody lies to you!”       “Stop it! I’ve read enough about me. And I do know what people say about me. They aren’t afraid to tell the truth. And that girl showed courage.”       “It’s all a lie, Daniel!” Edward exclaims. “We’re the only ones to tell you the truth! The guys, our girls, some of our close people, and I know everything that actually happened.”       “She did say you were doing what your managers said.”       “Vice versa, our managers are trying to help us and stop the bullying,” Peter replies confidently. “They do know all the truth. And we’re ready to stand by it together and protect your clean name that was mixed with mud by a certain bastard.”       “It seems like you’re really playing your roles well. Though, I don’t truly understand why you let me stay in the band if I’m so bad and almost brought the man to another world.”       “Why do you believe them, not us?” Edward wonders. “All those people don’t know the real truth! We’re the only ones to deny everything you were charged for. And we are sure the time has come. It’s time to stop being silent and fight with this bullshit.”       “Are you going to lie to everyone?” Daniel resents. “They do know everything, but you’re pretending that everything is fine!”       “Listen, dude…”       “Stop, guys, stop! End this show!”       “Damn, did you really believe in all of this bullshit?” Terrence wonders. “Perkins, are you insane?”       “No, you are insane! Your show has lasted for too long.”       “Daniel…”       “Come on, tell everyone Peter wanted to die because of me. Confirm it all! Stop listening to those, who control you!”       “Daniel, please, don’t say it!” Peter begs with pity. “We don’t lie to you.”       “You make me much more surprised, blond. After that scandal, you’re acting as if nothing happened and speaking well to me. I don’t understand!”       “Because it’s never happened. No threats, no violence, and everything they said about you happened! Never!”       “Don’t explain anything. I understood it all. You three dance attendance upon your managers and lie to everyone that I don’t have to do with that case.”       “What? George does help us and tries to cover you and us. He knows you remember nothing and understands our situation.”       “Whatever people say, we won’t take our words back and will keep saying you’re guilty of nothing to stop the bullying,” Edward promises confidently. “And you will understand it when you remember everything.”       “Maybe, they don’t believe us, but we won’t let anyone insult you for nothing,” Terrence says. “We’re gonna fight for your kind name ‘till the end. And we will find the deadbeat, who wrote that article and made everyone hate you.”       “How false you all are, guys,” Daniel replies coldly. “You have me and those people wrapped around your finger.”       “What?”       “How do you dare? Maybe, I don’t actually have to do with you and your fucking band? Maybe, you do make me think I play with you! It’s interesting! Knowing that I can’t play any instruments.”       “Perkins, you are an idiot?” Edward gets horrified. “How can you believe all those people, who don’t know what’s happening to us and don’t know what we’ve experienced? Yes, we understand that you remember nothing and accept any information as the truth. But trust me, we’re telling the truth. None of us loves lying. Moreover, you’re our friend. And we don’t love lying to our friends and close people.”       “How could I trust those I don’t know? I don’t know who you all are, and what you need from me! But I know exactly that you’re lying to me openly and hiding the truth that I should know.”       “We hide nothing.”       “Wow, I did trust you. I thought you truly wanted to help me. I was surprised that you knew me, but I accepted your help. However, you just needed to get some benefit from it.”       “You don’t know what you say. If you don’t believe us, ask the girls. Raquelle, Natalia, Helene, and Anna can confirm our words and say we don’t lie to you.”       “Yes, the girls can also say we’re right,” Peter nods confidently. “Ask any of them, so they confirm that our words are true!”       “Of course!” Daniel sneers contemptuously. “They agreed with you! They want to get a benefit for themselves.”       “We’re your friends and have no reason to lie to you. We wouldn’t think of using you and your amnesia. It’s just your guess.”       “Listen, guys, leave me alone. Work on your band, if it exists. And deal with the one, who sings with autotune and doesn’t play himself. Why do you annoy me? I don’t know you! But you’re insolently using the fact that I can’t remember you! I don’t know how you found out about me, but I have nothing to talk to you about.”       “What?” Terrence, Edward, and Peter get horrified, opening their eyes widely.       “Daniel, do you understand what kind of shit you’re saying?” Terrence wonders. “Did someone wash your brains so that you believe this shit so easily and pretend that you don’t know us? Stop acting like a capricious girl and open your eyes!”       “You’d better agree about what to tell me,” Daniel throws coldly, a little rudely. “Your words are too different.”       “Listen, Daniel, we know you feel hurt that they injure you and bring you to death,” Edward says quietly. “But we don’t lie to you, I swear. We’re your friends, even if you can’t remember that. But you will surely remember it when you get your memories back. Early or late, it will happen. And we’ll be waiting. As long as we have to.”       “And stop blaming yourself for what you’ve never done,” Peter adds confidently. “If you’d really had to do with what happened to me and had been the reason for that, we’d hardly be your friends and speak to you. And we three wouldn’t defend you if everything they blamed you for was true. Stop thinking about this bullshit!”       “Alright, prove it,” Daniel says coldly. “Prove that you’re telling me the truth. Tell me why I should believe you. But don’t tell me you’re my friends. It’s not an argument for me.”       “You’ll understand it when you get the lost and forgotten memories back…” Terrence replies quietly. “Now just believe us and do what we say.”       “Listen, go to the fuck, you all! I do it without you and find a way to recall everything. Nobody asked you to…”       Daniel does not speak his mind because someone comes to the table, at which he is sitting with Terrence, Edward, and Peter, and smirks loudly.       “Hey, clowns, I see you’re fighting off your fans,” the man says cheerfully, raising his head proudly raised. “There’s no end to them!”       Peter, Terrence, and Edward sharply move their eyes to the one to say it and see Blake smiling slyly.       “Oh, no!” Peter moans quietly, running his hands over his face.       “Here are our fucking stars,” Blake laughs evilly. “Sitting here aside and talking about how gorgeous they are.”       Blake moves his eyes down and opens his mouth slightly, seeing the broken CD of the single of “Against The System”.       “Oh, shit, look at this!” Blake exclaims, takes a couple of pieces of the torn single cover, and puts them together. “Your fans admire you so much that they break CDs with your songs. My gosh!”       “Go away, kid!” Peter demands rudely. “We don’t have time to deal with you.”       “Oh, look…” Blake pronounces funnily, looking at two pieces of paper closely. “It seems like Perkins got haters, who paint his face on the cover. And it looks so good!”       “So, guys, hold me tight,” Edward blunts, crossing his arms over his chest. “Otherwise, I shall hit him.”       “Ha!” Blake laughs loudly, as if he is mocking Edward. “MacClife, are you serious? You would have no courage!”       “Don’t make us enraged, kid. Or you will really regret messing up with us.”       “Said by the kid. The fucking worthless kid.”       “Listen, Connor, get out of here while you have a chance,” Terrence says rudely. “Don’t make us enraged. Or you will really ask for trouble.”       “And what would you do to me? Wave your hands and say dirty things! Huh! I don’t care! It doesn’t hurt me.”       “If we’d known you’d come here, we would’ve gone around this café! We came here to talk quietly, but we didn’t do it.”       “I came here by chance,” Blake replies with an innocent smile. “I wanted to eat a little… And when I entered here, I saw a great show… The girl threw the CD with your single on the floor and stepped on it before everyone’s eyes.”       “As we understand, you were standing aside and laughing loudly,” Peter smirks contemptuously.       “Oh, yeah!” Blake laughs quickly and shakes his head. “I had great fun watching that scene! I’m sorry that I didn’t take photos of your faces! You should’ve seen that.”       “Wow, you watched us so long that you forgot you wanted to eat,” Edward sneers ironically.       “Yeah, it’s right. That scene was more interesting. I can always eat, but I wouldn’t watch these scenes every day.”       “Do you want me to throw this food over your head before everyone’s eyes?” Peter asks coldly. “The lads and I would also have some fun and take photos of you. It can’t also be seen every day.”       “Don’t dare, blond-haired idiot. Or I will tell everyone Perkins got amnesia, and this is the reason why you disappeared.”       “Don’t dare to open your fucking mouth,” Terrence says rudely. “If you say a word, you will pay for it.”       “Oh, oh, oh, how scared I am!” Blake sneers quietly and moves his eyes to the gloomy Daniel, whom he did not see before. “Oh, Perkins, you’re here! People say you have amnesia! I heard you hit your head strongly!”       “Okay, guys, I think we’ve gotta get out,” Edward whispers, throwing a short look at Peter and Terrence.       “Hey, didn’t your brain leak? What if you became an idiot!”       “Who are you?” Daniel frowns slightly. “Do I know you?”       “Don’t you remember me?”       “No. Should I do?”       “Oh!” Blake claps his hands loudly and laughs with evil. “Perkins has betrayed himself! It’s okay, buddy, I will remind you if you forgot it. I’m Blake Connor. Your best friend.”       “You’re my friend?” Daniel rounds his eyes.       “Luckily, no,” Peter says coldly, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. “I wouldn’t like to have a friend like this annoying, ugly freak.”       “But you don’t have such a good friend, Rose,” Blake says thoughtfully and sneers ironically, crossing his arms over his chest and looking at Peter and Daniel by one. “Your pal brought you to the suicide attempt and made all your fans, who drooled over you, get hysterical.”       “Fuck, here we go again…” Peter moans tiredly.       “So, I got it all. And the people understood what such a fucking idiot like Daniel Perkins was.”       Edward, Terrence, and Peter throw a short look at each other, feeling that the meeting with Blake would not give them anything good.       “Connor, be nice, close your mouth, and get out,” Edward demands rudely.       “I don’t know if your managers really told you to be silent about Perkins having to do with Rose’s suicide attempt. But there is a reason to believe that the all-favorite blond wanted to die because of his pal.”       “It’s none of your fucking business!” Peter throws rudely.       “You know, I don’t think many people would pity Perkins if they knew that he does not fuck remember anything,” Blake says thoughtfully. “I mean, no one would! People on Twitter have been publishing tweets with the hashtag #DanielGetOutOfATS for a few days. They are all asking you to kick his ass and madly hate your bassist. And the Instagram account of the star of this story is blowing up with evil comments. He is insulted, humiliated, and showered with mud… Many people even wish him to die. And as your managers spread the news about Perkins getting hit by the car, people say he’d have rather been hit to death. They ain’t ready to forgive this man. Because he almost brought the one, who people go crazy about literally much more than Terrence MacClife himself, to another world.”       “Don’t fill your head with unnecessary information, man,” Terrence says coldly, crossing his arms over his chest. “We will solve it. Without your help.”       “That fan said the right words: it’s possible to count all your fans on your fingers. A bigger part of them goes crazy only because of Terrence MacClife. Two more suckers use his fame, and one of them uses their family ties. And Perkins can’t actually sing or play the guitar. We do know how many times he has been ashamed during the shows. Now everyone knows it thanks to the videos, in which they hear him singing.”       “Close your fucking mouth!” Edward throws rudely. “Don’t make us more enraged!”       “I’m just telling the truth.”       “We don’t need your fucking truth, bastard!” Peter replies coldly.       “Yes, yes, nobody likes the truth, I know,” Blake replies confidently, running his hand over his hair. “But you may not be worried, clowns. The people do know what you’re hiding from them so hard. So, stop playing a drama and tell everyone about Perkins. Nobody will be worried because of the two-faced fool, who almost brought his friend to another world. Said dirty things about him, threatened to kill him, and regularly put him to psychological violence.”       “Connor, shut up!” Terrence raises his voice.       “Yeah, Perkins…” Blake sneers with evil and looks at Daniel with contempt. “I knew there was something suspicious about you… You always tried to pretend to be cool and showed off to everyone… But you are actually nothing.”       “As if you did something good in your life,” Peter says under his nose.       “By the way, what did Rose do to make you hate him so much and bring him to self-murder? Maybe, you tell us? The people, who think you’re a motherfucker?” Blake falls into silence and claps himself on the forehead. “Ah, yeah, I forgot that you don’t fuck remember anything! But don’t worry. The others remember everything. Everything, Perkins. No matter what kind of angel you are, your rotten side will be revealed early or late.”       “So, am I guilty?” Daniel asks hesitantly.       “You better know it. As well as your pals, who know well what happened between you and Rose. But who don’t definitely wanna recognize everything.”       “Here’s another confirmation!” Daniel sharply throws a gloomy look at Terrence, Peter, and Edward. “You’re lying to me! This boy says I did that, but you say I didn’t do it!”       “Daniel, don’t listen to him!” Peter jabs. “This kid is lying!”       “Hey, Rose, why are you defending him?” Blake wonders, putting his hands on his hips. “He almost killed you! You got amnesia, too? You forgot you were showered with mud? Insulted and humiliated… And eventually brought to the suicide attempt! Or are you such a spineless dork that you’re ready to forgive him for all the insults, humiliations, and photos with terrible signatures about you?”       “It’s a lie, Connor! Daniel has nothing to do with what happened! And if you wanna know it, he’s never done what they talked about.”       “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, blond. Everything has a part of the truth. If someone talks about it, it means the one to forget everything does have to do with your wish to die.”       “I’m not going to tell you the reasons why I did that. The only thing I can say is that Perkins is guilty of nothing. The guys know it well, and we will stand by him until the very end.”       “Nobody will believe you. The people know everything about this man and the one, who had to do with Rose's suicide attempt.”       “What do you want from us, Connor?” Edward asks coldly. “What do you the fuck want us to do, so you get out and stop it all?”       “I need nothing from you, clones. I just want people to know the truth. The truth about what’s actually happening to you. So, you stop denying what’s clear and finally confess everything. And kick Perkins out of the band if you want to keep performing.”       “We’re honest with our fans and hide nothing,” Terrence says quietly.       “No, MacClife, you are lying by saving Perkins’ ass from shame. But I’m still wondering why. This bastard did frame you and those you work with, but you defend him. Good, little stars, good.”       “So, tell me what happened if you know the full story so well,” Daniel says quietly. “If these three deny everything.”       “What should I tell?” Blake rounds his eyes. “How you and Rose were fighting like cat and dog? How he was suffering from the humiliations of the sassy man, who threatened to kill him, beat him, and was definitely, terribly jealous that his fans loved Rose so much? Or should I tell you that you can’t sing and barely do it live? How you two pretend to have a good relationship in public and even try to have fun with each other and laugh? Or how you wanted to get away with it after hearing about Rose’s suicide attempt? You didn’t want everyone to blame you for bringing the blond to the self-murder!”       “Close your dirty mouth, kid!” Terrence demands rudely, clenching his hands into fists.       “And hoping to avoid shame, you started to pretend that you were deeply shocked by what Rose did.” Blake shakes his head with a quiet chuckle. “You and MacClife, Sr., went to the hospital where the blond was brought. And I know there wasn’t MacClife’s sucker with you… He didn’t rush to support his friends.”       “I wasn’t with them because I found it out after they had gone to the hospital,” Edward replies rudely.       “You will tell Perkins about it later. I don’t care about it, and the case is not about you now.”       “You say I went to the hospital where this guy was brought?” Daniel frowns slightly.       “Sort of,” Blake nods with his arms crossed over his chest. “And I must confess that you’re such a good pretender. You played such a true scare and anxiety! Bravo, dude, my hat is off to you! You’d be a great actor! Maybe, you could even outstand Terrence MacClife himself.”       “And I was at the hospital with him?” Daniel points at Terrence.       “Yup,” Blake sneers quietly. “You wanted to save your ass so badly! You were ready to pretend, so everyone didn’t know who brought Rose to that condition. You thought nobody would know your lie! But no! People know everything about celebrities! No matter how hard you denied any charges. No matter how hard your pals and your manager team defend you.”       “Damn, that’s the truth…”       “And, by the way, you didn’t change your attitude toward Rose after you tried to kill him. You didn’t calm down and continued to insult him behind his back! Everything started again, and the blonde had to take all of your tricks again.”       “Shut up, Connor!” Peter raises his voice a little, not hiding his anger. “Just close your mouth, little pizza-faced parasite!”       “Yeah, Perkins, one of the fans even made a screenshot of the photo with a sign that let people know you still hated Rose. But later, you realized that you made a mistake. That you must have made people believe that there was the bromance Petel, removed the photo, and re-uploaded it with a different signature.”       “Petel?”       “Your sweet couple is often called like this. And I’ve actually heard about many so-called pairings.”       “Pairings?”       “Yup, I also heard about Tedward, Perrence, Pedward, Terriel, Dandward… As for love couples, there are such pairings as Tequelle, Etalia, Heter, Annael… Fans just use your names and connect with them. I believe your four also has a name, but I can’t remember it.”       “I see…”       “But nobody knows at least Petel is not such a friendly pairing. And after what people found out about you, they’d believe that Petel does not exist.”       Peter, Edward, and Terrence hardly hold themselves down not to attack Blake before the people, and Daniel believes more and more that his friends lie to him. But now he does not think about his disappointment in the guys. He just wants to distance himself from them and reject their help because he is just ashamed of them for what has never happened.       “Listen, pizza face kid, don’t you think you speak very much and always meddle in people’s business?” Edward asks rudely. “Get off us! Stop making us enraged! We are sick of you! S-i-c-k!”       “What’s wrong?” Blake smiles innocently. “Perkins asked me to tell him the truth, and I did it.”       “It’s not the truth, it’s a lie! The real lie!”       “You can’t prove it.”       “Don’t meddle in our business and better go have fun with your girls! Fuck someone! Do anything and just leave us alone!”       “Are you, MacClife, jealous?” Blake smiles slyly. “Jealous that I’m single and can fuck any girl that I like. And you will be banned from that because you will no longer be a bachelor soon. As well as your brother.”       “Unlike you, I only slept with those I dated. And you fuck anyone! Anyone to tell you the simple, ‘I want you!’”       “Don’t be jealous, puppy, you wanted to be tied hand and foot yourself by marrying the girl, who wanted to marry someone so badly… Years are going, but she’s still unmarried. She got sick of feeling the pressure and answering the question about when she’ll have a wedding and give birth to a kid.”       “I mustn’t explain why I decided to marry.”       “Huh, go to the fuck with your explanations.”       “And I do warn you, Connor: if you say at least one bad word about her, you will have to regret it. You got it? I will not stand the insults of my fiancée. And I shall tear you apart if you touch her with a finger.”       “Calm down, MacClife,” Blake sneers quietly. “Of course, your blonde is a very sexy chick with a gorgeous body. But I don’t need her.”       “Wonderful!”       “But you’ll definitely be very nervous because someone might steal that cutie. Or she might find someone to be better than a fucking brainless puppy.”       “I think I’ve told you to stop insulting Edward,” Terrence recalls coldly.       “Oh, MacClife, I haven’t even started. If I started to tell you everything I think of this kid, you’d get wild. And if I wanted to beat his pretty face, you’d prove that you've got mental issues and showed yourself as a sick, hysterical girl.”       “Do not make me mad, Connor. I’ve been tolerating your tricks and holding the guys down for a long time. But I see you are really behaving disgustingly and crossing all the lines by insulting and humiliating my friends and my brother.”       “And what would you do to me? Hit me in the face? Or my balls?” Blake sneers contemptuously. “Ha! I’m not afraid of you, pathetic assholes! You are just pretending to be rough, but you are actually nothing. No reason to love and respect you.”       “I have many familiar people. I can ruin your life, so that you, pizza-faced bastard, are afraid to get closer to us. You are nothing, but I am a celebrity. Everyone knows and respects me.”       “Do what you want, clones, I’m not afraid of you. And if you are too arrogant, I will tell everyone you’re hiding the truth about Perkins’ amnesia. That you’re covering what he did to Rose and that he lost his memory. People have showered him with a lot of mud after they found out that he could’ve died if the car had hit him to death.”       “Hey, boy, did you know this story from the Internet?” Daniel asks quietly, frowning slightly.       “Yup, from it,” Blake smiles slightly. “But I also made my own investigation. And I found the girl, who saw you and MacClife on the day when Rose was brought to the hospital. That’s good there is such a cool thing like the Internet, thanks to which you can easily find anyone. So, I found her and had a very good chat on WhatsApp.”       “My gosh!” Peter rolls his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. “The world lost such an amazing detective! You could go to work in this sphere instead of being the band’s assistant. Ah, yeah… Sorry… I forgot that you didn’t have an education and couldn’t work anywhere.”       “There are many cases when people get success without any education. The most important things are your wish and your sense of purpose.”       “Well, you know what happened on that day,” Terrence exhales sharply. “And what? You calmed down? Or will you keep meddling in our business?”       “M-m-m, I’m gonna say more… I even got a couple of photos of you and your pal expressing a true anxiety for the one, whom he almost brought to another world.”       “Will you show me those photos?” Daniel asks. “Or tell me where I can find out everything about that story.”       “With pleasure. If you’re so interested in it. Moreover, I have them with me. So lucky…”       Blake puts his hand in the inside pocket of his denim jacket, takes some, photos, and gives them to Daniel, who starts to view every single one closely. They were taken by someone, who recognized the members of “Against The System” on the day when Peter was brought to the hospital, and Terrence and Daniel were accompanying him. They do not have very good quality, but it’s easy to see some doctors in white robes, the unconscious blond lying on the hospital gurney and looking white enough, the excited black-haired man, and one more with dark chocolate hair. Edward, Terrence, and Peter get nervous enough while they look at each other, being afraid that they might lose control of the situation.       Viewing the photos for some time closely, Daniel frowns slightly and understands that he knows the blond, who is Peter sitting in front of him, and a black-haired tall man is very similar to Terrence, who barely looks at the photos in his friend’s hands. Perkins has a feeling that everything seems familiar to him, and he was really near the gurney and went to the hospital along with the doctors. This feeling chases him for some time until Daniel realizes that he gets some memories. The memories about Terrence… The man thinks about how he was going somewhere with the black-haired man, who is a little taller than him, talking about something and being terribly excited. Moreover, he recalls some pieces of phrases, the meaning of which is that they needed to tell Peter’s friends what happened and something about Perkins’ fear of blood and a need to wash the bathroom.       When Daniel recalled Peter lying in blood, he did not remember Terrence but knew he was not alone. But now everything has changed. Now the man clearly sees the face of the man, who was with him. That was really Terrence. The one, who is sitting next to him now. That’s why he makes the conclusion that Peter did not lie to him. Daniel shakes his head, viewing the photos of himself or throwing a suspicious look at Terrence and Peter, who look at each other and Edward, who just shrugs. While Blake smiles slyly and watches Perkins, crossing his arms over his chest and keeping his head proudly raised.       “So what, did you remember how you brought your pal to the suicide attempt?” Blake asks with a sneer. “You got ashamed, I guess? Ashamed of thinking about what you did? Or no? Are you sure you did the right thing?”       Daniel does not rush to say that he begins to remember Terrence and Peter little by little and silently views the photos, breathing a little heavily and feeling a fast heartbeat somewhere in his head.       “Terrence…” Daniel frowns slightly. “I know him… He was with me on that day… When Peter was lying in the blood… I definitely know these two… That’s exactly. The blond didn’t lie… That was Terrence… It seems like something connects me with these two because I have memories about them.”       Daniel glances at Edward.       “And I can’t remember Edward… I can’t say if I know him… Though, this boy said he wasn’t with Terrence and me when we found Peter… And I don’t see him in the photos… Maybe, that’s the truth… But even if I know these two, it doesn’t mean I’m not guilty of what happened. They may insolently lie to me. I don’t believe any of their words when they deny everything. I don’t believe it…”       Daniel puts the photos on the table and runs his hands through his hair, saying nothing for a few seconds and thinking about what he managed to remember.       “Hey, Daniel, are you okay?” Edward frowns slightly.       “Have you recalled something?” Terrence asks.       Daniel does not answer immediately and shakes his head, deciding to say nothing because he mistrusts his friends, who lie to him, in his opinion, but for whom he is ashamed because of what he allegedly did.       “Nothing…” Daniel pronounces quietly, looking into the distance. “Nothing…”       “You recalled Terrence?” Peter asks. “If you did it, say what!”       “I recalled nobody… Those photos tell me nothing… Nothing…”       The eyes of the nervous Daniel run from one side to another, and his wish to go away is getting stronger every single second. And a few seconds later, he decides to go home, unsuccessfully trying to hide the excitement that Terrence, Peter, and Edward feel.       “Listen, I don’t feel good…” Daniel says hesitantly, rubbing his forehead with a hand. “My head suddenly hurts… I guess I need to have much more rest… Erm-h… I… I better go home… I’d feel better there…”       Daniel gets up from the table sharply and goes outside as fast as a bullet, breathing too heavily and looking around nervously. Blake, whom Perkins almost strikes down, scoffs contemptuously and shakes his head, as he watches him until the man leaves the café.       “So, Perkins, you feel guilty?” Blake asks loudly. “Got ashamed? And now you better think how bad Rose felt tolerating your humiliations and being put under your torture! Early or late, everything gets clear, no matter how hard you want to save your beloved ass. So, pay for your tricks now! You’re getting showered with mud, and everybody wishes you to die! Nobody will be worried about you if you wish to cut yourself or jump from a roof! People will be happy to get rid of such a bastard like you! So, you can do it! Nobody will feel sorry! Nobody!”       Edward, Peter, and Terrence throw a short look at each other, understanding that Blake’s tricks cross all the lines. They nod confidently, stand up slowly from the table, and pretend that they want to leave. But two seconds later, the blond turns around sharply, pushes the young boy to the table, and makes him sit down. And then the MacClife brothers turn around and look at the boy with hate, not caring about the people around.       “Now, little pizza-face motherfucker, say what you want from us,” Peter says rudely and grabs Blake by the collar tightly. “What did the fuck we do for you? Answer now!”       “That you’re living in the world,” Blake replies with an evil sneer.       “We’ve tolerated your tricks for too long, but now we’ve lost our patience. And you, scumbag, will have to pay for it. If you don’t want to be treated well, we will treat you badly.”       “Oh, oh, I got so scared! I literally peed my pants from fear.”       “And answer what Daniel did to you that you’re spreading these dirty rumors about him?” Edward asks coldly, crossing his arms over his chest. “Confess, bastard, do you have to do with that?”       “Me?” Blake opens his eyes widely, pointing at himself with a finger. “MacClife, did you go insane? What are you talking about?”       “Don’t pretend to be an idiot, Connor. You know what I’m talking about!”       “Nobody but you throws so much dirt on us,” Terrence replies rudely. “You always find a reason to injure and insult us! And now you definitely got a wonderful chance to deal with us.”       “Ha, you went crazy, clones!” Blake scoffs contemptuously. “You started all of that and dare to blame the others!”       “Do you want to say we started it all?” Edward wonders.       “Didn’t you? You got a chance to get off Perkins and used it, putting a start to the rumors about him bringing Rose to the wish to die! You made him ashamed! With the hope that he’ll love to leave the band.”       “I think you went insane, pizza face,” Terrence says coldly. “Were you thinking a lot before saying this bullshit?”       “We would never do that!” Peter says confidently. “We’d never blame someone for what they didn’t do!”       “But you obviously had a motive,” Blake smiles slyly. “Moreover, Perkins lost his memory at a very good time. You could think a little and organize the bullying against him. Revenge on him for all the insults and humiliations. And the MacClife brothers decided to help you and participated in this show, too.”       “Better close your mouth. And don’t dare to blame me for these things. For what doesn’t have to do with reality. Hear me, Connor, does not have.”       “That’s good to blame when you did all of that,” Edward says rudely. “When you decided to deal with our band and ruin Daniel’s life.”       “I don’t have to do with this story,” Blake replies coldly. “Yes, I hate you to death and want your band to be broken up to the fuck. But I didn’t start that bullying. The deserved one, to be honest.”       “How are you gonna prove it?” Peter asks, crossing his arms over his chest. “Someone can post anything on Twitter. And people may find it, read it, and begin talking about it. You could spread a rumor, so that everyone is dumbfounded and believe it easily.”       “And do you think I posted something somewhere?”       “We don’t doubt it. Moreover, you could easily make a screenshot of the photo and replace the real signature with any other, or ask someone to do it in Photoshop. You wrote something, pinned the screenshot, and pretended that Daniel removed the photo and re-uploaded it with a new signature. Which allegedly insulted me.”       “I just read the article on the Internet and learned more about it. Read the comments, found out what people posted on social networks, and talked to those, who remembered what kind of relationship you and Perkins had before your suicide attempt. And if I wanted to post something, I’d make up what would make everyone open their eyes widely.”       “Remember, Connor,” Terrence starts to threaten Blake with a finger, literally killing him with his icy look. “If we know we have to do with this shit and make Daniel suffer because of his own fans, you will have to pay a lot for that.”       “You, scumbag, will personally address our fans and deny everything,” Peter adds coldly. “And we will make you apologize to Daniel. And I will personally skin you alive. For such an open lie and slander. You will regret messing up with us, Connor. Very much.”       “I have nothing to regret!” Blake throws rudely. “And nothing to apologize for! And even if there was something, I wouldn’t incline my head for such fucking rejects like you three.”       “Watch your fucking mouth, pizza-face scumbag,” Edward says coldly. “Or you will lose your job. You will have to go to stores and ask if they have a job and work all day long to earn money for life.”       “Ha!” Blake gets up quickly. “As if I want to dance to your tune and make your caprices come true. I don’t also have a wish to work with the idiots, who pronounce themselves kings. Think that their army, which has only little girls, would go to fire and water for them. But now you see that’s not the truth. Everybody believed Perkins almost brought Rose to another world and wishes him to die now.”       “You could say you didn’t want to work with us earlier,” Peter replies confidently. “We would’ve waved a hand at you and found a new assistant, who would respect us.”       “Respect? Why should I respect you? Pathetic people! Fucking lords! I wish your career wasn’t successful! Not long! Your stars will be gone soon, and the whole world will not hear about your allegedly great achievements.”       “Why did you the fuck get on our nerves?” Edward asks rudely and irritably. “You wanted to annoy us and make us hate you? You’ve always been worthless! You’re a disgusting helper! You could just suck our energy out and do everything for us to have no strength to perform well. We always went on shootings in a terrible mood after meeting you. I’m actually surprised that we’ve tolerated you for two months! Two, the fuck!”       “You know, you also annoyed me so much that I’d piss you off. Even if it deprived me of a lot of money. I don’t care! I just wanna be far from such freaks like you! I hate you! Hate!”       “Why? Why do you behave so disgustingly? We’ve done nothing bad to you! Just because of the mistakes that we made in the past? Because of my mistakes? Because of Terrence’s mistakes? Daniel’s mistakes? Peter’s mistakes?”       “But there’s a part of the truth about everything,” Blake throws his hands up with an innocent smile. “The whole studio and agency know that Rose and Perkins quarreled almost every day. And they fought and almost destroyed everything one day. So, I’m absolutely sure that our tough guy really pushed the blond to that. He annoyed him so much that he crossed the line.”       “Maybe, we fought, but Daniel is not guilty of my wish to do that,” Peter replies confidently. “I tried to do it not because of him, and he knows it. The men know it. The girls know it. Those, who should’ve known all the truth, know everything about that case.”       “I’m gonna be laughing when he remembers everything and starts to excuse himself to the band’s fans,” Blake laughs evilly, putting his hands on his hips. “He can make himself shed a tear to make the people angry and think he is acting for the public. For a wish to whitewash himself.”       “Better stop spreading these false rumors and making Daniel believe in what has never happened. We aren’t going to lose our friend because he believed everything they wrote about him. And we will be defending him, despite nothing.”       “I did not spread those rumors! People! Ow! Clean your ears!”       “I give a fuck!” Terrence throws coldly. “If you don’t want us to take measures, leave Daniel and us alone. Since you work for us, do what you should, and don’t bark.”       “Listen, clones, why are you so nervous?” Blake laughs contemptuously. “Haven’t you had sex for ages? Or aren’t your cuties as hot and incredible as before? Don’t you feel strong anymore?”       “Better deal with your harem. And fuck those cuties, who you change more often than clothes.”       “Yeah? And how many beauties had you had before you decided to get married? Huh, MacClife? How many girls have spread their legs for you? And how many of them have run away, being scared of the mentally ill man? I guess only your fiancée did that at her wish! She’s either too blinded by love, or she’s the same sick lover of ill men. I prefer to think that the second version is right.”       “Close your mouth, dick!” Terrence hisses through his teeth, clenching his hands into fists. “Don’t dare to insult my fiancée! Or you will regret it!”       “I’m not going to hurt your sexual cutie, on whom a million men still have a crush. Not surprised that she got famous so quickly. As well as you did. It makes me think about something, you know… Think that you had to sleep with a whore to get famous at least for teenage girls. I’ve always thought you could get into the show business only through your bed, money, and contacts. And you and your gang confirm it.”       “Watch your tongue, Connor, otherwise, I shall cut it.”       “Come on, MacClife, everyone knows it. It’s time to confess that your merits are what you can do in a bed, your money, and your contacts. Well, as you’ve always said you lived in poverty along with your mommy, you had only one way – to lie in a bed of a certain person.”       “Shut up, dick, shut up!”       “You couldn’t get a way into the show business so easily. You needed to be under someone’s protection, just like your brother and this blond are, get some contacts, or seduce and fuck someone. I’m sure that you found a way to fame after sleeping with a famous actress… A daughter of a producer, a manager, or a director… Or a relative of a businessman, who could pay anyone, so you go to a casting.”       “Listen, little bastard…” Terrence grabs Blake tightly by the collar and looks at him with hate, breathing heavily enough. “How do you dare to blame me for something like this? You, asshole, understand nothing! Nothing!”       “Oh, what should I understand?” Blake laughs evilly. “It’s not a secret that many people get famous thanks to money and contacts. Only fewer people get famous thanks to their talent. Fewer.”       “Do you the fuck know how much I worked to get what I got?” Terrence rudely pushes Blake off himself and starts to gesticulate actively. “Twenty-four fucking hours per day and seven days per week! To earn money for myself and my mother! I didn’t sleep and didn’t eat! I fell from tiredness after sixteen hours of work! I used any chance to sleep and eat a little! And should I tell you how many times I’ve been on edge? How many times I wanted to leave everything and forget about my acting career? How it was hard for me, the young boy, at first! I was not always surrounded by good people, who helped me keep moving on! Sometimes I met those, who were ready to eat me! I MAGICALLY didn’t go crazy and didn’t get a nervous breakdown! Just because I had a goal! For that, I gave a fuck about everything and worked like crazy, not feeling sorry for myself and thinking about what I could get after taking it all.”       “Oh, how it’s touching!” Blake puts a hand on his heart. “What a touching speech! I’m gonna cry now! So, you are not so talentless if you can make people cry and worry about you. Bravo, Terrence, I’m bending for you.”       “That’s good to work your tongue when you got a job through the bed?” Terrence puts his hands on his hips. “Huh, Connor? Did a young singer not bring you to George and say you needed a job? Didn’t you sleep with her and ask her to help you?”       “That singer is under George’s protection,” Peter notices confidently. “And he agreed to help. Connor hoped he’d work with that girl, but he got a job as our assistant. And he had no choice because he thought he wouldn’t get a second chance to get a job with a good salary. Moreover, this pizza face shouldn’t have done anything hard. Just provided us with everything we wanted.”       “Yeah, Connor…” Edward pronounces in a low voice, shaking his head. “It’s bad to blame people for what they didn’t do to save your ass and not to reveal the fact that you got a job thanks to that girl. Who you, by the way, left some time later after George gave you a job. You did what you wanted and forgot about that singer. Though, that girl definitely felt sympathy for you.”       “But you didn’t have to cheat on your fiancée with a singer because your brother did everything for nothing,” Blake replies confidently. “So, you sucked at him and are using your family ties with the celebrity. Well, if you are happy you will always be the younger brother of Terrence MacClife, it’s okay. But if you wanted to start a solo career as a singer or songwriter, you’d be associated with your brother anyway. This mark will chase you forever. And early or late, you will get sick of being constantly compared with him. And as you’re very similar, everyone will see you only as the shadow of Terrence.”       “It will never be a mark on me,” Edward raises his head proudly. “I’m proud to have such an amazing older brother, to whom I will be grateful all my life for everything he’s done for me.”       “You sing praises to MacClife because you know you owe him. Because if not for this man, you would be sitting at home, next to your mommy. She would wipe your mouth and saliva, put on your bib, and spoon-feed you with hot cereal. But your brother gave you a chance to become a man and start to earn money.”       “If you feel better, talking about it, you can keep going.”       “I know you used to be an idler, who lived on someone’s account and aimed nothing. You were pleased with rare one-side jobs, for which you got small money. So, as your relatives did so much for you, you had to brace yourself and start to work. So, your brother doesn’t regret spending his time on you.”       “Why do you say it? Did you get better?”       “The idler, who almost went to prison. You would’ve been in prison along with your uncle if your brother hadn’t done something for the judge to pronounce you non-guilty.” Blake sneers quietly. “Yeah… The former defendant became a beloved guy of little girls… What an irony… And the funniest thing is that you almost killed your brother, as it was said during the trial. Michael said a lot about how it happened and mentioned that he was saved by your fiancée, who decided to sacrifice herself with the thought that it would save him.”       “Fuck, you did meddle in that case…” Edward moans tiredly, rolling his eyes.       “But you would’ve hardly killed the one that provided your good life. And you wouldn’t have done that because you’re too cowardly. Milksop. Weak boy, who hides behind his mommy’s skirt. But you’ll never confess it. As well as your brother will never admit that he has mental issues and a too high self-rating and the fact that he got famous thanks to bed.”       “Close your mouth, little punk,” Peter says rudely.       “So, unpleasant to hear it? Yeah, it is, I know. But that’s the truth.”       “What a nasty man you are, Connor,” Terrence adds coldly. “Nasty, rude, and non-educated. Do you think there would be a girl, who would love the one with such a terrible character and forgive you for cheating? You would be good only for one time in bed! You could do anything more!”       “Girls want to be the only ones for their boyfriends, not fifth lovers,” Peter notices confidently. “Ask anyone. And everyone would tell you they ain’t ready to tolerate another woman next to their man.”       “Oh, how right you all are!” Blake rolls his eyes. “You probably also dated a few girls at the same time and jumped from one bed to another. But now you pretend to be one-woman men, who go crazy over only one girl. However, MacClife, Sr., cheated on his fiancée somehow. People saw him hugging and kissing another lady before everyone and was shy of nothing.”       “You went wild…” Peter exhales sharply, putting his hands on his hips. “Calm down, Connor, go to drink water and wash your face.”       “I hope your stupid girls will realize that they chose the wrong people and will leave all of you to the fuck someday. And I want your band to be broken the fuck up! So, you make sure you four have no talent. The celebrity, who had sex for fame, and the two suckers, one of who is a mammy’s boy that was in prison, while another betrayed the band by wishing to die. And the idiot, who sings with the autotune and almost brought someone to another world.”       Edward gives a damn about the fact that fewer people are watching what’s happening and slaps Black in the face strongly. While Peter and Terrence give a start but do not rush to meddle, Connor sharply grabs his burning cheek and turns to another side. MacClife, Jr., looks at the young boy with a heavy breath for three or four seconds, and starts threatening him with a finger, tensing all the muscles of his body.       “Just close your fucking mouth, pathetic piece of shit!” Edward says in a threatening voice, raising his voice more and more. “Shut up! You annoyed us with your tricks! Do you want to make us wild? Come on, do it! But you will have to regret it!”       Edward says nothing for two seconds, waiting for the reaction of Blake, who energetically rubs the cheek that got the slap.       “How do you actually dare to say these things?” Edward resents loudly and irritably. “First, you were insulting me, Peter, and Daniel, but now you began to throw dirt on Terrence! How do you, little pizza-faced asshole, dare to say that his fame is not the result of long-time hard work? He has been working much harder than you! Since fourteen! You did nothing good when you were fourteen! I’m sure you will keep doing nothing if you weren’t pinned up against the wall because of a lack of money. And if you want to know it, I worked. But you hardly did it! By nineteen, you only learned to fuck girls and insult people. And I’m not sure if you are so good in bed. Maybe, you are a log! Maybe, girls run away from you because you don’t know what to do, but you pretend to be a sex expert.”       Blake comes to himself after Edward’s slap more or less and gets much anger, getting literally green, starting to breathe heavily, and clenching his hands into fists.       “You…” Blake hisses through his teeth. “You… Shabby puppy! You… Asshole!”       Two seconds later, Blake raises his hand and wants to slap Edward, but the man avoids the hit successfully and grabs the boy’s hand tightly.       “Quiet, quiet, boy, quiet,” Edward says with his head proudly raised. “Don’t move, I said! If you dare to slap me, you’ll regret it.”       “Let me go!” Blake demands rudely, trying to get his hand out of Edward’s grip sharply. “Let me go, I said! Let me the fuck go! Ar-r-r-r! I curse you, bastard!”       “You should’ve been slapped a long time ago,” Edward says coldly. “And I decided not to delay it. I got sick of the fact that my friends, my brother, and I were insulted by such a nasty cad like you. And I shall turn you to dust if you keep behaving like this. I swear, Connor, you will regret it.”       “Stop being sassy when you are not, sucker!” Blake replies coldly, sharply getting his hand out of Edward’s grip. “I see you forgot you had also been a pauper before your brother gave you a chance to earn money and stop needing something. And when you got his protection, you believed you could do anything and went wild.”       “You will definitely be overwhelmed when you see a thick wag of dollars.”       “And actually, it’s weird that people didn’t know anything about you when MacClife was just getting famous. You showed up when he already made his life perfect. So, I make the conclusion that you need only his fame and money. You would’ve hardly come into his life and lived quietly like you never had a brother. Your beloved mommy could not help you get famous because she was nobody and could only wipe your snots, feed you with a spoon, and change your diapers. However, she’s gonna challenge your future wife, who’s gonna take care of the child, who she fell in love with.”       “Are you jealous that your girls don’t care about you as much as my future wife? She gives me what I didn’t get from any of my exes!”       “That cutie is going to marry you just not to stay single. She does understand that her time will be gone in a few years, and nobody will look at her. No matter how hard your blonde uses crèmes, does makeup, takes care of her, and dresses up, she will lose her beauty and youth someday.”       “She loves me, and I don’t doubt it!” Edward says confidently. “And I love her not only for her beauty, but also for what she’s doing for me. But you will not understand it because you’ve never truly loved. You’re a kid yet and will understand it all much later. But if you don’t change yourself for the best, you’ll never find a girl. A permanent one, not a girl for a sex night.”       “Listen, MacClife, shut up and stop saying bullshit,” Blake says coldly, rolling his eyes up. “You better say how many sluts had been in your bed before you decided to marry. Maybe, you and your brother have slept with so many girls that you can’t remember half of them! Or were you unnoticeable for beauties? Was your blonde one of the fewer folks to notice you?”       “What’s your fucking matter?” Terrence meddles rudely. “Whether we slept with girls or not, you shouldn’t care! Stop being jealous of us because we got success, and you did not. And trying to hurt us and always finding reasons to blame us for something.”       “I’m just telling you the truth.”       “Go to the fuck with your truth!” Peter throws rudely. “Don’t take it out on us because of failures in your life. And nobody makes you work with us. You could easily decline it. But no… You agreed. And you started to behave like one of our haters. As it was said before, you were worthless and did your work disgustingly.”       “Oh, oh, oh,” Blake rolls his eyes up. “As if I dreamed of serving the ex-favorite boy of little girls and his loyal entourage: the talentless bassist, who cannot sing and play and just pretends to be sassy, the drummer, who girls love only for his dyed hair and lots of muscles, and the little puppy, who decided to get his piece of fame easily by using his family ties.”       “We wouldn’t have given you a job if we had had one or two candidates,” Terrence replies confidently. “Do you think we wanted to work with such an insolent and rude kid that behaved like we always did something bad to him? No, pizza-face shorty, you’re wrong!”       “Did you think everyone must’ve worshiped you? Everyone must’ve worshiped Terrence MacClife and those, who surrounded him? Huh!” Blake sneers contemptuously. “Who are the fuck you? You are nobody! Just pathetic people, who just got madly lucky. You four are absolutely talentless! And your fate is only the love of teen girls. Your band will never reach anything good and steal the hearts of adult women, men, and boys. Though, I doubt you could actually reach something. The only listeners of yours are your girls. And your mommies and daddies. Who not all of you have.”       “Alright, guys, do what you want, but I’m getting out,” Edward groans irritably. “I can no longer stay in the same room with this bastard.”       “Okay, go to cry a little, milksop,” Blake laughs evilly, crossing his arms over his chest. “Do you want me to call your mommy, so she pities you? She’d come shortly to calm her beloved sonny down and wipe his snots! By the way, I’m sorry that your birthday is gone! I would spend money to buy a pacifier, a bottle of milk, and a pack of diapers. Everything little babies need.”       “Do not make me wild, brainless stick,” Edward hisses through his teeth, standing with his back turned to Blake and clenching his hands into fists. “Otherwise, I will hit you.”       “Do you want to be taken to a mental hospital? Huh, baby? Look, Mommy and daddy wouldn’t be there! And your bro’s money wouldn’t get you out of there! And doctors in white robes wouldn’t wipe your mouth! They’d put on a straitjacket and inject sedatives into your ass, so you don’t scream and wave your hands. So, you don’t pee your pants out of fear that your mommy isn’t near you.” Blake shakes his head with a sly smile on his face. “By the way, I’m surprised that you didn’t die from fear when you were in prison. How painfully you were telling the judge that you were a poor boy, who was beaten to half-death and humiliated. So that you wanted to kill yourself. You could not take everything they did to you. Alas, but the prison didn’t make you a strong man. You still remain a cowardly, weak boy that is not far from his sick older brother.”       At fir, Edward wants to leave silently, literally burning from anger. But at the last moment, the man turns around sharply and smashes his fist against Blake’s jaw strongly, making him shake and grab his face. And then MacClife, Jr., takes the tray with some food and throws it over the head of the young boy, who, however, does not care that his hair gets dirty and holding his jaw. Edward watches Blake wincing with pain with contempt in his icy look for two seconds, turns around sharply, and leaves the café as fast as a bullet, not feeling sorry for what he did. Connor starts to watch Terrence’s younger brother with anger in his eyes, breathing heavily enough and getting a much stronger hatred for him.       “BASTARD!” Blake screams at the top of his lungs and fixes his hair sharply. “I WISH YOUR WEDDING WAS CANCELLED! OR THE FIANCÉE LEFT YOU IN FRONT OF THE ALTAR! OR YOU BETTER DIE! YOU’D PEOPLE DO A GREAT FAVOR! YOU WOULDN’T HURT THEIR EYES WITH YOUR LOOK! I HATE YOU, CRETIN, HATE!”       With these words, Blake tries to catch Edward, who has already left the café, slamming the door and going outside in a sharp, quick step. But at the last moment, Terrence stops him, pushing the boy aside sharply.       “Stop it!” Terrence exclaims loudly, grabs Blake by the collar tightly, and shakes him slightly. “Calm down, shorty! Calm down!”       “Why did he get the fuck frisky?” Blake screams irritably. “That bastard slapped me in the face!”       “He did the right thing!” Peter replies coldly, tightly clenching his hands into fists. “You were asking for it for a long time.”       “Let me go, I will go to beat the face of that bastard now! Beat him, so that he dies without waking up!”       “Don’t dare, asshole!” Terrence exclaims loudly, tightly holding Blake. “If you touch my brother with a finger, I will skin you alive!”       “Stop protecting this worthless puppy! He must die! As well as Perkins! As you two!”       “Don’t dare to say these things!” Terrence gives Blake a strong slap in the face. “I will not be silent when someone dares to say it about my friends and brother. If you don’t want to regret it, leave Edward, Daniel, and Peter alone.”       “Wrong,” Blake sneers evilly, holding his face with a hand. “It’s time to let you know who you are and strike the crowns off your heads. So, you remember you will never be better than others.”       “I am sorry that we are much luckier than you,” Peter replies coldly, crossing his arms over his chest. “That you didn’t get your piece of fame and love of young girls. And that you have no cent.”       “We will see how many cents you will have when your career is ruined to the fuck.”       “Okay, Pete, it’s time to get out,” Terrence says confidently, clapping Peter on the shoulder. “I don’t want to waste time on this stinker anymore. And the people are gonna call the police if we don’t stop this show.”       “You’re right,” Peter nods. “Get out before we decide to hit this bastard.”       “Sorry,” Blake sneers evilly. “You could give the media another reason to talk about you. The people would be wishing Perkins to die and talking about the affray that you’d start before everybody.”       “Don’t dream!” Terrence throws sharply and points at Blake. “Alright, we are done with this! You are fired! You no longer work with us! We’re starting to look for decent people, who would respect us and could be our assistants.”       “Goodbye, Connor!” Peter throws coldly. “I hope this is our last meeting.”       Peter and Terrence turn around and want to leave the café. But when they take a few steps, they sharply give a start after Blake pushes them in the back strongly. Then MacClife, Sr., gives him a stronger slap in the face, and Rose hits his leg against his groin. That’s why the boy immediately doubles over and whines as if he ate a lemon. After looking at him with contempt and hate, the friends share a look and leave the café, feeling a little relief after hitting the boy, who screams something loudly, as he suffers from a strong pain in the groin and understands that his face is literally burning.       A few moments later, Terrence and Peter go outside, step far away from the café, exhale sharply, and run their hands over their faces.       “Oh, fuck!” Peter moans quietly. “That little stinker provoked us, after all… And everybody was watching us.”       “I think someone recognized us, took photos, and will publish them on the Internet, provoking one more scandal,” Terrence assumes tiredly, running his hands through his hair.       “And it might happen that they would write some lies about us, too. Come up with, for example, the story of our mental issues and let everyone talk about it for a long time.”       “I agree. That’s possible.”       “Damn, what happened struck me down. At first, that girl, who pretended to be our fan, and then the pizza-face shorty.”       “Now we’ve gotta think about it seriously and look for a new assistant.”       “Agree,” Peter nods. “Look for the one, who will at least respect us.”       “Anyway, Connor is fired, and the job of our assistant is free. Anyone has a chance to get a job.”       “Right. We should’ve gotten him fired a long time ago. Instead of listening to Smith and trying to get on well with him.”       “Moreover, we’ve got a reason to believe he spread the rumors about Daniel.”       “Oh…” Peter exhales sharply and puts his hand on his forehead. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do to him if we know he really did his best for the people to start to insult Daniel like that. I will not forgive him for that trick.”       “Me, too…” Terrence pronounces thoughtfully and glances aside. “I know this story and saw that Daniel was true. He really wanted to help and was worried.”       “And I know he doesn’t have to do with my suicide attempt. And he has never behaved as terribly as everyone says. Of course, Daniel is a little rude and insolent, but he’d never do such horrible things.”       “Yeah, but you see that the situation is getting harder, even if there are a couple of people, who don’t believe in this story.”       “And the worst thing is that Perkins doesn’t believe us. He thinks he’s guilty of what happened.”       “Here’s what we were afraid of. That guy found out everything and is sure we’re lying to him. And I’m afraid it will be impossible to change his mind now. Only when Dan gets his memory back, we will have a deal with our friend.”       “Listen, MacClife, don’t ya think someone could wash his brains?” Peter frowns slightly. “Dan used to believe us somehow, but now he looks at us like we’re strangers to him.”       “Do you think someone told him we were lying?”       “Maybe. And I have a feeling that he doesn’t say something.”       “He didn’t say it when Connor gave him the photos.”       “Yeah, he was silent about something. Didn’t you notice Daniel looking at you and me when viewing them? And he was watching you more closely!”       “I have an assumption that he recalled something. And it might be something related to me.”       “Or me. For example, the way to the hospital. Or maybe, he finally recalled the face of the one, who was with him on the day you went to my home.”       “Right! He didn’t remember who he was with when we found you in the bathroom. What if he really recalled something?”       “Maybe,” Peter shrugs. “He wouldn’t have looked at you so suspiciously.”       “If it’s so, so, everything is not so worthless.”       “I’d like him to recall everything before he believes the lie that the media wrote about. What if Dan wants to break up any relationships with us and forget about our friendship! And actually leave the band! If it happens, we will hardly get him back. At least until he remembers everything.”       “I believe it’s possible. Anyway, everything will be fixed when Perkins gets his memories back.”       “Damn, we’ve gotta do something! We can’t wait for much longer!”       “We should focus on the order.”       “What?” Peter frowns slightly.       “The order, the order of the meeting,” Terrence says thoughtfully. “I believe he’ll remember us in the order, in which he met us. If it was you first, and then it was me, it means the next one is Edward… No, wait… He met Anna before meeting Edward… Yes, right…”       “But, Terrence, how can he remember something about Edward if there is nothing that has to do with him and your brother? I don’t think Perkins could remember the story of Michael MacClife. Or the story of Eugene Wainwright. Or the fact that Edward was almost sentenced.”       “I don’t know… But I think the next one is Edward or Anna. I mean… He’s supposed to remember just something about them. No matter what! The important thing is that he realizes he knows them.”       “In this case, we better focus on recalling us, the men. It’s gonna be a little hard with the girls ‘cause there is nothing related to him and one of them. Perkins could remember something about Anna, but since she doesn’t speak to him, we have to exclude her.”       “I think you’re right…” Terrence nods. “We better think about how to help him remember us three.”       “Oh, damn…” Peter runs his hands over his face with a quiet moan. “The situation is getting harder…”       “At least, Daniel remembers just something. It’s a good sign. It means not everything is lost, and we can… Get him back to the band.”       “Do you think he wanna leave the band because of shame?”       “Don’t forget that Daniel doesn’t believe us and thinks we’re lying to him. He would’ve fought with us to the fuck if not for Connor. But it might happen later. Someday, Perkins might go to our home and start to blame us for the lie. And we could do nothing.”       “And it hurts… We’re telling him the truth, but he doesn’t believe us… He believes a lie. The lie that is the reason why the innocent man is suffering. Because of which everyone wants him to die…”       “Anyway, we’ve gotta defend him. And do our best for them to make sure that they were deceived and make them apologize to Dan.”       “Yeah… We’ve gotta defend Perkins from attacks and try to let him know we’re telling him the truth.”       “Honestly, I’m losing my mind…”       “And Wainwright’s escape… We’ve gotta make sure that the girls don’t run into him.”       Silence settles in the air for some time, during which Peter and Terrence look around and think about something.       “Hey, where’s Edward?” Terrence frowns slightly. “I don’t see him anywhere. Where did he go?”       “There he is!” Peter exclaims, pointing at the side with a hand. “Standing with his back to us near that streetlamp.”       Terrence looks to the side where Peter looks and really sees Edward leaning on the streetlamp with his back, keeping his arms crossed over his chest, and thinking about something, while the wind is blowing his disheveled hair, strands of which might get into his eyes or fall on his forehead. The friends confidently go to MacClife, Jr., who looks a little gloomy and thoughtful. And when they come to him, Edward moves his eyes to them, and Terrence puts a hand on his shoulder, asking quietly:       “Hey, Edward, are you okay?”       “Yup, I’m okay,” Edward nods. “I just couldn’t tolerate that bastard. Or I would’ve hit him strongly.”       “We got out, as well,” Peter confesses quietly. “We were afraid that this rat would make us so angry that we wouldn’t shy of attacking him with fists.”       “I think someone would’ve called the police if everything had lasted for much longer. So many people were watching us, and Connor was happy with that. He kinda wanted to provoke us and force us to start a fight.”       “It was embarrassing…” Terrence says thoughtfully. “Our talk was heard by literally everybody at the café.”       “I know…”       “But at least, we let off steam and kicked the ass of that bastard.”       “Did you hit him, too?” Edward rounds his eyes, looking at Peter and Terrence surprisingly.       “At the last moment,” Peter pronounces quietly, putting his hands on his hips. “Connor pushed us in the back when we decided to leave, and it got us wild. Terrence slapped him in the face two times, and I dared to hit him on his balls.”       “Really?” Edward chuckles quietly.       “Aha.” Peter chuckles quietly. “And you know, I ain’t ashamed. I would’ve hit him again, but I decided not to start a fight. Someone could’ve really called the police, and we would’ve been taken to a station.”       “C’mon, guys, it’s okay!” Terrence exclaims cheerfully. “That little pizza-face kid was asking for it for too long. Moreover, we told Connor that he got fired, and we started to look for someone to replace him. So, the boy can look for another job.”       “I ain’t ashamed, either,” Edward replies with a slight smile. “You know what kind of relief I felt when I hit that shorty! Amazing feeling!”       “Hey, you hit this kid very well!” Terrence claps Edward on the shoulder with a sly smile. “Nice hit, bro! You saw his squeezed face and wild eyes?”       “Aha, but the best moment was when you threw the plate over his head,” Peter adds cheerfully. “You must’ve seen his red face!”       “I like it, too,” Edward laughs shyly and puts his hands on his hips. “But I should’ve gotten out quickly, ‘cause Connor could’ve given me tons of bruises. He screamed so loudly when I left!”       “C’mon, Edward!” Peter waves a hand. “You saw Connor? Short, slim as a sausage, and with a pizza face! The arms are thin, and there are no muscles! He must go to a gymnasium to work out. Maybe, there would be first results two or three months later.”       “Huh, with his thin arms, he couldn’t even take the easiest weights!” Terrence chuckles kindly. “Remember how hilariously Connor looked when he tried to take a girl in his arms. Even if she was light and very thin. But that kid’s legs started shaking, and he almost let her fall on the floor.”       “Exactly! That kid does pretend to be sassy and shows off for his girls. Though, I’m still wondering what they find about him. The fact that he’s young? Or they don’t care about it? Do they just want a boy for one night?”       “Maybe, they don’t really count on a serious relationship with him. One night of pleasure – say goodbye! And he’s happy with it: he seduces a girl, takes her to his bed, gets pleasure from perfect sex, and rejects her. He can find another silly girl.”       “I believe it happens,” Edward says quietly. “Girls are happy, and Connor makes his wishes come true.”       Silence settles in the air for some time, after which Peter exhales sharply and runs his hands over his hair.       “Okay, guys, let’s forget about Connor,” Peter suggests quietly. “We have so many problems, but we waste time on this little, slim boy. Let’s think that we got off him, letting him know he’s fired.”       “If only we knew how to solve them…” Edward replies, fingering over. “I don’t personally know what to do. As I understand, Daniel doesn’t believe us and might easily break up a friendship with us. He almost fought with us before Connor’s appearance.”       “We talked about it,” Terrence nods. “And we decided that you’d be the next one, whom Daniel might remember?”       “Me?”       “I mean not you, but something about you.”       “Yes, first, Perkins recalled me lying in the bathroom,” Peter recalls. “We’re absolutely sure that he recalled something about Terrence, viewing Connor’s photos. And it means Dan will remember something about you. I mean, Daniel calls the memories of us in the order, in which he met us. He remembered me first because the memories related to me are strong, and I’ve known him for much longer.”       “But how could Daniel remember me if there are no strong memories that have to do with him and me?” Edward throws his hands up.       “Who knows… But trust me, you’re next. Daniel might remember something about you. No matter what! Even the story of Wainwright. He does know it well because we’ve talked about it many times and were on the hearing of his case.”       “Yeah, but what about Anna? As far as I remember, Daniel met her before meeting Terrence!”       “Okay, let’s think it’s an exclusion,” Terrence says quietly. “But I think he might understand that Anna attracts him somehow… And something inside might tell him that this girl is very important to him. Maybe, his mind doesn’t remember her, but his heart does. The girls said it. And remember that Perkins asked us about what we felt for the girls. It means he’s trying to understand if he loves that girl.”       “But agree that he was supposed to remember Anna first,” Peter notices. “She’s very important to him and spent much more time with him than any of us ‘cause they lived together.”       “Yeah, but she has disappeared and doesn’t speak to him,” Edward replies. “Daniel speaks to us, listens to what we say, and memorizes us and our words. But how could he remember Anna if he remembers only her red hair?”       “I think you’re right,” Terrence nods. “So, we can’t count on Anna. There’s only one way – to do our best for Daniel to remember us. As soon as possible. Or he really might fight with us and reject our help. We wouldn’t be able to help him in this case.”       “I know, but what do we do? We showed him all the important places and told him everything about us! But we hear just one thing: I can’t remember, but I feel it’s familiar to me.”       “Memory is a pretty hard and unpredictable thing that nobody has examined fully yet.”       “I didn’t think I’d have to have a business with the one to suffer from amnesia,” Peter exhales sharply. “And I didn’t think it would be so hard…”       “Let’s just be happy that Daniel is actually getting some memories back. It would be worse if nothing helped us. He has remembered you in blood in the bathroom and something about me and the way to the hospital.”       “He’d better remember the whole conflict between you and Pete,” Edward says thoughtfully. “Realize that everything he’s charged for is a lie. And stop believing those, who don’t know this story and believe what some idiots say.”       “Anyway, there’s hope yet. But we have a very limited time.”       Edward and Peter nod in approval, thinking about what’s happening along with Terrence and being afraid that they might lose control and bring everything to the moment when Daniel will wish to stop speaking to them, blame them for the lie, and stop believing that they are real friends of him, who truly want to help him get his lost and forgotten memories back as soon as possible.       

***

      Meanwhile, Helene and Natalia went to visit Raquelle, who looks tired and sad and still cannot forget the nightmare with Terrence and Simon. At the moment, the girls are sitting on the sofa in the living room, talking, and drinking something sometimes. While Cameron wearing her home pajamas puts her legs placed on the couch and her head on the back of the sofa, her sad friends are sitting next to her and looking sad enough.       “Hey, Raquelle, you look kinda tired,” Natalia notices with sadness in her eyes. “As if you didn’t sleep the last night.”       “Well, I can say so…” Raquelle replies thoughtfully and quietly, scratching the back of her head.       “You have problems?”       “I just have a very bad presentiment. The presentment that tells me something terrible is gonna happen soon. I can’t get rid of this thought.”       “And what sort of?”       “I dunno, Natalia… But I’m sure about it.”       “What are you talking about, Raquelle?” Helene wonders. “Why do you think something’s gonna happen soon?”       “The nightmare that I saw last night made me think about it,” Raquelle replies with sadness in her eyes, looking at her hands.       “Nightmare? Was that so terrible?”       “Yup…” Raquelle gets straight slowly and sighs heavily. “I saw Terrence… I saw him dying in my arms before my eyes… At my arms.”       “What?” Natalia and Helene round their eyes sharply and shake their heads, looking at Raquelle with shocked eyes.       “Terrence dying?” Helene gets horrified.       “Yes, girls,” Raquelle sniffs quietly, while tears are slowly coming to her tears. “I saw his death… And that was horrible… He was choking with blood… His body was covered with it… Terrence died almost immediately after saying a few words. He left me alone… Despite begging him to come back to me.”       “Friend…” Natalia pronounces with sadness in her eyes, sits closer to Raquelle, and hugs her around the shoulders while the brunette sobs quietly. “Honey…”       “I still can’t come to myself… If Terrence hadn’t been with me, I wouldn’t have fallen asleep and would’ve thought of that horror until the morning.”       “Raquelle…”       “But who killed him?” Helene frowns slightly.       “Simon Ringer. He killed Terrence in my nightmare.”       “Simon Ringer?” Natalia gets horrified and steps back from Raquelle sharply. “That man, who almost killed you and ruined your career?”       “Yup…” Raquelle nods confidently.       “I heard something about Simon,” Helene confesses thoughtfully, putting her finger on her lip. “People say he fell off the roof of the five-floor building and got disabled. He got too many traumas…”       “That’s true. He dragged me with him, but I managed to grab by the construction and climb up on the roof with the help of Terrence and one of the policemen. I went to the meeting with the thought that I could make him leave me alone. Terrence went there along with the policemen… And if not for them, I would’ve hardly stayed alive.”       “My God… So, could you have… Could you have died?”       “Yes. I’m also surprised by how I turned out to be so lucky. I needed a little before crushing myself and dying.”       “Was he such a terrible man? Did he hate you so much?”       “Yes… At first, Simon almost ruined my career, paying someone to post false articles about me and slander me. And then he swore to destroy me… He was torturing me for a long time, got me to fight with Terrence, Natalia, and Anna, and told them I allegedly had mental issues. And then he asked me about a meeting and threatened to kill me.”       “Oh, God…”       “And then I found out that my parents died because of him when I was a kid…”       “What?” Helene rounds her eyes and closes her mouth with a hand, looking at Raquelle with a dumbfounded look. “Your parents? But I thought they died in a car accident.”       “That’s true. But as it turned out, Ringer provoked it. He broke the brake… So, my dad couldn’t control it when going somewhere with my mother… The car crushed a truck… And my parents died because of tons of traumas and fractures… Doctors could do nothing.”       “And you didn’t know it?”       “Nope. Grandpa Frederick and Aunt Alicia didn’t also know they died because of him and thought Father just lost control. But the car accident was provoked.”       “But why?” Helene wonders. “Why did he kill your parents?”       “Simon was obsessed with my mother. He dated her before she got married to my father and didn’t want to see that woman with anyone… They were separated for some time, and Mother met Father and got married to him. And then I was born… Simon was enraged that she didn't choose him and swore to revenge. And he eventually got what he wanted…”       “But why did he decide to deal with you? Didn’t your parents’ death make him happy?”       “Yes…” Raquelle sighs heavily and doubles over, as she looks down. “He decided to destroy me… And he started from my career… I thought Terrence spread the rumors about me ‘cause I didn’t get along with him. But then Ringer told him everything, and MacClife found me in London and told me the truth.”       “Oh, gosh…”       “And Steven Appleby, my long-time friend, and his friend helped me bring Ringer to clean water. He disappeared for some time, but then showed up and started to ruin my life and turn my close people against me. Simon made Terrence believe that I cheated on him with a policeman, who was just a friend to me. He turned his back on me, and our tense relationship got much worse. And when Ringer found out that Terrence was hugging and kissing another girl, he was happy to provoke me by telling me about them.”       “Oh, Raquelle…” Helene sits closer to Raquelle and hugs her, looking at her with pity in her eyes. “Friend… I’m really very sorry… I didn’t know it…”       “But Simon will no longer bother me because he paid a high cost for his tricks.”       “I wonder why you dreamed Simon if his story ended a long time ago?” Natalia wonders.       “I don’t know, Natalia…” Raquelle replies quietly, shaking her head. “But in my nightmare, there was not only him but also Eleanor Woodham, Eugene Wainwright, and Michael MacClife.”       “Erm, who’s Eleanor Woodham?” Helene frowns slightly.       “The woman, who threatened my aunt. She was revenging her for the death of her father. When she was young, my aunt met one man, whom she accidentally killed when trying to protect herself from violence. And Eleanor couldn’t accept the fact that she was pronounced non-guilty and decided to take revenge. But… She didn’t do it… She died after the police shot at her.”       “Oh, my gosh…”       “Wait, you said you saw Michael and Eugene in your dream?” Natalia rounds her eyes.       “Yes, I did,” Raquelle nods. “First, they encouraged Simon and then started to mock me together… After he shot Terrence down.”       “And where did it happen?”       “In the woods. But no police. Only Simon, Terrence, Eleanor, Eugene, Eugene, Michael, and me… Ringer was threatening me with a pistol and thinking I was my mother…” Raquelle makes a quiet sob. “He wanted to rape me… Terrence was trying to help me, but Simon was threatening him…”       “Simon was trying to rape you in reality. And he thought you were your mother.”       “I know…” Raquelle sighs heavily and throws her short, wet look aside. “Although Terrence pulled Simon from me and beat him strongly, he didn’t take me away. Simon began threatening us both, thinking Terrence was my father and saying I would’ve died if I hadn’t been with him. But Terrence refused to let me go and said I’d go only with him…”       “My gosh…” Helene pronounces with horror in her eyes.       “Ringer wanted to shoot at me, but…” Raquelle closes her mouth with a hand, sobbing constantly and understanding that her voice is shaking. “But Terrence closed me with himself and got a bullet in his heart… He died in my arms after he had apologized for making me suffer and said he loved me. I tried to bring him to life, but I couldn’t do it. He was dead. In my arms… And Michael, Eugene, Eleanor, and Simon were laughing loudly… They were happy about his death… While I was screaming and begging him to come back to me…”       Raquelle says nothing for two seconds and closes her face with both hands, shaking strongly and crying quietly, while Natalia and Helene look at her with pity.       “They did horrible things to me…” Raquelle adds in a shaking voice. “Michael and Eugene were accosting me, Eleanor put a knife into my stomach, and Simon… Simon wanted to kill me with a chainsaw… And when he did it, I woke up sharply.”       “Oh, my gosh, how awful,” Natalia gets horrified, caressing Raquelle’s back softly with a shaking hand. “Friend…”       “You’re so shaking…” Helene pronounces with pity, caressing Raquelle’s hand. “I imagine what kind of horror you felt…”       “Very strong…” Raquelle makes a quiet sob. “So strong that I even fainted… I barely went to the kitchen to drink water. But I didn’t do it because everything suddenly went back, and I passed out.”       “Now I understand why you’re so pale and tired.”       “But Terrence said I lost consciousness twice. I passed out after he had found me in the kitchen. Though, I can’t remember that… I fell on the floor in the kitchen and woke up in the living room on the sofa.”       “You know, I wouldn’t bear that, either,” Natalia says with sadness in her eyes. “I wouldn’t like to see anything like that featuring Edward.”       “That was horrible… I still can’t calm down…”       “But be happy it’s just a nightmare,” Helene says softly. “Thank God, Terrence is alive, healthy, and unharmed.”       “But I’m too scared anyway, girls.” Raquelle moves her wet eyes to Helene and Natalia. “I can’t get rid of the feeling that danger is waiting for Terrence. I’ve got a bad presentiment.”       “C’mon, Raquelle, why do you think so?” Natalia wonders. “Why do you think something’s gonna happen to Terrence? Yes, the nightmare is horrible, but it doesn’t mean he’s supposed to die or suffer! Dreams may mean nothing! Some bullshit can’t be our future!”       “Terrence doesn’t also believe me.” Raquelle takes her glass from the table, drinks some water, and puts it back. “He says I think up everything and am just shocked. Though, I just wanna save him from trouble.”       “Indeed, Cameron, why do you think so?” Helene wonders.       “I’m never wrong about my presentiments, Helene. How many times I’ve felt something bad! But Terrence never listens to me, does what he wants, and pays a high cost. So, it’s happening again. He doesn’t wanna listen to me.”       “Please, Raquelle, calm down,” Helene says softly, caressing Raquelle’s shoulder. “It’s gonna be okay. If you always think about it, you’re gonna go crazy. The more you think about bad things, the higher the chance that they happen.”       “I can’t… I’m shaking at the thought that I might lose him.”       “We completely understand you, friend,” Natalia replies confidently. “Nevertheless, Terence is a strong man, who wouldn’t let anyone hurt him. He can stand up for himself in any situation. Even if something happens, I’m sure everything will be okay. And if one of the guys is near him, it will be awesome.”       “I’m so afraid to lose him, girls,” Raquelle pronounces quietly with tears in her eyes. “If we’re separated, I’ll feel like a part of me is stolen from me. Terrence is my life… My air… I can’t do without him.”       “You won’t lose him, friend,” Helene says softly. “No matter what, Terrence can do it. He’s strong and knows how to protect himself.”       “If something serious happened to him, he might not take it.”       “Remember, Terrence often says you’re the only reason why he is still alive. That man will live for you. He’ll do his best for you to be happy with him.”       “I know, but the problem is not about it,” Raquelle replies in a low voice. “We might be separated by events… Someone might kill Terrence or harm him so much that he’d be between life and death.”       “God, Cameron, you’re such a fantasist! You think of nobody knows what and then sit and worry.”       “But that’s true!”       “Stop, friend… Nobody will kill Terrence. There's nobody, who is sleeping and dreaming of killing him.”       “Don’t you believe me, either?” Raquelle wonders with wet eyes.       “We do, darling, we do,” Helene says softly. “But you shouldn’t think about it all the time. We understand your feelings, but you’ve got no reason to panic.”       “I will get it! I do know! When something’s supposed to happen, I always feel it.”       “That’s just a dream, Raquelle, don’t take it seriously,” Natalia replies confidently. “We’ve got many other problems… The lads are worried about Daniel and the band. And I’m, for example, terribly worried that Wainwright ran away from prison.”       “What, what?” Helene stops sharply, shaking her head. “Wainwright? Ran away from prison?”       “Yup…” Natalia pronounces with sadness in her eyes. “He ran away… I wanted to tell you about it…”       “Wait, wait, Natalia, but Wainwright was arrested as well as Michael MacClife’s other accomplices,” Raquelle says hesitantly. “Moreover, he was diagnosed with mental issues and sentenced to forced therapy.”       “Edward and I met him two days ago. And our parents found it out by watching the TV.”       “Gosh…” Helene pronounces with horror in her eyes. “That man with horrifying green eyes and dirty red hair, whose smell we could feel one mile away, ran away? The one, who wounded Edward in the courtroom!”       “Gosh…” Raquelle exhales shyly to calm down a little and moves her surprised look to Natalia. “But how? How could it happen? How could that man run away from prison?”       “He stole the pistol from a prison guard, shot at someone, and ran away,” Natalia replies without emotions. “He ran away three weeks ago, but the police were silent about it. Only when they couldn’t find him, they had to make a statement.”       “So long?” Helene gets horrified. “They must’ve announced that immediately!”       “Our parents think the police wanted to scare nobody. They thought they’d find him quickly. But Wainwright hid too well. He’s sure that he’ll never be caught.”       “Hey, where did you and Edward meet him?” Raquelle asks.       “In one deserted place. At first, he pushed me, but then he showed up and started to threaten us and talk about his wish to rape me. If Edward hadn’t been with me, Wainwright could’ve done anything to me. His eyes got much wilder and more horrifying. I was too horrified…”       “So, we've got one more problem?” Helene frowns slightly.       “I saw him in my dream for the reason…” Raquelle says thoughtfully. “And you say dreams are bullshit.”       “Maybe…” Natalia replies with sadness in her eyes. “But I saw that man. I was screaming and shaking from fear again when he was touching me with his big hands, feeling me up shamelessly, kissing me, licking me, and almost undressing me. Almost strangled me… Thank God, he didn’t have anything to inject it into me, so I passed out.”       “Oh, my God…”       “Oh…” Natalia grabs her neck and sighs with sadness in her eyes. “He even stole my favorite necklace…”       “Which Edward gifted you?” Raquelle asks.       “Yes, for my birthday. He just came to me, took it, and put it in his pocket. Even if he said that was a cheap thing and didn’t have any value. But that man could’ve easily stolen this ring and the earrings that I wore. And sold them for great money…”       “So, is the necklace lost?” Helene concludes.       “Yup, I can say I’ve lost my amulet forever. That necklace meant so much to me, even if it was a cheap thing. But I think Dad was right when he said I should’ve cared only about how to protect myself from Wainwright. My fear of him is way stronger.”       “Thank God, Edward was with you,” Raquelle notices confidently. “We could’ve hardly seen you again.”       “I know. I’ve thanked Edward for protecting me from that man so many times. But I was terribly scared that I could’ve stayed without his support… Because Wainwright was hitting Edward’s head against a stone and smashing his fists against his whole body. I was terribly afraid that Edward could lose consciousness… Just like he did when I was brought to Michael’s house.”       “And he’s fine now?”       “Yes, thank God.”       “Did you get off that man so easily?” Helene asks.       “Oh, no! He wasn’t gonna leave for a long time… He was fighting with Edward and accosting me…” Natalia sniffs quietly, looking at her hands. “I made a great mistake when running far away from fear when they were fighting… I was in despair… And… I didn’t listen to Edward, who told me to stay near him. And I paid a high cost when Wainwright found me and was feeling me up, licking me, kissing me for a long time… Saying dirty things… Using the moment when Edward couldn’t find me and closing my mouth, so I didn’t scream…”       “Oh, God…” Raquelle closes her mouth with both hands with horror in her eyes.       “I thought I’d die from fear…” Natalia confesses with tears in her eyes. “At some moment, I even accepted the fact that I’d never see my close people because Edward didn’t show up for a long time. I stopped resisting and screaming… But thank God, my prayers were heard. Later, Edward found me, and I screamed out for help… And I was rescued when that man tried to strangle me.”       “Friend…” Helene pronounces with pity and takes Natalia’s hand, while Raquelle softly caresses the back of her friend crying quietly. “That’s horrible! I’m shaking when I think about what you had to survive.”       “I was so scared that I barely understood what was happening… I could only scream and cry loudly… Just one look of Wainwright made me wish to run far away. And the thoughts that everything he could’ve done to me got my condition worse. I… I would’ve gone crazy and done a stupid thing if Edward hadn’t been near me. Thanks to him, I came to myself and started to understand where I was and who I was with.”       “Have you told your parents about it?” Raquelle asks.       “Yes, after that happened, Edward drove me home, and we told them about Wainwright while I was treating his wounds.”       “And his mother and father?”       “They know it, as well. And they told Mr. Johnson about it.”       “God, what do we do if that person walks free somewhere in New York as if nothing happened?” Helene wonders, looking at Raquelle and Natalia scarily. “What if he wants to rape us? Wainwright remembered our faces in the courtroom and might easily do something with us if we met him.”       “He’ll hardly show up where there are many people,” Raquelle assumes. “Eugene does understand that people would see him and call the police immediately.”       “A generous reward for information about him is guaranteed,” Natalia says quietly.       “Maybe, that man is sick, but he understands everything. So, don’t worry, we won’t meet him in the city. Only in deserted places. Where Wainwright decided to hide.”       “Edward and I agreed not to go there for a while. And he will accompany me to protect me in case of danger. Of course, Edward won’t chase me like a tail and suffer from paranoia, but he wants me to leave home alone as less as possible. While Wainwright is free.”       “Maybe, you shouldn’t have gone here?” Raquelle expressed anxiety. “The home of Terrence and me is located in a quiet enough place that is far from the city. What if that man might wander somewhere close? Yes, our neighborhood is under good guard, but still.”       “Don’t worry, Raquelle, I’m trying to be very careful and wouldn’t go where I might meet him. Because I would be dead and never see my close people.”       “Aren’t you afraid now?” Helene asks.       “I am, but I try not to suffer from paranoia. Moreover, Edward can’t always be with me because he should spend time apart from me. I can’t make him be with me constantly. And protect the silly, cowardly girl, who faints with a strong fear.”       “Did you faint?” Raquelle wonders.       “After meeting Wainwright. At first, I had a strong hysteria and tried to run away from Edward, thinking he was Wainwright. And then I lost my strength and fell into darkness. I didn’t realize how it happened… But after waking up, I saw Edward, who was pale, deeply shocked, and scared. I even got ashamed of him… For making him so excited… I had prayed that I wouldn’t lose consciousness in front of Wainwright, so he didn’t use it. And when he left, my body couldn’t take it. My brain turned off when Edward was near me.”       “You know, I’m not surprised,” Helene replies confidently. “You were shaking at the trial of Wainwright so strongly that you were ready to faint at any time.”       “Right… But I was terribly terrified after the announcement of the sentence when he was running around the whole room and trying to feel me up before my parents, boyfriend, friends, and familiars… When Edward closed me with his body to save me from the gun wound.”       “Oh, I still remember that. And I remember how furious Edward got when Wainwright started to feel you up. The guys barely took him aside and calmed him down. And no matter how hard Edward pretended to be brave, it was clear that he felt bad. He never complained about anything.”       “Yeah, forgetting that is impossible…” Raquelle replies thoughtfully. “I thought he’d steal a gun from someone and shoot everyone down.”       “That man is really sick! Someone like him must be in a mental hospital!”       “Thank God, he had no gun or knife when meeting Natalia and Edward. Or he would’ve killed them…”       “Right…” Natalia nods. “He hardly left what he wounded the prison staff member with. And I think Wainwright has something like drugs… To… Relax a person and deprive him of their mind… And even consciousness…”       “Something like what put you to sleep when Michael gave the order to bring you to his house?”       “Maybe. Anyway, Edward and I were very lucky. Nevertheless, I felt better when he was with me. I knew he would defend me and let me hide behind his back. You know I could stand up for myself somehow, but my fear of Wainwright is too strong. I lose my bravery and confidence… I feel like a little, unprotected girl…”       “With Edward, you’ve got nothing to fear, Natalia,” Helene says confidently with a slight smile. “That guy loves you very much. We all see how he fights with those, who dare to hurt you. I personally saw it when he attacked Wainwright with fists right in the courtroom.”       “And he also owes your parents,” Raquelle adds. “They wouldn’t caress his head if something happened to you. Especially Mr. Rochester.”       “Edward just thinks loving me, protecting me, and taking care of me is his duty,” Natalia smiles shyly with a slight blush. “And I think being loyal, taking care of him, loving him, and giving him confidence is my duty… And I’m happy to do this… I kind of thank him for treating me so touchingly.”       “That’s why I’m absolutely sure you’re gonna be in his trustworthy arms after the wedding. I completely trust Edward and don’t doubt that he’s the man that you need. Who you were looking for.”       “He’s the love of my life.”       Silence settles in the air for some time, during which Raquelle, Natalia, and Helene take their glasses and the rest of their drinks. At some moment, Helene starts to think about something with sadness in her eyes, and her friends see it and want to ask about it. But she starts a conversation herself, moving her eyes to Raquelle.       “Hey, Raquelle…. I think you… Said you were angry at your grandfather because he was hiding your parents’ death from you.”       “Erm, yeah…” Raquelle shrugs. “Grandpa Frederick agreed about it with Aunt Alicia and my late grandparents, Tiffany and Timothy. I got mad at him, but now I understand it was wrong. I shouldn’t have started that boycott… And… Run away from home…”       Raquelle looks down for two seconds, sharply moves her eyes to Helene, and frowns slightly.       “But why did you ask?” Raquelle wonders.       “Erm, just…” Helene pronounces quietly and hesitantly. “I just found out something. And… It’s kind of similar to your case… Not everything but something…”       “What is that?” Natalia asks.       “You see…” Helene sighs heavily and puts her glass on the table. “A few days ago, I went home, and my grandmother was talking to Peter. Sammy and I went to walk but returned later… And… She told him that my parents rejected me.”       “What? Rejected?”       “My father was never interested in me, and his family banned him from thinking about the baby. And my mother rejected me after giving birth to me.”       “Wait, didn’t your mother die during childbirth?” Raquelle frowns slightly. “You said that!”       “I thought so all my life. Since I made Grandpa and Grandma tell me about my father and mother. But it was otherwise. They’re alive, not dead, as I was told.”       “Oh, my God…” Natalia pronounces, closing her mouth with a hand. “Helene…”       “It’s so painful for me to realize that my parents didn’t need me…” Helene shakes her head with sadness in her half-wet eyes. “All those years, I was talking to them and thinking they could hear me. But Father and Mother are alive and never think of me.”       “But how could they reject their baby?” Raquelle wonders. “I would never do that! It would’ve been okay if they’d given you to your grandparents to work or study. But reject your baby at all…”       “Grandmother said my mother was sixteen, and my father was seventeen, when they found out that they were expecting a baby. At first, everything was fine, and my grandparents said they’d help my mother raise me. But later, my father succumbed to his family’s influence, said that he’d leave my mother and wouldn’t help her educate a child, and went to study abroad. And she… She wanted to get an abortion.” Helene sniffs quietly. “Abortion, girls! My mother wanted to kill me! That woman said she didn’t want me to be born.”       “God…” Raquelle pronounces with horror in her eyes.       “But my grandparents refused and told her to give birth. And then my mother agreed. But she behaved like she wasn’t pregnant, and she was even in the hospital once. She had hysteria when giving birth, but she let me be born… And then she didn’t even wanna look at me and said she rejected her child. But my grandparents didn’t leave me and took me home… My mother was mad and didn’t have love for me. And one day, she disappeared and hasn’t shown up. And she’d hardly do it because everything happened in Kingston, but Grandma and I have lived in New York for ages.”       “Oh, Helene…” Raquelle says with pity in her eyes, being shocked by what she heard as well as Natalia, and closes her mouth with a hand.       “We’re so sorry, darling…” Natalia adds with sadness in her eyes.       Raquelle and Natalia sit on both sides of Helene and hug her with the hope of comforting her.       “My mother wanted to kill me, girls,” Helene makes a quiet sob. “I couldn’t have been born… Yes, I understand she was a child when getting pregnant… Just sixteen… But how could you kill what’s growing inside you? She wasn’t abandoned! My grandparents agreed to help her raise me. She would’ve studied, and they would’ve educated the child! But my mother didn’t wanna accept me, even in this case!”       “But your mother refused to get an abortion and did give birth to you,” Natalia notices confidently. “She just calmed down a little, felt that she talked about an abortion, and decided to give birth.”       “Don’t be naive, Rochester. My mother would’ve gotten an abortion if she had been legal! And if she had known how to provoke a miscarriage, she would’ve done it. But… Who knows, maybe, my mother ended up in a hospital because she tried to kill me. And my grandmother blamed her irresponsibility for her pregnancy.”       “She could say it in anger because of the breakup with your father and the fear of raising her child alone,” Raquelle assumes. “Maybe, your mother wanted to give birth and was ready to educate you. Your father just hurt her, and she couldn’t take it.”       “Don’t defend her, girls!” Helene says coldly. “If she could, she would’ve gotten rid of me! Nobody would’ve changed her mind. Does the fact that my mother ran away from home and hasn’t been found mean nothing?”       “It does not, Helene.”       “I would never do that, even if I were a teen or an adult woman and wasn't ready to be a mother. I would ask someone to help me raise a child and watch them. But no more!”       “I wouldn’t also kill the baby growing inside me,” Natalia says confidently. “Even if that was a child from someone I didn’t love, I would give birth and educate them.”       “Me too,” Raquelle smiles slightly. “Grandpa and Aunt would kill me if they knew that I briefly thought about killing my child. You know what happens when the case is about children.”       “That’s impossible to understand,” Helene shakes her head. “How could Mother do that? I don’t get it! I don’t get it!”       “We don’t deny that your mother did a bad thing. But I’m sure she is regretting it now.”       “Hardly! I heard my grandmother say that my mother didn’t hide that she wanted my death when she was in the hospital. Nothing could change the mind of that woman.”       “She probably needed a psychologist,” Natalia assumes. “Why didn’t Mr. and Mrs. Marshall bring her to a doctor?”       “Because they thought her pregnancy was the one to blame. Hormones. They thought everything would be gone after giving birth, and that woman would get love for me. But no. It was too late when they decided to find a doctor with the thought that she had postpartum depression. My mother got out somewhere.”       “And your father? Has he never thought of you and tried to find you?”       “My father hasn’t thought about his daughter and hasn’t tried to contact me. I was the kind of mammy’s boy, who didn’t wanna fight for Mother. For their love. For growing their child together. But instead, he was dancing attendance upon his family. He probably married the one they chose for him and didn’t even resist.”       “Maybe, he tried!” Raquelle exclaims. “He just didn’t know how!”       “If he wanted, he would find me! Grandmother, Grandfather, and I lived in Kingston before I turned eighteen. Then Grandpa Roger got a chance to exchange our old apartment for a new one and move to New York, where he got a good job. Father and Mother got enough time to find me and explain why they did such a cruel thing to me.”       “So, they didn't put enough effort.”       “They all did a bad thing. Father and Mother, who left me, Grandpa and Grandma, who lied to me all those years, and even Peter, who wanted to hide it.”       “Gosh, what does Peter have to do with it?” Natalia wonders.       “He does. He wanted to hide the truth from me and be silent as if nothing happened. And he agreed to be a part of Grandparents’ business and swore to say nothing to me.”       “Just don’t say you’re angry at Peter and your grandmother for not being guilty of anything.”       “Yes, I’m mad at them! My grandparents lied to me insolently and tried to avoid this talk when I asked them to tell me the truth. They wanted me to cry for them and be sorry for Mother and Father! Even if they never showed their graves to me. And now it’s clear: my parents just left me on my own like a puppy. And Rose did a disgusting thing and became a betrayal. That’s so good I heard their talk and didn’t let them have me wrapped around a finger.”       “Wait, are you really mad at Peter?” Natalia rounds her eyes.       “He did a disgusting thing to me!” Helene says coldly. “And I’m mad that Rose pretends to be a good guy and tries to pity me.”       “Gosh, Marshall, you went crazy!”       “Excuse me, Helene, but you’re doing a too stupid thing,” Raquelle says confidently. “You shouldn’t be mad at Peter! He doesn’t have to do with this story and just listened to your grandmother. She asked him to be silent, and he did that.”       “I knew you’d protect Rose,” Helene replies in a lower voice. “And the men are probably sitting all together and saying I’m bad, but Rose is good. That Grandmother is good…”       “Your grandparents didn’t want to hurt you as well as my grandfather. They saved and raised you. You’re living only thanks to them and must be grateful to them for giving you life.”       “If my mother left me, they could tell me the truth earlier.”       “When you were a baby? No, they wouldn’t have done that! I know what knowing something shocking when you’re a kid is. You know how hard it was for me to know about my parents’ death at the age of seven! That was a great hit to me.”       “I would’ve rather gone crazy from grief in childhood than believed my father and mother died and thought of them every year for their alleegd death anniversary!”       “Okay, Helene, okay,” Natalia says quietly. “We understand why you’re mad at your grandmother. But why did you the hell make Rose guilty? You found a stupid reason to get mad at him! That’s wrong!”       “He shouldn’t have agreed to be a part of my grandmother’s business!”       “Peter ain’t the one to blame,” Raquelle replies confidently. “He just wanted to let you talk about everything with Mrs. Marshall. But you made Rose guilty for wishing to be silent. The blond doesn’t have to do with your relationship with your family and wanted to make everything better.”       “If I could hide somewhere, I’d leave my grandmother’s apartment,” Helene makes a quiet sob. “I don’t wanna see her… As well as Rose, who visits her literally every day and takes care of her. He sits with her in the room all day, drinks tea, and talks about how to harm me.”       “Gosh, Marshall, I can’t believe it,” Raquelle shakes her head. “You… You’re crazy!”       “They disappointed me… And I doubt that I could forgive them for the betrayer.”       “Do you understand what you say?” Natalia wonders.       “Absolutely! Those two became my enemies a long time ago!”       “Helene, please, wake up!” Raquelle begs, taking Helene’s hands. “You’re making a great mistake. Fix it before it’s too late.”       “I’m guilty of nothing. And I have nothing to feel sorry about.”       “Believe me, I thought the same as you did when I was angry at Grandfather Frederick, who was hiding my parents’ death from me. I wasn’t sure if I could forgive him and wanted to live in another place. But later, my anger was gone. I calmed down and realized I should’ve done that with him. That man raised me when I became an orphan. He didn’t leave even if he knew it would be hard.”       “But your parents didn’t reject you!”       “Right. But they gave me little attention because they were busy with their business. Only my grandparents and aunt surrounded me with care.”       “I can’t get it… I’ve been trying to do it for a few days, but I can’t…”       “You just need to calm down. Time will be gone, and you will realize that you’re doing a bad thing to Peter and your grandmother. You’ll wish to go and apologize to them.”       “Never!” Helene cuts off sharply. “Those people will never get my forgiveness! At least my grandmother understands it and doesn’t bother me. She’s sitting in her room all day and watching TV. But Rose is trying to be good so hard after he did a mean thing to me…”       “Helene, hear us, please!” Natalia begs with pity. “Don’t you understand that you give Peter pain by pushing him off yourself and saying such bad things? I can imagine how it’s hard for him to know his girlfriend treats him like this.”       “He shouldn’t have betrayed me. I don’t forgive those, who swear their love and loyalty but betray me insolently.”       “Did you forget what he wanted to do some time ago and what he still remembers as if it happened yesterday? Do you want Peter to take a blaze again?”       “Yes, Helene, what if you make him break down and take a blaze again?” Raquelle expresses anxiety. “We don’t wanna lose him again! The band is close to breaking up because of Daniel! But if Peter begins to harm himself again, we won’t probably save him for the second time. And then the band will be broken up!”       “He was cutting himself not only because of the school bullying but also because of his love for you. And now you’re killing him. Morally. Your words would probably be worse than any blaze.”       “Pete was hiding his feelings for so long because of a fear of being rejected and felt happy for the first time in a while. And now you put a knife in his back and twist it slowly, giving the blond unbearable pain.”       “Trust me, I’m also very sorry that he was cutting because of me,” Helene says quietly and sniffs. “But I feel madly hurt that someone hides the truth from me when I’m open to everyone.”       “Nobody loves a lie, friend,” Raquelle says quietly. “But your offenses might make Peter wish to cut himself again. We barely got him out of the hole, but now you’re pushing him to that again. Our efforts may be worthless.”       “And your grandmother is worried about you,” Natalia adds. “Though, she mustn’t get nervous. God shall not let Mrs. Marshall end up in a hospital! Excuse me, but you’d be guilty in this case. She may get worse because of you. Because of the way you treat her. You can’t do it to your grandmother, who is no longer young and might not bear that, and Peter, who might easily break down if he believed you despised him for nothing.”       “And if you wanna break up with him, he’ll go crazy from grief. He’ll never fall in love with anyone because he’ll be afraid of another betrayer. You do know it’s a hurtful thing for him, but you do it again.”       “Stop acting like this, Marshall. We completely understand it all, but what you do is too much. The only people you should blame are your parents, even if we could understand why they did it. Your grandmother is guilty of nothing, and Peter is not guilty, especially.”       “Believe me, I do understand you as the one, who got through that. Yes, you may get cool not very soon, but please, don’t even think about rejecting Mrs. Marshall and leaving Peter. He needs you, Helene. You’re the reason why he’s living, not thinking of self-harming, and feeling happy. And your grandmother raised you and gave you everything. If not for her and your grandfather, you either wouldn’t have been born or would’ve been taken to an orphan house and given to a strange family. And it doesn’t mean everybody would love you. For someone, you would’ve meant nothing because you would’ve become adopted. But you grew up with your close people, who truly loved you. Maybe, you won't listen to us because of anger and madness, but trust me, I know what I say.”       “I feel hurt,” Helene makes a quiet sob. “Those two did a terrible thing to me. I can’t… I can’t…”       Helene closes her face with both hands and starts to cry bitterly, while Raquelle and Natalia look at each other and hug their friend, trying to comfort her.       “Okay, okay, Helene, calm down,” Natalia says quietly, caressing Helene’s head, which rests on her shoulder. “We understand everything.”       “Let’s talk about it later,” Raquelle adds quietly, caressing Helene’s shoulder and hand. “Now you’re hurt and won’t listen to anything we’d like to tell you. But early or late, you’ll understand you were wrong. I’m sure about it.”       Helene still keeps crying, while Raquelle and Natalia try to comfort her, look at each other, and shake their heads, trying to find a way to let their friend know that she might give pain to her grandmother Scarlett and Peter if she keeps being mad at them or actually refuses to speak to them.       

***

      Almost nothing changes in Anna’s life. She still recalls all the best moments that she spent with Daniel and shakes strongly every time Julian makes her spend time with him, ignoring her wishes. She feels like an unprotected girl every time he appears on the doorstep of the apartment. And she cannot count on the support and protection of her father, Maximilian, because the man thinks his daughter dreams up, and the son of his friend is not as bad as she says. He does not notice her screams for help or the signs that the girl sends him with the hope of protection. Actually, Maximilian seriously begins to think it would be great if Anna fell in love with Julian and even got married to him to be a part of the Potters, as the girl’s mother, Lillian, Mr. Seymour himself, and their parents wanted.       Today, Anna decided not to sit in her room all day and to walk down into the apartment. She looks at everything she sees with interest but without emotions in her eyes, examines what is on some tables and in closets, and finds something that makes her fall into nostalgia for the old times. For example, after finding a photo of her parents in a small closet in her father’s room, Anna starts to realize that she is missing her mother and would like to talk to her, even if they were never close. This thin, middle-aged, elegant woman has dark brown hair and the same expressive green eyes as the girl’s. Her features are a little rougher, and she looks powerful enough but much younger than her real age, and she seems very smart and educated.       “Ah, Mother, I’m missing you,” Anna whispers with sadness in her eyes. “Although we’ve never been close, I wanna meet you… Talk to you… Try to ask you for help… I want a miracle to happen, and I want you to realize that Julian is a dangerous man, who doesn’t respect me and doesn’t listen to my wishes. Father doesn’t understand me and thinks I’m lying, and Julian is holy and innocent. He says Potter allegedly cares about me and wanna help me. But that’s not the truth. He hates me and treats me like a doormat. I mean nothing to him just because I’m a woman. Who, as he thinks, can only be silent, agree with everything, cook, and give birth to children. She’s a thing without rights. I thought Dad would protect me and ban that man from coming to me, but no… He literally makes me speak to him. He barely makes me have a wedding with him…”       Anna shakes her head.       “I don’t want, Mom, I don’t! I swear I shall kill myself if Father marries me off by force. Never! I won’t live with that man! I won’t! I’ll kill myself! Hang me, swallow tablets, jump off the root…”       Anna moves her eyes off the photo for two seconds and sniffs.       “He thinks I’m dreaming up and suffering because of Daniel too much,” Anna says quietly, looking at everything she sees with her sad, red, tear-stained eyes. “Yes, I’m suffering very much because I madly love him… But… I didn’t think I’d run into this problem when I began to speak to Julian. I thought I could take revenge on Daniel and prove that I’d live without him. But I got much worse… Not only because of my love… Julian does everything for me to feel terrible. He does want it. He cares only about himself. He gives a damn about me. That man used to behave much better and not to let himself do what he’s doing now…”       Some time later, Anna calls the memories of one event that happened some time ago and makes her cry much more bitterly.       

***

      A few days ago.       Julian carefully takes one of many airplanes that he keeps in a glass closet under the key, fixes something slightly, and starts to tell Anna everything about this model, while she is sitting in the bed quietly and looking at the man, her hands, or around without emotions.       “I was making this aircraft for a long time,” Julian says with delight and pride, holding the aircraft in his hands. “It’s my favorite one of those that you can see here. I spent a lot of time creating it, but I could not do it. However, these hours were worth it, and I finally made this baby. I guessed to fix some things and got a brilliant result.”       Julian carefully runs his hand over the model of the aircraft with a slight smile, as if this is the most important and expensive thing in the world.       “Father did not understand my hobby at first. No, he had nothing against it. He just could not understand how I could do something with different things, put something together, fix something, and correct something. But I really love it. Much more than sitting at an office all day and working with tons of papers. I think if I didn’t go to work with my father, I would do something about these things. Nevertheless, I am very happy that Father has always been proud of me. He thinks if I like it, I should do my favorite thing. And sometimes he even helps me and suggests some ideas. Very good, just saying. I take a note of many of them.”       Julian throws an admiring look at his collection of airplans, vehicles, and automobiles that are carefully placed on a shelf in a big closet. Then the man carefully puts the aircraft in its place, takes the model of a black automobile, and shows it to Anna with pride, while she looks at him without emotions and shows no interest in what he says.       “This automobile is his favorite,” Julian confesses proudly. “He actively helped me create it. I think it is because this is the model of his old auto that was broken a long time ago. He used that for a long time, but it recently broke. And I also love this model very much. I actually gave my heart to every single model. I did it better and better, and I learned something new. Someday, I want to make a radio-controlled drone, auto, or vehicle. But I need to examine many things I do not know yet. But I’m working on it too hard and examining the books and articles on the Internet in my free time.”       Julian looks too proud and confident, as he talks about the dignity of his works thinking that all the models he has made are perfect and deserve to be praised.       “Every work of mine is a work of art!” Julian says confidently. “Someday, I want to create a model that would make people exclaim and whoop in delight. Say this is a masterpiece! I would get many compliments, much praise, and much love… Everyone would love me and be overwhelmed by my endless talent! I do not want my efforts to be worthless. And I will do my best to prevent it from happening. I will never give up, Anna. Until someone notices me! Such a talented man as me must not hide his talent. Moreover, my father supports me and does not stop encouraging me.”       Julian puts the model of the auto in the right place and continues to look at his collection with a literal ogle gaze.       “By the way, I was recently browsing the Internet and found out that the contest for people making models would start in two or three months,” Julian says confidently, crossing his arms over his chest. “They are going to give a lot of money and a chance to enter one of the most elite contests for model building. A worldwide one, just saying. I want to join, and I am going to apply for entry. And you must be there to support me! I do not accept refusals! Admiring me and wishing me luck is your duty! I do not know if my father comes there because he is a very busy man. But I must see you there and hear you supporting me. Only me. I do not want to hear that you like other works. You must admire only me. You got it, Anna?”       Julian got so busy talking about his works that he did not notice that Anna did not listen to him and was thinking about something, setting her dead eyes into the distance. But when he sees it, the man literally gets green from anger and clenches his hands into fists, looking at the girl with a heavy breath.       “I do not get it…” Julian throws rudely. “Why do you not agree with me? Why the fuck do you say nothing and dream of something? Who am I telling everything? Who the fuck am I telling all of it? Am I talking to the wall?”       “Sorry, Julian…” Anna pronounces quietly and hesitantly, moves her eyes slowly to Julian, and looks at him scarily, locking her fingers. “But actually, I don’t love vehicles, airplans, autos… I like different things: music, singing, fashion, reading…”       “Did I ask you what you liked?” Julian sharply bends to Anna, grabs her by the chin tightly, raises it, and looks into her widely open eyes with his cold gaze. “I give a fuck about what you love. A woman’s hobbies mean nothing! She can have an interest in nothing!”       “Why?” Anna wonders. “Why do you say it about women? Why do they mean nothing to you?”       “Because they are WOMEN! Women, who have no right to open their mouths! They can only be silent, nod, and make any man's wishes come true. If he wants a child, she agrees! If he wants sex – she is always ready! If he wants to eat – she cooks GOOD food! ENOUGH! She must do NOTHING more!”       “That’s wrong! A woman is a human, as well!”       “Better close your fucking mouth before I sew it,” Julian throws rudely. “You, bitch, must agree with me on everything! And say that you DO LIKE everything I do!”       “Doesn’t someone let you do what you love?” Anna asks quietly with widely open eyes, throwing her hands up. “Do what you want! I just said I don’t like model building and everything about vehicles, automobiles, and airplanes. Why do you have this hysteria?”       “I do say again, I give a fuck about your FUCKING opinion! Close your mouth and do what I say. And do not dare to resist me! Women will not control me! NEVER!”       “Nobody commands you. Is expressing some opinion showing control? Nobody has a right to impose something on someone if they don’t like it.”       “Nobody cares about what you think about! If you are not lucky to be born as a woman, be nice to obey the man and do what he says.”       “Why?” Anna pronounces in a strongly shaking voice, while tears roll down her cheeks from fear of Julian. “Why are you doing this to me?”       “I said you could only be silent and make my orders! WHAT WAS THE FUCK UNCLEAR?”       “You swore to my father that you wouldn’t scream at me and give me pain!” Anna makes a quiet sob. “Was everything you said a lie?”       “Do you still hope your daddy will believe that I’m a tyrant, who hurts his little girl, Anna?” Julian sneers with contempt. “Ha! Keep dreaming, idiot! For him, I’m an angel, who wants to do his best to distract you from thoughts about the breakup with the one, who ruined my father’s plan to unite with your family. With that bastard, for whom you, scumbag, ran away from home. Because of who you didn’t get married to the one your family chose.”       “It will not happen!” Anna says a little louder. “I will not let my father make that stupid thing! Never!”       “Nobody will ask you! If Maximilian decides you must marry, it will happen. And everybody will give a fuck about your feelings. You will do what you are told. What you should have done a long time ago instead of trying to be a rebel and deciding what to do. Nobody knows what you need better than older people. You’re a little brainless idiot yet! You will control your children when you give birth! But now be nice to listen to those, who know how you MUST live.”       “I’d better die than marry someone against my wish and give birth to a child from someone I don’t love.”       “You have no choice. You will do everything your parents want.”       “Never!”       “Ah, Seymour, Seymour…” Julian shakes his head, looking at Anna with hate in his icy look and making her feel that she gets goosebumps on her skin, and that she is losing her confidence. “When will you, brainless chicken, understand that you won't run away from your destiny? No matter how hard you try to resist, you will live as you should live.”       Julian sharply grabs Anna by the hair and pulls it out strongly, while she winces strongly from pain.       “Destiny brought you home. You ran away with that beggar ragamuffin and lived with him. And you did not mind servicing him. Cooking, washing, cleaning, pleasing him in a bed… I am surprised that you did not give birth to a child from him. I imagine how your mother and father were furious when they found out that you lived with the man you did not marry. They do mind the together life before marrying so hard…”       “I did all of that at my wish! Because I wanted to take care of that man! And I would be happy to educate a child from him.”       “But he does not need you anymore! I guess that deadbeat got sick that you were worthless at keeping the house and behaved like a log in a bed.” Julian looks at Anna from head to foot with contempt. “You do not look like a sex bomb. The one, who keeps a house in order and behaves like a whore in bed with a man. It’s clear you are not his perfection if he found another girl. He understands nobody will look at such a worthless chicken, no matter how hard she puts crème on her ugly face. No matter how much she stands in front of the mirror and tries to look more or less good.”       “So? Did you get better after you said it? You calmed down?”       “Do not be rude to me, girl!” Julian throws rudely. “Or I will turn you to dust.”       “Do it!” Anna exclaims. “Come on, do it right now! I’d better die than become your wife and listen to your claims about me all day long.”       “I think your father is madly happy that the deadbeat left you. And your mother wouldn’t be indifferent. I am sure they will start to think of trying to marry you off again. And my father will agree to do it with pleasure because he still hopes we will become a family.”       Julian grabs the jaw of Anna so tightly that her lips become like a duck’s, while she looks at him with her wet, dumbfounded eyes.       “But this time, you will not get married to Ryan, my young brother and a botanist. But me. I shall be your husband. And from the first day on, I will keep you under total control. Because if I miss the moment, you will never be a good wife and mother to my children. I am not that fucking bastard! Nothing from what worked with him will work with me! You will avoid it for the second time! Nobody will wish to let such a ragamuffin like you in their home. You, bitch, will shut up quickly and learn to do everything perfectly. I am going to walk with a magnifying glass and check out every single centimeter and point at any dust. And I will shamelessly throw any disgusting food in a trash can or a restroom.”       “You’re crazy, Julian! Crazy!”       “Since you are used to having your ass kissed, I will wean you away. I have always been sure that only strong moral pressure could help someone get some results. And I will be cruel to you until you become perfect and stop crying and thinking it will happen like in those stupid tales, in which everyone lives happily after.”       “I will never stop believing in tales!”       “Because you’re an idiot! That beggar deadbeat will not come back to you anymore. You can swallow your stupid fantasies about him getting down on his knees and begging you to be with him. It will never happen! Never!”       “I shall make Father believe me and protect me from you,” Anna promises confidently. “I’ll find a way to make him wake up and understand that he is wrapped around your finger.”       “Try as much as you want. But you can do nothing.” Julian sharply grabs Anna by the throat and squeezes it tightly, so he does not strangle the girl, who shakes with her widely open eyes. “Now I have you at my mercy and can do anything to you. I am going to use the fact that your stupid father believes that I am holy. And your prayers and tears will not change his mind.”       “You will not get off that!”       “Keep dreaming.” Julian moves his hand off Anna’s throat, gets her up from the sofa sharply, grabs her by the hair, and leans her head back. “You, bitch, will do anything I say, no matter if you like it or not. And if you dare to run away and go against the wish of older people, you will have to regret it. I will either do something horrible to your father and mother or kill them with no regret.”       “No!” Anna screams loudly. “Don’t hurt them, Julian! No Mom, no Dad.”       “If you want them to stay alive, be nice to do everything I say. And not to make me wild! If you make me furious, you will get a hit in the face! If you dare not to listen and to go against my wish, I will turn you to dust.”       “Why are you doing this to me?” Anna makes a quiet sob. “What did I do? I did nothing bad to be treated like this!”       “It will get much worse if you think you can do anything. If you dare to talk to one of your friends. Especially if that’s a man. If I see or know you talked to someone I do not know, I will make you regret it a lot.”       “But, Julian…”       “I’m your lord! You must obey me and do my orders immediately. You must say you are ready to obey me and bend your head for me. Look into my eyes like a dog.”       “You are not my husband to control me! You are a nobody! Why do you the hell think you are my lord and act like a king that everyone must bow to?”       “I said everything, Anna Seymour, and I am not going to repeat it,” Julian says rudely and coldly. “I hope I explained it well? Or should I explain again, so your bird brains understand it?”       Anna says nothing and just nods, crying quietly, shaking strongly, and being terribly afraid of Julian, who might easily kill her if he thought of something bad. But even the girl’s slight nod, which expresses her obedience, irritates the man. He pulls her by the hair much tighter with an irritated growl, making her squeak quietly and wince from the pain.       “You do not hear me, or you are slow for understanding?” Julian asks rudely and loudly. “HUH, STUPID CHICKEN? ANSWER WHEN I ASK YOU! BE SILENT WHEN I TELL YOU TO SHUT UP! YOU GOT IT, ASSHOLE! YOU GOT IT, I AM ASKING?”       “Y-y-yes…” Anna pronounces quietly in a shaking voice and makes a sob, looking at Julian with a heavy breath. “I u-understood e-everything… I d-did…”       “I hope,” Julian bellows and pushes Anna off himself rudely. “Alright, I will repeat, so your dyed stupid head remembers this forever: if you are guilty even once, you will suffer. Every time you disobey my word, I will make you feel pain, humiliation, and suffering. And if you are a good chick and do my orders, I will give you gifts. Jewelry, coats, expensive phones…”       “I don’t need your gifts…”       “Do not lie! Any woman would sell her soul for an expensive necklace with brilliants or a dress from a famous brand. So, if you do not get me ashamed, I will give you the best. And I shall find you the best stylists. So, they finally pick up normal clothes for you! So, I throw the tatters that you are wearing. You will wear only what I pick up. Because a brainless chicken with a disgusting sense of style cannot dress, so nobody is ashamed of going in public with her.” Julian takes a strand of Anna’s hair shaking in the air, and looks at it with disgust. “First, they will cut your hair and make a normal hairstyle. I do hate women’s long hair! And this color is terrible! I am going to tell them to dye your hair light brown! And actually, stylists will have a lot of work because you must change yourself completely! Maybe, I will even book an appointment with a plastic surgeon, so they can work on your appearance. Make your boobs and ass bigger!”       Julian looks at Anna with great contempt again and shakes his head.       “Terrible!” Julian throws rudely. “Ugly! Flat board! You cannot dress up and take care of yourself! How could that deadbeat not be shy about going in public with this freak? At least he did the right thing by not marrying you, because men would have laughed at him. But it’s alright, that’s fixable! If you are a good girl, I will make you better. I do have enough money to fix what nature gave you. And I know everything about women because I have seen a lot of them. If there is money, you can even turn a monkey into a gorgeous beauty. Gorgeous and obedient.”       Julian sounds so true that Anna starts to believe it seriously and thinks that she is really so bad, unattractive, and worthless and has no sense of style. It makes her self-rating lower and lower. Her wish to try to be beautiful and well-tended fades away. And she has already forgotten about smiles and a good mood.       “So what, ugly, you heard me?” Julian asks coldly, literally killing the white and crying Anna with his icy look. “Did you get everything I said?”       “Yes, I got it…” Anna pronounces almost in a whisper.       “What? What? Say it louder! Got it or not?”       “I got it,” Anna says a little louder.       “What are you mumbling as if you have oatmeal in your mouth! SPEAK THE FUCK LOUDER! AND CLEARER!”       “I GOT IT,” Anna almost shouts with tears in her eyes. “GOT!”       “That’s good!”       Julian rudely pushes Anna away from him, making her jump back. The girl cannot keep her balance and, having her legs twisted, falls right on the coffee table, on which a small cup of coffee is standing. It immediately rolls and falls to the floor. Alongside, the cup of coffee spills on the expensive, light rug. It makes Julian get red from the anger he is obsessed with, and tightly clenches his hands into fists, looking at the pal girl, who tries to get up hesitantly, with bloodshot eyes.       “What did you do?” Julian screams. “WATCH YOUR STEP! YOU, BLIND CHICKEN! IS IT SO HARD FOR YOU?”       “S-s-s-sorry, I didn’t w-w-want it,” Anna pronounces in a shaking voice, getting up and stepping back from Julian. “S-s-sorry… Sorry…”       “DO YOU, BITCH, KNOW HOW MUCH THIS RAG COSTS? DO YOU KNOW IT, ASSHOLE?”       “You just pushed me, and I didn’t see what was behind me…”       “WHAT?” Julian roars in a rude bass voice, runs to Anna sharply, grabs her under the elbows painfully, and shakes the scared girl, who opens her eyes full of horror widely. “SO, AM I THE ONE TO BLAME? AM I THE ONE TO BLAME THAT YOU, CLUMSY CHICKEN, KNOCKED OVER THE TABLE WITH THE CUP AND DESTROYED THE RUG?”       “Sorry, I didn’t want to!” Anna cries with tears and despair. “It happened accidentally!”       “YOU DESTROYED THE RUG! MY FATHER WILL BE ENRAGED WHEN HE SEES IT! THIS RAG WAS BROUGHT FROM ABROAD! HE PAID A LOT OF MONEY FOR THIS! BUT YOU, BITCH, DESTROYED IT!”       “Julian, please, calm down,” Anna says very quietly, shaking strongly with fear and barely standing on her feet. “I will pick up everything and clean.”       “IDIOT!”       Julian slaps Anna in the face very strongly. That’s why she immediately falls on the floor, grabbing her cheek sharply, starting to cry much more bitterly, and getting shocked by being hit for the first time in her life.       “HOW YOU DARE TO MAKE ME MAD!” Julian screams at the top of his lungs, bends to Anna sharply, grabs her by the collar with both hands, and shakes strongly. “BRAINLESS AND HOPELESS IDIOT! WHY DO YOUR BELOVED PARENTS PRAISE YOU FOR AND SAY YOU ARE ENDLESSLY TALENTED, SMART, AND BEAUTIFUL? THAT IS BULLSHIT! YOU CANNOT DO A SMALL PART OF WHAT A WOMAN MUST DO! YOU ONLY WORK HER FUCKING TONGUE WITH YOUR FRIENDS! AND READ SOME FUCKING TALES!”       “Don’t scream at me, Julian,” Anna begs in a shaking voice with pity in her wet eyes. “Please…”       “SHUT UP, BITCH!” Julian slaps Anna in the face again, making her scream loudly and start to cry much more bitterly. “SHUT UP! STOP THE FUCK CRYING! I DO HATE WOMEN’S TEARS AND WOMEN’S WHINING! I DO HATE!”       “Don’t do this… No…”       “If you do not shut up, you will regret it very much!” Julian hisses through his teeth, clenching his hands into fists and looking at Anna as if he is going to attack her. “I will not pity you and will beat you, so that you will not be able to squeak.”       “Please, don’t do it,” Anna begs with pity, choking with tears. “Julian, wake up! Think of what you’re doing!”       “I SAID, SHUT UP!” Julian gives Anna a slap for the third time, making her scream loudly in pain and rub her burning cheeks. “AND LOOK AT ME! YOU WILL OPEN YOUR MOUTH WHEN I SAY!”       Julian sharply grabs Anna by the neck and hits her head against the floor two or three times. She closes her face with both hands with loud sobs, so it does not suffer, while he gives her strong hits with fists and legs and beats her on her arms, legs, back, head, and face and drags her on the floor by the hair.       “No, please, stop it!” Anna begs with despair, trying to protect herself somehow. “JULIAN! NO! STOP!”       For the first few seconds, Anna tries to creep as far from Julian as possible and close some parts of her body. But later, she understands that she will not go away from him and allows him to beat her, crying bitterly and doubling over with the pain in her whole body. She would have never thought a man would slap her in the face and start to beat her cruelly someday. The girl is suffering because she has nobody, who could defend her against this tyrant, who is the reason why she has to sacrifice herself in the hope that he will not do anything with her parents, and take his mocking and beating. Now Anna starts to regret leaving the house of Daniel, who never did anything like this to her. He always treated her like a queen and tolerated any caprices of his sweetheart. And somewhere at the bottom of her heart, the girl wants him to be near her and save her, even if she will never say it aloud.       

***

      Because of the realization of her absolute hopelessness, Anna does not even try to hold the tears down. Because of Julian, the girl really thinks she is terrible, ugly, hopeless, unattractive, and actually – the worst girl in the world, who can do nothing. She used to think she was a beautiful, smart, attractive, and good girl. Not only because Daniel made her feel like this, but also because she never had problems with her self-rating… But now Anna believes Julian, who humiliates her, injures her, beats her, bans her from speaking to her friends, and controls her by asking Maximilian where she goes and who she meets, so that it looks like he is worried about her.       There is no place to run, and nobody can help or protect her… Anna stayed alone with her fears and her offender. She is like a scared little child, who gets lost among strange people and tries to find their parents so hard to feel quiet and protected again and make sure that nothing treats him or her. It’s like the girl got also lost and is crying from fear and panic, as she is trying to find someone to close her with their body, press her to themselves, and protect her from horrible people, who want to harm her. Choking with tears, Anna gets down on her knees at some moment in the middle of the room, closing her face with both hands. She asks herself what she did to suffer so much.       At some moment, the girl slightly rolls up a sleeve of her gray turtleneck, which fully closes the top of her body, and sees a few bruises on her hands. But it’s just a part of them. Actually, Anna has many ones on her body, but she hides them from Maximilian too hard. She even has to put on makeup to hide the tracks of the beating and not to remove it, so her father sees nothing. Now she needs her cosmetics only for it. She no longer uses it to become attractive. Anna is afraid to show her bruises to Maximilian and thinks he would not believe that Julian did it. She is afraid he may say she just hit herself against something strongly and should be careful the next time.       

***

      Some time ago, Daniel returned home. The man cannot stop thinking of what he managed to recall and was shocked by what was said by Blake and the girl, who insulted him so much. At least Perkins made sure he might know Peter and Terrence, and he knows that the latter one was really with him on the fateful day, which left a bright track in his memory. At the moment, Daniel is sitting in the living room, doubling over, pulling his hair out slightly, and thinking about what’s happening too hard.       “Damn, I don’t know what to think,” Daniel thinks, looking into the distance and stroking his chin. “Everything is messed up in my head! Many things don’t fit together, and I can’t understand who tells me the truth… The guys denied all the charges that I was given, and that girl and that boy blamed me openly. I don’t understand… Who’s telling the truth? Oh…”       Daniel leans on his knees with his elbows.       “If I knew Peter tried to die, and I was at his home and saw his cut wrists, how could it have to do with the fact that he did it because I bullied him? What’s the meaning of letting me into his apartment and seeing him die? Maybe, he invited me to do that before my eyes? Or did I come there at my wish? To bring him to that! But… I wouldn’t like him to die… That guy seems good. I don’t feel any disgust for him, and I don’t wanna be rude and say something bad. As if I’m really not guilty…”       Daniel shakes his head and moves his eyes aside for a moment.       “Peter, Terrence, and his brother, who I can’t remember yet, say the article is false,” Daniel frowns slightly. “They’re trying too hard to prove that I’m not the one to blame and didn’t bring the blond to that. But that young boy said what was posted in the article was the truth and showed me those photos… Damn! I don’t know who to believe! Everything is too tangled!”       Daniel exhales sharply and, making a rooftop gesture, brings his fingers to his mouth.       “Did I really hate Peter so much but try to hide it? I even went to the hospital where he was brought… But why did I threaten him? Why was I insulting and humiliating him? And the most important thing is: why does that guy behave so amicably? He… Really got scared of my threats? Is that why he denies everything so hard?”       Daniel runs his hands over his face and runs his fingers through his hair.       “And that girl said the guys were doing their managers’ orders… And Terrence’s brother confirmed that there was really a conflict between the blond and me… Are they lying to me? And trying to help me by the order of their managers? If that’s the truth, I must piss them off. Get out of their band and forget about it. But I don’t remember about it anyway…”       Daniel exhales sharply and runs his hand over his face.       “I remember nothing from what happened between the blond and me, but I’m really ashamed anyway,” Daniel thinks with sadness in his eyes. “And I don’t want them to babysit me like a child. I feel terribly embarrassed and ashamed. And I don’t believe them. So, I should tell them I’m rejecting their help and breaking all the contacts. I’m grateful to them for what they’ve done for me, but I can’t take this anymore… I’ll remember everything by myself. Early or late, the memory will be back to me, and I will find out who is right, and who is guilty.”       Daniel sits on the sofa for a few seconds, thinking about how to recall everything that he forgot and about his wish to reject the help of his friends. And then he gets up slowly, goes to the kitchen, fills a glass with water to wet his whistle, empties it quickly, washes it, and puts it in the right place. Then Perkins comes to the bar table very slowly and leans on it with both hands, starting to look around with dead eyes.       A brick half-partition divides the light kitchen from the living room. And high chairs are standing near the bar table, sitting at which you can see the large room. A napkin holder, different magazines for men and girls, an empty wooden soup plate, and a vase with artificial white lilies are placed on the bar table. And a few halogen lamps are placed in a line above the bar table. They light up this place brightly when they are turned on with a switcher placed on the brick wall. The spacious living room is a perfect place to spend time with friends. There are comfortable, light-brown sofas with darker pillows of a darker color lying, soft armchairs, a glassy coffee table, and high ceilings. A beautiful, big chandelier is hanging above the sofas and the table, and halogen lamps light up the kitchen.       Also, the living room has high-ceiling windows, dark curtains, and a double transparent door that leads to the back of the house and can be closed with a curtain. While a rug is placed in the place where the sofas are standing, lacquered laminate covers the other floors. It’s possible to see artificial flowers, pictures of unknown authors, and many other things that make the interior of this house more comfortable. There is a railing on the second floor, leaning on which it’s possible to see what happens on the first floor, a transparent door that leads to a small balcony, and many high-ceiling windows, thanks to which there is a lot of light in the house. Some doors lead to many different rooms, but there are not so many of them: just a couple of bathrooms, the man’s room, and two more rooms for guests.       Daniel looks around the kitchen and the living room and smiles slightly with sadness in his eyes, understanding that he likes living in such a perfect house but feeling kind of lonely. The man thinks there was much more fun here because of the feeling that people, who visited him, spent a funny time here. He imagines some silhouettes walking in the living room, laughing, talking, and running in this place, not knowing who they are. And sleeping alone is also kind of weird to him. As if someone lived in the house and did not make him feel lonely. A certain girl, who made him happy and did her best for this place to be comfortable.       Some time later, Daniel wants to go to his room and try to find something that will remind him of the one, with whom he lived and slept in the same bed. The man slowly steps back from the bar table and, shaking his head to move some hair off his eyes, goes to the stairs. But when Perkins goes a few stairs up, he hears a sudden ring on the doorbell.       “Hm, who’s that?” Daniel frowns slightly. “I’m waiting for nobody…”       Daniel goes down, comes to the door, opens it, and does not have time to realize that Blanca, who came here with her sister Mia, literally hangs on his neck with happy whoops:       “¡Ho-o-ola-a-a, mi amor! ¡Estoy tan contento de verte! Te echado tanto de menos… ¡Al fin nos conocemos, mi gatito!”       Blanca greedily starts to kiss Daniel's cheeks, while he, being confused, just throws his hands up with rounded eyes. But a few seconds later, he starts to realize that Blanca came to him and literally strangles him with her tight hugs.