The Criminal Diaries

      Despite the depressed condition and the desire to lie on the sofa and do nothing, Peter, Edward, Daniel, and Terrence managed to put themselves together to show up for those who were waiting for their performance. This time, they do not have to jump on the scene to warm up the crowd because the men are sitting on chairs in front of the listeners, performing their songs on guitars and cajon, and using a shaker. A microphone stand is placed in front of all of them, and the four men sing their lines into these by one, sometimes fixing the earpiece they use to hear the music, themselves, and their colleagues.       The performance goes fine, without any bad events, even though the members of “Against The System” are much quieter than usual. That’s what impacts their fans, who are sitting in their places, listening to their idols quietly and clapping their hands at times. Yes, of course, someone tries to get rid of the tension and support their idols, but this initiative does not find any support. However, they can notice that a sad smile shows up on the men’s faces as if they thank them for this.       Terrence, Edward, Peter, and Edward perform several songs, among which there are those they have already released and those nobody has heard yet. Despite their fear of meeting failure, everything is going well, even if the men do not give too many emotions and feelings to their performance. They are like A+ students who memorized something and told their teacher about it without understanding the meaning of it.  And the fans that are now in the room literally feel it and notice that the musicians look upset and depressed. Most likely, people will be discussing this situation actively tomorrow, knowing that some people are recording their performance on their phones, and professional photographers run from side to side to take good photos.       Even if Peter beats the correct rhythm on the cajon and uses the shaker at the right moments, he is somewhere far from here in his mind, feeling that his heart squeezes painfully at some bad thoughts connected to Helene. He sometimes looks sadly at his colleagues, who make much effort to save this concert as a trio. Terrence does not let anyone forget that he still has a sonorous and powerful voice and can take all the high notes. Edward remembers that his position in the band is a lead guitarist and gives his everything to play a brilliant solo as he plays all the songs. And Daniel tries so hard to surprise everyone with his singing and guitar playing. And he often asks Peter sitting next to him about his condition, regretting not insisting on the cancellation of the show as well as his friends.       At first, Peter finds the strength to sing his solo lines, which he does not have too many of. But when there are just a couple of songs, he understands he cannot do this anymore and asks Daniel to sing his solo lines for him. The brunet agrees and does it brilliantly, leaving the listeners a little confused about why he sings what the band’s drummer is supposed to sing. Edward and Terrence are not surprised either and sing along with their friend as if nothing happened. At these moments, Peter looks at them with thankfulness and even finds the strength to smile as if he reminds them that he is really happy to have such wonderful friends as they.       After finishing to perform their last song and striking all the strings of the guitar or making the last hit on the cajon, Edward, Terrence, Peter, and Daniel exhale in their mind with relief at the thought that the show has been successfully finished. The applause from everyone in the whole room warms their souls and makes them feel a little better. They are sorry about not being so energetic and funny this time, but they are happy with themselves, each other, and the work they did all together. But the men are upset that they cannot stand up and leave right now because they also have to answer some questions from their fans. However, Peter thinks it’s a good chance to be silent, fall into his thoughts, and think about how he can help Helene.       “Thank you…” Terrence takes a word, holding the acoustic guitar with one hand and taking the microphone in his other hand. “Thank you so much for coming to our show. It means a lot to us. And we hope you liked the songs nobody had heard before. The songs that will be included in our album. Which is going to be released very, very soon.”       “Erm, we apologize to you for being some kind of sleepy flies…” Edward apologizes shyly, bringing the microphone to his mouth. “Not as active and loud as usual. But still, we tried so hard to make you happy and forget any discomfort and any sadness to get out and sing.”       “Yeah, we’re humans, after all…” Daniel notices thoughtfully. “Everything can’t be alright all the time. There are days when everything goes wrong. When everything falls. When you just wanna lie and look into the distance. Today we are… Having the same condition. Though we knew you were waiting for us. So, that’s why we made ourselves shake up.”       Everyone in the small, well-lighted room starts applauding loudly to support the men and let them know that they did a good job and did what they should have done.       “Alright, guys, now let’s talk a little and try to distract ourselves from bad thoughts,” Edward suggests much more cheerfully. “You can ask us anything you want, the guys and I will try to answer them. Please, who wanna be first?”       Some people in the room start raising their hands high to ask the members of the band something.       “Erm, let’s start with the furthest lines,” Daniel suggests and points at one of the girls. “The girl with blue hair in a flower top, let’s start with you. What’s your question?”       When someone, who is working in the concert room, comes to the girl Daniel pointed at and brings the microphone to her mouth, she looks at them with a little shy smile, folding her hands in front of herself.       “Hi, guys…” the girl greets gently and exhales with a shake. “Thank you so much for this show. Though you’re really sad today, it turned out to be wonderful anyway. I dreamed of listening to you live, but I didn’t have a chance to. But today I finally did it.”       “Thank you so much,” Terrence thanks with a slight smile.       “Erm… Honestly, I don’t even know what to ask you about… There’s so much in my head… I’m a little confused…”       “Don’t be shy, girl. Ask us any question.”       “Alright… Then I would like to ask you, Terrence. Are you planning to renew your acting career? Or are you now more focused on the musical one?”       “I’ve never said I quit my acting career. I just put it in the second place due to my wish to work on music. In one of my interviews, I said I liked the acting, but it wasn’t my great passion. My passion is music. And now I want to work as a musician much harder.”       “But is there a chance that you will play a role someday? You did it so well! I think my favorite role of yours is Lesley, the son of the murdered man from one cool detective show that I adore.”       “I thought you’d say it was the role of Mason Houston,” Terrence laughs shyly, making everyone in the room laugh.       “That role is cool, but Lesley is my favorite. Your character had a very interesting storyline. I’m sorry that he appeared in one episode only. I’d be happy to watch a show about him.”       “You know, I’d come back to this role with pleasure. It’s one of my most interesting roles I played with a lot of pleasure.”       “By the way, I also loved that show when I was younger,” Daniel confesses. “And Lesley was one of my favorite characters, too.”       “Really?” The girl surprises truly. “You love that show, too?”       “Yeah, I didn't miss any episodes when they were translating it on TV. I always wanted to know if I could guess the name of the killer.”       “You guessed everyone?”       “Well…” Daniel bites his lip slightly. “Almost…”       “I think it was my first serious role,” Terrence says thoughtfully. “I had played schoolboys. Who were beautiful but stupid. And when I got the suggestion to play someone, I agreed immediately.”       “Maybe, you will make us happy with another cool role in a movie or a show?” the girl asks shyly.       “I’m examining all the suggestions I get, but I’m interested in nothing yet.”       “You said you always wanted to play the antagonist that everyone would hate.”       “And I will keep reaching this dream.”       “You’re giving us hope, Terrence. Thank you so much.”       “Thank you!”       Quiet applause starts in the whole room.       “Alright…” Terrence pronounces thoughtfully, looking at everyone, and points at another girl from the furthest line. “The girl with red strands in her hair, what do you want to ask?”       “Erm, hello, guys,” the girl pronounces shyly. “First, I would like to ask Edward about his condition after the poisoning.”       “I’m alright now, I feel great,” Edward replies confidently. “Thanks for asking.”       “I’m so happy you got well. My eyes popped out when I saw the news about your hospitalization.”       “Our Edward can’t be struck down so easily!” Terrence exclaims, clapping Edward on the head. “The grim reaper will have to run tens of miles after him to take him out.”       These words make everyone in the room laugh.       “Say, Edward, have you ever wanted to try to work as a model?” the girl asks. “I think you would look good on a runway at some Fashion Week.”       “If I’m invited, why wouldn’t I try to?” Edward shrugs. “Even if music will always be my greatest passion, I don’t mind trying something new. For example, I decided to try to learn to play piano, and I began to get lessons in my free time. I don’t know what it will lead to, but I’m interested in trying.”       “Oh, gosh, that’s so awesome! You would look amazing sitting on the piano and wearing a suit.”       “If I learn to play, there will probably be songs played on this one on our next album.”       “You want to play for your fiancée?”       “She loves me singing for her. Especially in Spanish. Natalia says I sound much better when I speak it than English.”       “Oh, guys, don’t you wanna release a song in Spanish? Or any other language?”       “The idea is wonderful, but first, we need to learn Spanish,” Daniel replies shyly. “While Edward is fluent in it, Peter, Terrence, and I would have to learn it from the very beginning. And to be honest, I’ve always been bad at foreign languages.”       “Have you never tried to learn anything?”       “I learned Spanish in school, but my scores were always terrible. Though I managed to memorize a couple of words. And I don’t know anything else.”       “And other languages?”       “I somehow tried to learn Russian. And I even tried to learn Korean and Japanese. My mom somehow took my sister and me to language courses for general development. But alas, I’m as bad at being a polyglot as at being a cooker. And Cassidy didn’t memorize or understand anything. I mean, she didn’t want to. She was a restless fellow, and I didn’t wanna spend my time on it when I could hang out with my friends or go on a couple of dates with girls.”       “And you don’t want to fix it?”       “Maybe for our trips to other countries. Just to greet our fans when the guys and I are on the worldwide tour.”       “Anyway, the guys and I can let Edward have one solo song so he can sing it in Spanish for his beloved fiancée,” Terrence adds.       “It would be great!” the girl exclaims. “Of course, I don’t understand a word, but I’m sure Edward would sound magical in Spanish.”       “Gracias por el cumplido,” Edward thanks with a slight smile. “Te quiero mucho.”       “Oh, it sounds so beautiful…”       Everyone in the room starts applauding.       “The red-haired girl in a white hoodie, you can ask us your question,” Edward says, pointing at one of the girls in the room.       “Hello, guys,” the girl pronounces gently. “Daniel, say, please, do you have any other hobbies besides music? Is there something you think you are good at?”       “Oh, honestly, I don’t have so many talents…” Daniel replies shyly, scratching the back of his head. “I guess it would be easier to say what I think I’m super bad at. I can’t cook, I don’t know languages… Though… I can roller skate and ice skate. I can even make a couple of simple tricks.”       “And where did you learn? On your own or got lessons?”       “I took ice skating lessons when I was a child. I mean, my parents thought I would be a cool ice skater when they saw me trying to slip on the ice.”       “And then they make a great mistake,” Terrence says funnily, making everyone laugh.       “Yes, yes, my coach kicked me out one day, telling them not to bring this log idler anymore. Though it never stopped me from just skating. I have the pleasure of roller skating in the summer and ice skating in the winter. Peter is also good at this and sometimes makes me a company.”       “The guys and I try to make Terrence roller, too,” Edward confesses. “In case you didn’t know, he hasn’t rolled since he fell cruelly and got a head trauma in his childhood. Mom banned him, and he is still afraid. Yes, we can’t do this yet, but we don’t lose hope.”       “What a waste of time…” Terrence shakes his head.       “Give us time, guys, we can do this.” Edward claps Terrence on the head. “This old man will surprise you with perfect pirouettes and make a couple of toe lops and axels.”       “Hey, guys, if some of you have brothers or sisters, send me a message and tell me how you kick their asses. Maybe I can take a note about something. You see that I must keep the kid on the leash.”       “And tell me what I should do to this creature, whose feathers I will tear out early or late.”       Everyone in the room starts laughing quietly.       “So, Daniel, as I understand, you have tried many things,” the girl notices. “Lessons of Russian, Korean, and Japanese, ice skating…”       “I was looking for myself, so to say,” Daniel replies. “I mean, my parents tried to keep me busy with something. All of that seemed too complicated, long, and annoying to me. I thought I’d start to do everything shortly. I gave up on guitar playing multiple times 'cause I didn’t wanna spend time learning. I wanted to play like one of the greatest guitarists of all time.”       “Would you like to do something now except the music?”       “Honestly, I can barely imagine being someone who isn’t connected with music. This is the only thing I really love. The thing I was really ready to work on for hours. I’ve always loved singing and done it every time I could, and I got a wish to play guitar when I heard my younger sister playing for the first time.”       “But you said you played soccer for several years in one of your interviews.”       “I wasn’t successful at that, either. And I’m not a sportsman. Going to a gym class and working out is a terrible torture to me. I’d rather play guitar for several hours in a row until my fingers start bleeding than jump, run, lift weights, and do pull-ups. By the way, I’ve hated pull-ups since childhood. And I don’t like planking. Though the guys make me do it when we train together at times.”       “Nevertheless, Daniel has lately gone there much more regularly,” Terrence notices. “With the help of his friends, who call him in the early morning to take him to the morning run. Or take him to the gym class by the collar and make sure he does everything well.”       “At these moments, I really wanna kill these idiots. Especially, Peter, who becomes a heartless monster when the case is about sports. He is literally obsessed with it. He works super hard himself and thinks others can bear it.”       “Yeah, guys, we don’t advise you to ask him for help if you aren’t ready to get super intense workouts and suffer from hellish pain in your whole body,” Edward insists.       “I guess he has already scheduled the workouts for his girlfriend?” the girl assumes.       “Pete may work out with her at times,” Daniel replies. “But actually, Helene has a wonderful restless doggy, playing with which replaces her workouts at a gym class. Trust me, you can’t catch that dog when he is in his element.”       “Anyway, the effort of your friends is worth it, Daniel. I’m gonna be honest, I am thrilled by the photos you publish on your accounts. Your body has changed for the best.”       “Of course, it’s always been gorgeous, but now it really looks gorgeous. That’s what motivates me to keep working out ‘til total exhaustion.”       “Alright, thank you for answering my questions.”       “Always welcome.”       After this, Edward, Terrence, and Daniel answer more questions about them, their personal life, their band’s work, and their plans for the future. They try so hard to look natural, joke at some moment, laugh, and tell some funny stories. And they do this more or less well because they let themselves relax a little and forget everything that’s happening to them currently. That’s why everyone in the room relaxes too after being a little tense before. Another reason for that is the fact that the guys fulfill a wish of one of the fans by singing the snippets of the songs dedicated to their beloved girls, and something that was not released for one reason or another.       But Peter has not pronounced a single word or laughed at any jokes from his friends. He does not react to the mentions of his name. The man keeps sitting in his place with his head inclined and thinking about something, and looks at his hands with eyes full of sadness as he is far from here in his mind. All he thinks about now is where Helene is, what’s happening to her, and when he gets a chance to save her. Even just sitting here is a hard thing for him, but he did it at his own will. And this time, it’s much harder to pretend than when his friends and he were invited to perform as the opening act of the famous band.       At first, Peter is like an invisible person to everyone since nobody asks him questions. And it does not make him upset because he does not want to say anything. But everything changes after Edward, Terrence, and Daniel answer the question from the boy about their plans for the future album. They look at everyone quickly before they point at the dark-haired girl with square black glasses wearing a black crop top and dark blue skinny jeans and ask her to ask them anything she wants.       “Hey, guys,” the girl greets when the microphone is near her mouth. “First, I’d like to thank you for such a wonderful performance and for singing a couple of new songs.”       “Thank you for coming,” Edward thanks.       “And second, I’d like to ask Peter some questions. He is like… Deprived of attention… And he’s silent today. He’s said no word after you finished the performance.”       “It’s alright,” Peter pronounces without emotions, bringing the microphone to his mouth.       “Sorry about meddling in your business, but are you upset with something? You’re not yourself now.”       “Can’t deny it… I feel really sad today.”       “Whatever happens, remember that we’re always with you and love you so much.”       “Thank you so much. You guys, give me the strength to hold on. I put myself together and went on the stage for you. Because I know you were waiting for me.”       “As I understand, you haven’t been alright for a long time. It’s been a while since you updated your accounts on social networks.”       “I have nothing to publish yet. And I’m not in the mood, to be honest.”       “A random article on the Internet talked about your relationship issues with your girlfriend. Is that true?”       “Erm, yeah…” Peter confesses hesitantly, biting his lip. “There’s some problem… But… We’re trying to solve it.”       “Are you gonna break up?”       “I wouldn’t like us to. I love my girlfriend and can’t live without her.”       “I’d be really sorry if it happened. Your girlfriend is so beautiful and sweet.”       “She’s the best thing I’ve ever had in my life. And I will do my best not to lose her.”       “In one of your interviews, you said she was the reason why you wanted to live.”       ‘She’s my guiding light. The light that lights up the path on the dark street I walk on. She… Literally brought me back to life… With her, I feel like I’m alive.”       “Aren’t you planning to marry her?”       “It will happen someday. But some events don’t let me think about it now. And who knows… Maybe, we aren’t destined to get married… Maybe, we… Will not save our relationship…”       “Whatever happens between you, I really wanna believe you will get through this and be happy. Heter is my favorite couple. You, guys, are so beautiful and cute together.”       “Thank you for the nice words,” Peter smiles a little falsely.       “Excuse me, can I ask you a personal question?”       “Sure, ask.”       “Say, did you really recover and work on your traumas? Or do you still have some unsolved problems?”       Peter sighs tiredly and thinks about something for a few seconds, setting his dead eyes into the distance and squeezing the microphone tightly.       “Can’t say I’m absolutely healthy,” Peter confesses. “I mean, I’ve never been healthy. Yes, I try to make myself think that it’s all over, but… My old traumas still remind me of them. My scars haven’t gone yet.”       “But why don’t you wanna ask the professional for help? Do you want to live in this condition for the rest of your life?”       “People ask them for help to figure themselves out. But I’m well aware of the reasons for my condition and don’t deny them. I can describe my feelings and emotions and try to hold them down now. Yes, I’m ashamed that people sometimes become witnesses to my anger, weakness, and despair. But that’s how I can feel a little better. It’s like I’m releasing something that’s eating me inside.”       Peter falls into silence for two seconds and swallows nervously.       “But at the same time, I try to make myself sure that expressing emotions is not a shame. Even if there are witnesses to that. For example, Terrence, Daniel, and Edward. Even if they’re my closest people, I’m ashamed of letting myself break down for them. For being unable to control myself. Yes, they understand it all, and I’m really grateful to them. But… I would like to be less emotional.”       “Maybe, there’s something that can help you leave the pain in the past?” the girl asks.       “Honestly, I don’t know what can help me. I’ve been struggling with my traumas for many years, but I haven’t understood how to heal. Though I must confess that I feel a little better now than I did some time ago. I guess the reason is that I met the people whom I could trust. I have those who love me, respect me, and appreciate me. I used to struggle with all of this alone and… It was super hard. Holding everything inside was like a pastime in the tiny box where you can’t breathe and see nothing but the infinite darkness. Where you feel scared ‘cause nobody can hear you…”       “Can you confirm the rumors and suspicions of your fans about the existence of the possibility of self-harming and self-murder?”       “It exists,” Peter nods hesitantly. “If I said I got rid of that, I would tell you a lie. Sometimes I really wanna take a blade and run it over my skin. Punish myself… For… Existing in this world. And disappointing those who believe in me. I… I’m used to punishing myself. It has become a normal thing to me. I understand I can’t solve my problems like this, but I can’t do anything. A blade kinda hypnotizes me when I stop my eyes on it. Any sharp thing kind of turns off my brain and attracts me like a magnet. If nobody stops me at this moment, I will harm myself for sure. But that’s good… I always have someone who wakes me up. My friends, my girlfriend, or her dog…”       “Just remember that even if you do something to yourself, it will break the hearts of many people. All your fans, who keep worrying about you and wishing only the best.”       “That’s why I’m holding on. I remember I owe many people. I can’t let anyone down and disappoint them. If I were all alone, I wouldn’t be here. The band ‘Against The System’ didn’t exist at all, or the members would not be the ones you see now.”       “But don’t you wanna say you play in the band by force? Some of your friends asked you to join, but you agreed out of fear of hurting and disappointing them?”       “No, no, I play in the band at my wish. I really love music and any work connected with it. Creating my own tracks is wonderful. That’s what I enjoy with all my heart. What saves me in the dark times and keeps my mind kind of sober.”       “Yeah, but you always say it like you don’t care about the band, its achievements, and any work.”       “No, girl, it’s not the truth,” Peter protests. “The band was, is, and will be the important part of my life. And no matter how bad I feel sometimes, I will continue to do my duty as the band’s drummer and create music for you along with my boys.”       “Honestly, it sounds like you’re doing someone a favor. It’s like you gave a promise not to let anyone down.”       “There’s a part of the truth in your words. The case is not only about my wish to play my music for you. A fear of letting someone down also has to do with it. Because I… One day… I literally let the guys down when I… Wanted to kill myself. I gave a damn about the band and thought of myself, my problems. That’s why it was almost disbanded, and the guys almost lost a chance to fulfill their dream. It was only my fault. So… I no longer wanna disappoint anyone. I don’t want… Let them down… I have no right to the mistake this time.”       “Excuse me, Peter, but I agree with this girl!” the blonde-haired girl agrees after asking to give her a microphone. “It seems like you’re kinda taken hostage by the band. You don’t wanna play, but you’re forced to go on the stage and pretend that everything is alright.”       “No, guys, don’t think so,” Terrence meddles. “We aren’t holding Peter in the band by force. If he wants to leave it, we will not change his mind. Though we don’t deny that we won’t want to perform without him and don’t see anyone except this guy in the drummer’s position.”       “No matter what, I love playing in the band,” Peter says without emotions on his face. “I love playing for you and seeing your smiles and happiness on your faces. It gives me great pleasure. That’s what helps me hold on the surface. And if I wanted, I would leave the band and do something different. The problem is only my psychological traumas. They break me down. They bring me to despair and hysterics at times.”       Peter falls into silence for two seconds and glances aside, barely holding down his emotions that want to possess him, while Daniel sitting next to him puts his hand on his shoulder.       “Sometimes…” Peter pronounces in a shaking voice. “Sometimes I think… This world doesn’t need me… I shouldn't actually have been born. As if this cruel world wants to get rid of me so hard. It doesn’t want me to live and be happy. It doesn’t want me to spend fun time with my friends, date my girlfriend, play in my band around the whole world… There’s a reason for… I’ve been forced to wish to die at my wish since childhood. But… At the same time… Something holds me all the time… Someone saves me all the time.”       Peter exhales with a shake and, leaning on his lap with his elbow, closes his face with his hand, while the discouraged Edward and Terrence look at each other and then glance at their friend with true sadness in their eyes, while Daniel hugs the blond around the shoulders.       “But there are moments when I don’t want this. When I wanna do this thing quietly. So that everyone knows it when it’s too late. I always ask myself why something or someone is still holding me here and making me suffer. Because… If someone wished me the best… They would let me end all of this shit once and forever.”       At this moment, Daniel looks at the dumbfounded Terrence and Edward with his widely open eyes.       “And these fucking duties…” Peter pronounces in a low voice and sniffs quietly. “Why did I the fuck agree to carry all of this? Why did I let myself owe someone? Though I could’ve just been lying on the bed at my home and staring at the ceiling. I love music, but it doesn’t save me now. And I don’t care about it now. What do I care about now? Who the hell knows! I think… I want nothing… Nothing… At all… I wanna piss everything off!”       Leaning on his laps with his elbows and doubling over, Peter runs his shaking hands over his face and runs his fingers through his hair, which he pulls slightly.       “I shouldn't have made myself sure that all of this stayed in the past. It’s not in the past. Nothing’s gone. It’s been one million years, but the pain is still strong. And… I don’t know what to do with it. How I can get through it. I wanna live a quiet, normal life, but everything is kinda against me. One thing or another. Something pushes me to the edge again and again every time I get out of it after making a lot of effort. And… The more I fall and climb up, the less strength I have. The weaker my wish is. Now I don’t see the meaning in fighting so hard. I don’t understand why I’m still trying to delay what I’m destined to do. If I’m destined to die from the very beginning... It means it should happen… And I still want this…”       Peter sniffs quietly and closes his eyes with his hand to hide the tears that come to them from everyone. While the confused people shocked by this emotional breakdown from the man do not know what to do or say, Daniel hugs his friend much tighter and caresses his head that rests on his shoulder. Terrence and Edward also do not stay indifferent, getting up from the chairs and surrounding the blond from all sides to try to comfort him with a strong hug.       “Quiet, quiet, Pete, quiet,” Terrence pronounces quietly, rubbing the nape of Peter’s neck energetically.       “It’s okay, buddy, we’re here,” Edward calms down, clapping Peter on the knee after he bends to him. “It’s okay.”       “It’s your emotions, bro, just emotions,” Daniel comforts, holding Peter by the shoulders, while the blond sniffs often and rubs his eyes energetically with his fingers.       Peter says nothing and just looks down at the floor with his wet eyes, while he starts shaking strongly from tension and kind of lacking the air.       “Good job, Peter, good job!” Edward exclaims. “You don’t run away from your problem, you do admit it. It’s very good.”       “And remember, the world needs you!” Daniel adds. “Many people need you. They will always need.”       “While you have the guys and me, you’ll never be alone,” Terrence assures. “We’ll take anything, we’ll get through anything, we’ll always listen and help.”       Completely understanding that he is now in front of a crowd of unfamiliar people, Peter tries so hard to hold down his emotions and do something for them not to see his red and puffy eyes. However, he cannot do this at all. And even if he is now closed with Terrence and Edward, who take the blond in a strong hug, which he answers to at some moment, everyone in the room sees everything clearly and takes this breakdown with understanding.       “Guys, could you please support our brother and let him know that we all love him so much?” Edward addresses the listeners, bringing the microphone to his mouth.       Everyone in the room starts applauding loudly to show Peter the support. They can even hear someone shout the words of love. The man himself hears everything clearly and feels much better for this reason. While Terrence, Daniel, and Edward try so hard to comfort him with encouraging words and strong hugs, he starts to feel really ashamed of the fact that so many people look at him now. Watch him succumb to the emotional breakdown, which many articles and tons of reports will be talking about.       That’s what makes Peter put himself together some time later. He gets straight slowly, sniffs quietly multiple times, and strokes his disheveled hair a little, while Daniel and Terrence clap him on the back or head, and Edward holds his friend by the forearms.       “Sorry, guys…” Peter pronounces in a low, little shaking voice and wipes tears under his eyes with a sharp, nervous movement. “Sorry… Sorry about my breakdown… Sorry… I’m so sorry… I'm ashamed… I’m sorry…”       Peter raises his head a little and looks at everyone in the room with wet eyes, seeing the true sadness, sympathy, and no judgment in their glances.       “I know an artist must be a professional and… Forget about their personal problems… But… I… It’s really hard for me… It’s hard to get through everything I’ve been going through. I… I really wanna get out of this hole. I wanna be happy, live a normal life, and trust people, stopping to think everyone wanna harm me. But I can’t do this. I can’t do anything for myself. It’s out of my control. I can’t…”       “We love you, Peter!” a young girl from the crowd exclaims. “You’re the best!”       “Peter Rose is the best!” another girl starts pronouncing, encouraging everyone to repeat after her.       Hearing the words of support that settle something warm in his soul, Peter flashes a little false smile.       “Thank you, guys…” Peter thanks quietly. “Thank you for your support. It really means a lot to me.”       The people keep shouting words of support for Peter and applauding loudly for a few seconds. All this time, Terrence, Edward, and Daniel do not leave him alone and do their best to help him calm down: hugging him tightly, clapping him on the head, back, or knee, or just holding him by the shoulders. The men also say something encouraging to show that they will not leave their friend in trouble, no matter what.       “Erm, alright, guys…” Terrence takes a word, bringing the microphone to his mouth and turning to the crowd. “I think this is the end of our talk with you, to our sadness.”       “Yeah, thank you so much for coming to our little show,” Daniel thanks. “We were incredibly happy to play the songs you already know and a couple of new ones.”       “And we thank you for all your questions,” Edward adds. “It was really interesting to talk to all of you. We’re sorry about not answering all your questions. But we hope you’ll have a chance to meet us next time and ask us anything.”       “See you on other shows!” Terrence says goodbye. “Come to see us again!”       “And don’t forget to preorder our debut album that will be released very soon!” Edward encourages.       “We love you, rebels!” Daniel exclaims. “You’re the best fans in the world!”       While everyone in the room starts applauding loudly, Edward, Terrence, and Daniel stand together with their fans turned on them and take each other’s hands, and then Peter joins them after Perkins’s calling gesture. Then they bow to everyone to say goodbye and watch the people with a slight smile. And when his friends start applauding quietly at themselves and each other, Rose turns around silently, leaves the scene quickly, and goes to the dressing room, hiding his red, tear-stained eyes on the way and being happy this show has finally ended. After looking at each other questioningly and waving their hands at everyone, Daniel, Terrence, and Edward leave the scene too and exhale quietly with closed eyes as they go in the same direction as the blond.       “Oh, I think we did it…” Daniel puts his hand on his forehead.       “Yeah, I’m so happy it has ended,” Edward says tiredly.       “No matter what, you all did a good job,” Terrence notices. “Of course, there was no fire that you had before, but the concert lasted without a hitch.”       “Listen, that girl is kinda right. Peter is really acting like he gives a fuck about the band. It’s like he plays with us because he’s just doing his duty.”       “I think it’s partly correct,” Daniel assumes. “Peter loves his business, but he can’t focus on it fully, while he doesn't know how to solve his problems.”       “I’m starting to believe that Mr. Johnson was right about the blocked memories,” Terrence confesses. “There’s obviously something else that bothers Peter.”       “But why doesn’t he talk about it?”       “Maybe it’s something much worse than the school bullying. Something that gives him much stronger pain. Something he preferred to forget not to feel much worse.”       “Ask him about him directly?” Edward suggests.       “He’ll hardly answer.”       “And honestly, I'm seriously anxious because of the words he just said. About the world that kinda wanna get rid of him. Since he’s destined to die, it should happen. It’s like we’re just playing time and torturing him.”       “Ready to bet my arm that it’s the work of Marcus,” Daniel says confidently. “He said something to Peter yesterday.”       “Or that asshole just made him much more sure that death would be the best solution for him,” Terrence assumes. “He made him think he’d do a good thing to him if he killed him.”       “Fuck, that asshole has been holding Helene nobody the fuck knows where for four days, and he decided to wash his brain and mock him morally,” Edward throws gloomily. “To make him feel much worse.”       “Marcus doesn’t probably wanna deal with him and thinks he’d make the guy kill himself if he keeps doing all of this,” Daniel replies.       “That’s why we must be careful,” Terrence says determinedly. “If we miss the moment, Peter will kill himself, for sure.”       “While Helene’s alive, we can keep the situation under control,” Edward notices. “If we don’t save her, we can give up.”       “Who the hell knows if she’s alive or not!” Daniel exclaims. “What if that bastard has already killed her quietly, but he says nothing to us yet! What if he says when he wants?”       “I doubt it. Most likely, he just let his henchmen mock her. Peter said those bastards felt hard at the thoughts about that girl.”       “It kinda reminds me of the case of Wainwright,” Edward notices thoughtfully. “But he was alone, and now we’ve got a company. That Helene won’t be able to resist if they attack him like hungry wolves, scratching their smelly balls.”       “Damn, how hard everything is…” Daniel sighs tiredly. “And the worst thing is sitting and waiting. Having no chance to help the poor girl.”       “As Mr. Johnson advised, we’ve gotta do our best not to let Peter do stupid things,” Terrence replies. “This is the only thing we can do now.”       “Oh, I hope we’ll have enough strength not to let Rose go insane and to comfort the girls,” Edward expresses hope. “And not to hang ourselves from all this bullshit.”       “Nevertheless, it’s much easier for us than for Helene and him,” Daniel notices.       Silence settles in the air, during which Terrence hugs the sad Daniel and Edward around the shoulders on the way, still taking the way to the dressing room and trying not to notice the glances full of sympathy that people who go by them move at them.       

***

      After coming to the dressing room, Peter enters it and closes the door with a crash. Then he closes his face with his hands and, sniffing quietly, runs them over his little disheveled hair. Knowing that he is all alone now, the man comes to one of the sofas and gets down to the floor powerlessly, hiding behind the screen, behind which he cannot be found shortly. He finally lets all his emotions go out after having to hold them down so hard. Tears get out of his eyes with no control, and his body shakes in painful seizures and squeezes from the goosebumps that cover it.       Feeling like a little, unprotected child, Peter has probably never cried much more than he has done over the past few days. He is in despair because he cannot help Helene and has to suffer from his powerlessness, and has to recall his traumatic past over and over. The one that breaks his soul much stronger and pushes him to the hole, which he barely got out of one day. The man tried so hard to deny all those horrible things and pretend that his life had finally gotten better. But now he understands the wounds have not actually gone. Vice versa, they started to bleed much more strongly. So that even his close friends cannot do anything with it.       Sobbing quietly again and again, Peter runs his hands over his hair and then takes all the bracelets off both of his hands with shaking fingers that he can barely control. Then he looks at his wrists with a heavy breath and tons of old scars that have not yet healed. There is a great temptation to run something sharp over them and get deeply. But as he does not have the courage for this, the man shouts quietly and keeps crying bitterly as he hates himself for his weakness, powerlessness, and cowardice.       However, Peter falls into silence immediately and presses his back tightly to the screen when he hears the door of the dressing room open. He understands immediately that Edward, Terrence, and Daniel come here by their steps. They round their eyes in surprise when they look around and do not see their friend anywhere.       “Rose is not here…” Daniel pronounces thoughtfully. “But a bag with his stuff is here…”       “Where do we find him now?” Terrence throws his hands up. “Where did he go?”       “Maybe, we should check out the restroom?” Edward assumes. “What if he’s there?”       “Yeah, let’s go there! He probably went to wash his face! And we can also ask someone on the way – what if someone saw where he went.”       “Here I am…” Peter reacts in a low, shaking voice, setting his wet, dead eyes into the distance. “Behind the screen…”       After looking at each other questioningly, Daniel, Edward, and Terrence come to the screen that Peter is hiding behind. They see the pale, shaking, tear-stained guy, around whom all his bracelets are thrown.       “Peter, buddy…” Edward pronounces with sadness in his eyes, squats down, and claps Peter slightly on the shoulder, while Daniel and Terrence surround the blond, too.       “It’s okay, buddy, you’re awesome!” Daniel encourages, clapping Peter on the forearm. "You played this show brilliantly, without a hitch.”       “You did it, brother,” Terrence notices cheerfully, clapping Peter on his knee. “The show is over! It means we can relax.”       “I’m sick, guys…” Peter pronounces without emotions and sniffs quietly as he embraces his legs tightly and presses his knees to his chest. “I'm fucking sick. Fucking sick of all this bullshit.”       “It’s gonna end early or late,” Edward assures. “Nothing lasts forever.”       “I’ve been telling myself this for twenty-seven years…” Peter runs his hands through his hair. “But nothing the fuck changes. Everything is getting just worse.”       “Listen, Pete, if Marcus really told you some bullshit yesterday, we’re begging you, don’t listen to him,” Terrence says quietly. “Hear me, don’t dare! His goal is to bring you to a hysterical condition. Make you go crazy.”       “I am already close to the fucking hysteria…” Peter throws some of his bracelets aside sharply and puts his hands to his forehead. “I don’t understand who I am, what I am, and why I’m the fuck living in this world.”       “Hey, hey, quiet, quiet, buddy, it’s okay,” Edward tries to calm down, sits next to Peter, and hugs him around the shoulders. “It’s okay.”       “Everything in this world is against me. Everyone wanna get rid of me. Everyone kinda tells me I don’t belong here.”       “Hey, dude, what are you talking about?” Daniel horrifies, opening his eyes widely. “Nobody wanna get rid of you!!”       “Everyone loves you!” Edward exclaims. “Did ya hear people applaud at you loudly? Did ya see their faces when you got emotional? Your words got them horrified!”       “Don’t calm me down, guys,” Peter throws gloomily. “I know I make everyone’s life worse. My birth was someone's mistake that they haven’t been able to fix for twenty-seven years. Because my cowardice and hesitation were a barrier, and now I'm stopped by some people.”       “You can’t say it while you have a reason you should live for,” Terrence replies confidently. “There are many of them.”       “Which reasons, Terrence? Which?”       “Friends, band, girlfriend, fans’ love…”       “But what about being the role model?” Daniel adds. “There are many people who consider you the reason why they live and struggle. They stay strong because of you. Someone recovered from depression, someone survived the death of their close person, and someone actually got a victory over a dangerous illness. Isn’t it cool when someone takes an example from you and makes you the motivator that helps them solve any life problems?”       “I can’t surely be the role model,” Peter protests. “Seriously, fuck? What kind of fucking role model? A weak, cowardly one, who cries like a girl…”       “You were told you’re broken, not weak,” Edward recalls. “Broken by the shit that is happening in your life. And your condition isn’t a surprise in your case. But there’s something else that surprises – you actually survived it and remained a good human. You didn’t turn into a revengeful, heartless asshole that blames the whole world for your trouble.”       “I didn’t survive all of this, I’m just playing time. I shouldn't actually be in this world.”       “No, Peter, stop saying these things now!” Terrence orders harshly.       “Marcus is right to some extent. You don’t save me, you torture me by making me keep living in this fucking world where I can expect nothing good.”       “Are you a fucking idiot?” Daniel knocks his finger against his temple. “How do you dare to believe that fucking bastard?”       “If you really wished me the best, you wouldn’t run after me like a child and would let me die. And live your life quietly.”       “So, as I understand, that old bastard decided to turn you against us,” Edward exhales sharply. “Making you get mad at Helene wasn’t enough for him. He decided to make you blame us for all the sins.”       “Oh, I don’t know who wishes me bad and who wishes me bad…” Peter moans tiredly, running his hands over his face.       “We’re your friends, Peter,” Terrence recalls, taking Peter by the shoulders. “You’re our brother, who means a lot to us. And whatever happens, we’ll always be near. Especially now, when Marcus is bringing you to this condition.”       ‘I just made myself that I recovered and feel great. I’ve actually never been alright. Never, guys.”       “I guess you should look inside you and recall what you’re trying to forget so hard,” Daniel says quietly.       “What?” Peter frowns strongly.       “Tell us honestly, is there something you haven’t told us yet? Something you forgot for one or another reason? Maybe it’s hiding the reason for your condition. Another reason that’s been ruining you for so many years.”       “Excuse me, Perkins, but I don’t understand what you’re talking about.” Peter glances aside gloomily and sniffs quietly. “I’ve told you everything already.”       “What if there’s something else?” Terrence assumes. “What if there’s something you don’t wanna talk about? Something that makes you feel fear, shame, humiliation, or something else? What if you, so to say, blocked some of your memories to save the rest of your ruined mental health?”       “Where did you hear these words? When did you become psychologists who know everything about people?”       “C’mon, Peter, maybe you’re afraid to confess something to us?” Edward asks carefully, putting his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Afraid that we’ll judge you and laugh at you? What if you’re hiding something that can help us make your condition better?”       “Maybe…” Daniel pronounces thoughtfully. “We’re still hurting you, even if we don’t know it? Maybe we’re doing something wrong and making you come back to the moment when you got a trauma? Besides… Even if we’re your close friends, sometimes we think you kinda build an invisible wall between us. You’re close to us, but you’re far. You don’t let us get much closer to you.”       “The only thing that you hurt me with is your attempts to make me keep suffering,” Peter replies without emotions. “Reluctance to give a fuck about me and let me die.”       “How could we be called loyal friends if we watched you mocking yourself and wishing to go to the afterlife?”       “Stop, guys. You’ve done everything you could. But alas, it didn’t help me. Nothing can help me anymore.”       “Remember, Peter, until you remember and confess what’s actually destroying you, you won’t feel better,” Terrence warns. “Until you let it go and stop denying that these things happened to you, you’ll keep being obsessed with offence, anger, and despair and be forced to die.”       “Don’t ya feel you’re lying to yourself when you say you kinda told us all the reasons for your condition?” Edward wonders. “School bullying wasn’t probably the only thing that brought you to this. Most likely, it made your condition much worse. You’ve gotta find the problem in something else. I don’t know what, but you know the answer to this question. It’s inside you. In your head.”       “Who knows why your brain preferred to make you forget everything,” Daniel adds. “Maybe you were a too young kid, but the thing that happened to you was too traumatic for a baby’s mental health. It made you forget details. But… If we’re not mistaken, you do understand that something is not right. You don’t understand why you fall into a stupor and panic in some situations.”       Peter says nothing and just swallows nervously, while his eyes water with tears as if he understands what the guys mean deep inside, but does not want to admit it or does not understand what’s happening to him.       “No matter how painful it is for me to say it, you have to remember that,” Edward says confidently. “You must understand what kills you if you wanna come to yourself and live a good life.”       “We’ll help you do this,” Daniel promises, hugging Peter tightly around the shoulders. “Help you remember everything and get through the pain that you’ll have to feel. Do our best for you to feel better.”       “We’re here, Peter,” Terrence pronounces quietly, taking Peter by the wrists. “Always will. And whatever you did in the past, we will not be laughing, judging, and mocking. We’ll tear anyone who dares to say something against you. Please, trust us. Believe us. Believe that we will not let you down.”       The friends’ words definitely mean something to Peter and make him think of something that he has literally been trying to deny so hard. Even though his head is empty for some reason, his heart squeezes painfully, and every beat against his chest gives him unbearable pain. His body kind of remembers something and gets covered with goosebumps, and every single muscle squeezes from side to side like a wet towel. It’s getting harder to breathe due to the growing panic, and tears get out of his eyes and roll down his cheeks.       “Hey, hey, quiet, quiet, Pete, quiet,” Edward tries to calm down, hugging Peter around the shoulders and rubbing energetically his forearm with a free hand, “It’s okay, it’s okay.”       “Breathe deeper, hear me, breathe deeper,” Terrence says quietly, still holding Peter’s hands, while the blond can barely breathe due to the feeling that something is pressing on his chest. “Try to relax.”       “We’re here, brother, we’re here,” Daniel recalls, hugging Peter tightly by the shoulders and caressing his head. “We’ll get through anything together. Whatever that is.”       “I know…” Peter pronounces in a shaking, low, quiet voice and sniffs, putting his hands on his forehead and running them over his hair. “I know…”       “It’s okay, buddy, it’s okay. Don’t worry about anything, don’t be afraid of anything.” After sitting on the floor for two more seconds, Peter gets up slowly and comes to one of the bags lying on the other sofa on his weak legs, takes the bottle of water that has not been used yet, opens it, and drinks some water in one gulp. However, he does not get better, and his panic keeps growing due to the sense of anxiety that the guy is obsessed with.       “I’m sick…” Peter blunts under his nose, coming to one of the tables and leaning on it with his hands, and grabs his throat with the thought that he lacks air. “I’m sick of all of this! Sick!”       Peter throws some things off the table with a sharp movement of his arm. That’s why they fall to the floor with a crash. Then he moves his eyes to his reflection with a heavy breath, looking at his red, puffy eyes, while Daniel, Edward, and Terrence look at each other and then get up on their feet.       “Who are you?” Peter asks his reflection. “Who the fuck are you? Who’s sitting inside this body? Who’s been controlling it my whole life? What’s my fault? Why do I have to suffer? What did I do? What? Tell me! Why did someone the fuck choose me as a victim? It’s fucking unfair! I want to live! I want! But I can’t! Because the world is against it! It makes me wish to die! Die!”       Clenching his hands into fists and hitting them against the surface of the table two times, Peter inclines his head and makes quiet sobs multiple times. At this moment, Edward, Daniel, and Terrence look at each other hesitantly, making absolutely sure that Victor’s version is absolutely right after this kind of reaction from their friend.       “We’ve hit the bullseye!” Daniel notices in a whisper. “No doubt after this kind of reaction.”       “Now we’ve gotta make him remember everything and tell us about it,” Terrence replies. “I don’t know how, but we have to.”       “His story turned out to be much more tangled and more awful than we assumed,” Edward notices.       At some moment, Peter sniffs and rubs his eyes with his fingers to get rid of tears. He throws the bottle of water on the sofa, comes to the same bag, and takes his smartphone from the side pocket of it and unlocks it with a password. At first, his face does not show happiness or sadness, while his fingers slide over the sensor screen. But then it gets much paler, his eyes open widely, and he freezes sharply and literally stops breathing.       “Are you okay, Pete?” Terrence expresses anxiety, coming to Peter carefully.       Peter’s breath gets much heavier as long as he scrolls something down nervously with his shaking fingers on the screen of his phone and examines the content closely.       “Fuck…” Peter pronounces in a low, little hoarse voice. “Fucking bastard… Asshole…”       “What’s wrong?” Edward wonders. “What got you so shocked?”       “I wish they all die there… I wish they were crushed by a train… I WISH THEY BURNED IN THE HELLISH FIRE!”       “Hey, did Marcus send you something again?” Daniel guesses. “He said something against us again?”       “Kill…” Peter hisses through his teeth, clenching his phone tightly in his hand, while his face gets red from anger, his eyes are bloodshot, and his breath is much heavier due to the lack of air. “If I catch you, assholes… I SHALL BREAK YOU LIKE PEARLS!”       “Calm down, Peter, calm down, don’t scream,” Edward pronounces quietly, getting closer to Peter.       “FUCKING BASTARDS! FUCKING ASSHOLES! SCUMS!”       Shouting loudly and irritably, Peter throws his smartphone on the floor as strongly as possible, grabs his hair tightly and pulls it painfully, while the gadget does not break since it falls to the rag.       “Hey, hey, quiet, quiet, calm down,” Terrence tries to calm down, taking Peter by the forearms and feeling how tense they are due to the anger he is obsessed with. “Calm down!”       “Let me go, MacClife!” Peter roars, getting out sharply of Terrence’s grip and pushing him off. “DON’T TOUCH ME, I SAID!”       “Calm down, Peter, it’s okay,” Edward pronounces quietly, touching Peter’s shoulder with his hand. “Don’t be so nervous and scream.”       “I am not nervous! I am mad! I AM FUCKING ANGRY! I SHALL KILL ANYONE TO STAND IN MY WAY!”       “What did that asshole send you?”       “I shall be PRAYING that an AIRPLANE falls over his head! And then I shall be happy to DANCE ON HIS FUCKING GRAVE!”       “Hey, hey, get cool, buddy, get cool!” Terrence jabs, grabbing Peter’s arms tightly and starting to hold him along with Edward. “Control yourself!”       “SCUM! FUCKING ASSHOLE!”       Peter throws everything off the table with a sharp movement of his arm, while Edward and Terrence try to calm him down somehow, and Daniel takes the smartphone from the floor to find out the reason for his friend’s aggression.       “I SAID I WOULD TEAR HIM APART IF HE DARED TO DO THIS! HIM AND HIS WHOLE GANG OF BASTARDS!”       “What the fuck is wrong?” Edward wonders. “What made you so bad? What was on the phone? Explain everything to us!”       “Look at this,” Daniel says quietly, turning the screen of the phone on Terrence and Edward. “Here’s the reason.”       They can see the chat with the number’s owner that was not added to the list of contacts, and the short message that says:       “Are you grieving because of what’s happening to your sweetheart? Wrong, my boy! Now I shall show you that she is not missing you at all.”       Next, they see several photos of the absolutely naked skinny girl with dark loose hair. Her face is not seen since she is lying on her stomach with her face in the pillow.       “Shiver me…” Edward opens his eyes widely.       “Is that Helene?” Terrence cannot believe it. “Is that H-h-hel-l-lene?”       “Is she unconscious there? Did those assholes drugged her with something and undressed her? And took photos?”       “Fuck, are our suspicions confirming?” Terrence closes his mouth with his hand. “Are those bastards doing what they want to her, while nobody can see it?”       “EXACTLY!” Peter explodes. “EXACTLY, THE FUCK! THAT’S HELENE! FUCKING NAKED! THOSE BASTARDS LOOKED AT HER FROM ALL SIDES AND FUCKED HER!”       “Oh, shit…” Edward shakes his head, running his hands over his hair. “I’m shocked… I dunno what to say…”       “Did Marcus decide to prove his charges in this dirty way?” Terrence wonders. “Put the girl to sleep, undress her, take photos, and send you all that shit!”       “Those bastards…” Peter pronounces in a low voice. “They did that to her… IT’s not a secret to us that they drool as they look at her. So these assholes USED THE MOMENT! THEY FUCK HER HARD, BUT I CAN DO NOTHING BECAUSE I AM NOT THERE!”       Peter smashes his fist strongly against the wall near him and kicks the bag lying on the floor, and breaking something fragile in it, judging by the sound that they can hear after this.       “It’s not Helene, guys!” Daniel states. “It’s an absolutely random girl.”       “What do you mean it’s not Helene?” Terrence frowns strongly.       “It’s not her. Marcus sent a photo where you can’t see Marshall.”       “What kind of bullshit, idiot?” Peter snaps, waving his hands sharply. “IT’S HELENE! THAT’S HER!”       “Look closer!”       Daniel turns the screen of the phone to Peter, Edward, and Terrence.       “Yes, this girl is similar to her from afar, but it’s not Marshall. This gal has ass-length hair, but Helene’s got much shorter hair that ain’t even reach her chest.”       “Stop talking shit, Perkins!” Peter throws coldly. “That’s HER! THOSE BASTARDS UNDRESSED HELENE AND PICTURED HER! AND THEY FUCKED HER ONE HUNDRED PERCENT!”       “Dude, open your eyes! I understand you’re angry now, but it’s not Helene. It’s a photo of a random girl. Marcus or his henchmen just found a photo of the girl similar to Marshall on the Internet and sent it to you with the thought you’d believe it.”       “Indeed…” Edward pronounces thoughtfully, bringing the phone closer to himself. “Dan’s right… It’s not Helene, it’s a random girl.”       “Right…” Terrence confirms. “This girl is some kind of Rapunzel with this hair, but Marshall’s hair is much shorter and darker than in the photo.”       “You think I'm blind and can’t see WHAT IS CLEAR?” Peter irritates. “CAN’T SEE THAT’S HELENE? THAT’S NOT THE NAKED ASS OF MY GIRLFRIEND?”       “Let’s bet I can find hundreds of similar photos on the Internet for two minutes,” Daniel suggests. “Find the site those assholes took the photo from!”       “If I know that this photo is on the porn site, I SHALL CUT THEIR ARMS TO THE FUCK! SO THEY HAVE NOTHING TO MASTURBATE WITH AND PUT IN ALL HOLES!”       “I will try to anyway! And prove that’s a random girl in the photo, not Helene.”       Daniel opens the Internet browser on Peter’s phone and starts doing something to try to find something similar to the photo sent by Marcus.       “That old bastard didn’t probably think about it by himself,” Edward crosses his arms over his chest. “His henchmen advised him to do it.”       “Who are now 100% fucking my fucking girlfriend right now!” Peter explodes with a heavy breath. “ALL TOGETHER, TO THE FUCK!”       “Damn, but we can do nothing with it!” Terrence throws gloomily. “Because we don’t know where they’re hiding her.”       “If I know where they’re hiding, I SHALL KILL ALL OF THEM TO THE FUCK! THEY WILL ASK FOR TROUBLE!”       Peter glances at Daniel trying to find the photo on the Internet, and strikes the smartphone out of his hand with one sharp movement, but the brunet manages to catch it magically.       “Hey, tough guy, stop the fuck staring at my girlfriend’s ass!” Peter demands rudely. “DID YOU LIKE IT? HELLO, MAN! STOP CHECKING OUT MY PHONE! HEY, PERKINS, I AM THE FUCK TALKING TO YOU!”       “Ha, bingo!” Daniel ignores it with a smug smile. “It hasn’t even been a minute!”       Daniel shows the result of his short search on the phone screen with a proud look.       “Here’s what I told you! I was right! Those idiots just found a photo on the Internet and sent it to Rose.”       Edward, Terrence, and Peter can see multiple identical photos that look the same as the one Marcus sent.       “It’s clear they thought the blond would believe it and destroy everything in his way,” Terrence assumes.       “Judging by the description, this is a shoot from an erotic movie,” Daniel says. “And this girl is a professional actress of this genre. Showing a naked ass to the camera is nothing to her.”       “But I’ve gotta confess that I almost believe it was really Helene,” Edward puts his hands on his hips.       “It doesn’t make anything better…” Peter replies much quieter, putting his hand on his forehead. “I don’t exclude that they may torture me with these fucking jokes again and again and send real photos of Helene someday.”       “The most important thing is to always remember that Helene didn’t agree to do that,” Daniel insists harshly. “Even if those assholes feel her up and get their fucking dicks in all her holes, they do it against the girl’s will.”       “If it’s so, I shall wrap their dicks around their neck and tighten them strongly.”       “I’m afraid to imagine what they’re gonna do to her before we find her,” Edward exhales sharply.       “At least, we can make a conclusion – Helene is still alive,” Terrence notices. “They haven’t killed her.”       “For a while, Terrence, for a while,” Peter throws gloomily.       “Oh, what’s this?” Daniel frowns slightly after the phone in his hands starts vibrating. “Hey, a new message on WhatsApp…”       Daniel opens the messenger with just one press on the notification that shows up.       “It’s from Marcus…”       “Okay, I don’t feel anything good already…” Terrence exhales sharply, looking at the screen of the phone in Daniel’s hands along with Edward.       “Alright, my boy, I joked a little,” Daniel reads the message. “Actually, the guys just found this photo on the Internet and sent it to me. Have you already appreciated the attractive curves and the seductive naked body? I don’t doubt you’ve done! The body of this cutie is almost the same as your girlfriend’s. Who made my friends go crazy so that they cannot hold down.”       “That bastard is the fuck mocking me!” Peter clenches his hands tightly in fists with an irritated growl. “HE WANTS TO HAVE HIS ASS KICKED, AS I SEE!”       “So, after warming you up a little, I can give you the dessert. The sweet dessert that you will never taste. That my guys will be enjoying until the death of Helene Marshall. It’s my, so to say, gift for them. The reward for everything they’ve done for me. And all the guys are grateful to me for this wonderful creature. That looks much more seductive when she is naked…”       Daniel scrolls down a little hesitantly and sees several photos of the naked girl with dark hair lying on the bed. Seeing them, Edward, Terrence, and he open their eyes widely, and Peter starts breathing much heavier with his hands clenched tightly into fists, while his face is red from anger, sweat shows up on his forehead, and every muscle is squeezed from tension.       “That’s obviously Helene this time…” Edward pronounces hesitantly. “She looks like her…”       “It’s her…” Daniel nods confidently and scrolls down, seeing another bunch of photos of the naked girl with her face. “Helene. It’s her face. And she’s probably unconscious. Those bastards injected her with something before undressing.”       “Holy shit, what did they do to her?” Terrence opens his eyes widely. “She’s beaten! Her legs and arms are all in bruises!”       “And her bones stick out a little!” Edward exclaims. “As if they torture her with hunger!”       “And she’s definitely bitten by some insects…” Daniel assumes, zooming in on one of the photos and noticing bright red spots on Helene’s arms and legs. “Here, look…”       “Fuck, where are they holding her?” Terrence wonders. “That mattress is likely three hundred years old, judging by its appearance!”       Peter breathing as heavily as the furious bull takes his phone sharply from Daniel’s hands and runs his finger nervously over the screen, viewing all the sent photos. A strong tension is the reason why his eye starts shaking at some moment, and every photo of the naked Helene brings him closer to a hysterical condition.       “Bastard…” Peter hisses through his teeth. “Scum… Asshole…”       “Quiet, Peter, quiet,” Daniel tries to calm down, putting his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Don’t lose your mind.”       “I shall bury all of you in the ground, bastards… If you stand in my way… I shall destroy you… I SHALL THE FUCK DESTROY YOU! DESTROY!”       “It’s not her wish!” Terrence recalls, taking Peter by the forearms. “Nobody asked Helene! She is unconscious and doesn’t know what’s going on. Remember this!”       “They pictured her from all fucking sides…” Peter notices coldly in a low voice. “FROM ALL SIDES! AND THEN THEY FELT UP EVERY PART OF HER BODY!”       “Helene’s guilty of nothing, buddy,” Edward says quietly. “She couldn’t fight the gang of Marcus. There are too many of them, and Marshall is weak.”       “I don’t blame her for anything… She doesn’t really know what’s going on… But these assholes will ask for trouble… I shall BURN THEIR FUCKING DICKS ON THE FIRE! AS WELL AS THEIR OWNERS!”       After viewing the last bunch of photos, Peter scrolls down and sees the next message:       “Alright, I think it’s enough for now. But don’t worry, the guys took a lot of photos of this beauty. I have enough to feed you little by little. Yes, yes, I will be sending you the photos of your sweetheart every day and telling you the stories of my boys about the pleasure they get from sex with this sweet but timid and vulnerable girl.”       Peter growls irritably, clenching his smartphone in his hand tightly, while it gets a little hotter.       “Of course, I would send you a couple of videos, but I cannot send them for some reason. Well, it doesn’t matter. But if you really want to watch these videos of your girlfriend getting fucked by all my guys one by one, I will be waiting for you tomorrow at a quiet place where nobody will bother us. You don’t have to come, but if you want, I will be happy to tell you and show you everything. P.S. I will not say anything about the current location of this cutie, no matter how hard you persuade me to do this.”       The next message has a point on the maps with some coordination and the note, which says this is the place where he will spend some time waiting for Peter. Who clenches the smartphone tightly in his hand with a heavy breath so that his knuckles get pale.       “What’s this place?” Daniel frowns slightly. “Where did that old bastard want to make you go?”       “I have no idea…” Peter throws gloomily in a low voice. “But I will go there. I will go three and make that bastard say where he is hiding Helene and what those bastards are doing to her.”       “You hardly will,” Edward expresses anxiety. “He left the postscript at the end of this message: I shall tell you nothing about the current location of this beauty.”       “Even if you come, you’ll have to listen to his stories about those freaks finishing by one after fucking the young beautiful girl in an unconscious condition,” Terrence notices.       “I shall make him tell me where she is!” Peter says determinedly. “That bastard will tell me everything. And if those assholes come with him, I swear I shall bury them alive.”       ‘Want us to go with you?” Daniel suggests.       “No, I will go alone. I will deal with Marcus by myself.”       “Hey, what if that’s some kind of trap?” Edward expresses anxiety. “What if Marcus wanted to meet you to let his henchmen take you away somewhere again?”       “They’d rather take me away, not Helene. I’d take anything if he agreed to let my girlfriend go and let her come back home.”       “No, Peter!” Terrence protests. “Edward may be right. What if that’s really a trap? We can’t let you go alone!”       “Trap or not, but I have to do this. If I have the smallest chance to find and save Helene, I must use it.”       “We will do it together.”       “No, guys, it’s excluded!” Peter pronounces determinedly. “I will go there alone. If those assholes did something to you, it would be too much.”       “If we’re together, nothing will happen,” Daniel replies confidently.       “I said everything, Daniel. I will be meeting Marcus all alone. So, I order you not to get out and to stay home.”       “Excuse me, buddy, but I don’t like all of this,” Edward confesses.       “Me too. But I have to do something.”       “Even if it’s not a trap, Marcus will one hundred percent come there to make you angry. Open the photo library on his phone and show you the photos of the naked Helene, telling you about those stinkers getting their dicks into all her holes and moving their thighs until finishing.”       “Just one thought about this makes me wanna grab a gun and shoot at their heads…” Peter growls irritably.       “Look at yourself, you’re now all red and tense from anger!” Terrence notices. “And if Marcus has videos of them fucking her by force, you’re gonna actually go insane.”       “If you were instead of me, you’d dream of breaking and tearing the balls of those who wanted to get them into your girls,” Peter replies in a much lower voice.       “We completely understand you,” Daniel replies quietly. “We’d also be angry at the thought of one bastard dreaming of that. If some assholes actually wanted to have a group sex and fuck our girls all together.”       “And if I don’t find out where they’re hiding Helene, those sick bastards will be fucking her again and again every fucking day. Putting her to sleep with some shit, undressing her, doing anything they want to her, and recording everything on the camera. To show all of this to me and publish somewhere on PornHub to please some fucking lovers of jerking off in the evening in front of the computer.”       “We’ve told you what’s waiting for you at this meeting: no information about her current location, but a detailed story of raping her.”       “That’s why we suggest you don’t go anywhere,” Edward adds. “Marcus said you didn’t have to come. And if you come, he’ll be provoking you by telling you about fucking.”       “I have no choice, Edward…”       Peter exhales sharply with closed eyes and puts a hand on his forehead.       “Yes, I know that asshole is gonna provoke me. But I should try to find out something.”       “Do you really think you’re ready to listen to all that shit about your girlfriend?” Daniel asks surprisingly.       “Not ready. And I am mad at the thought that it’s happening. Maybe, even right now, at this minute.”       “Anyway, the guys and I completely understand you and don’t judge you for this aggression,” Edward notices quietly, putting his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “I’d lose my mind and kill Eugene Wainwright if I saw him feeling up Natalia from head to foot, getting his fucking dick into her, and running happily toward the orgasm.”       “I’d kill anyone to dare to do this to Raquelle,” Terrence says with no hesitation. “Even if it was some of my close friends. I’d pity nobody.”       “I’d memorize the face of the one who wishes to rape Anna,” Daniel adds. “Just like I shall always remember the face of Julian Potter, who almost sent her to the afterlife.”       “Oh, fuck, if it keeps happening for a longer time, I think I’ll go crazy…” Peter moans tiredly, running his hands over his face. “And my powerlessness irritates and kills me much more. What kind of man and protector could I be if I can’t the fuck save my girlfriend from a gang of jackals?”       “You know, the police are also powerless, even if they’re looking for her,” Terrence notices.       “How can I wish to keep living after this?”       Peter comes to the table with the mirror and hair and skin stuff and leans on it with his hands, inclining his head slightly with a heavy breath.       “I need a little bit, guys. Just one step away from losing my patience. Helene’s death. If that bastard Marcus kills her, don’t even try to save me. I will give a fuck about you, the band, and everything. I will be unable, I will not want to live without the one I wanted to marry after moving into a large house. Buying which didn’t make sense. I did it for her. But I actually give a fuck about where to go crazy and die.”       Daniel, Edward, and Terrence look at each other with anxiety and swallow nervously, starting to be much more worried about the condition of Peter, who does not even hide his plans anymore. The guy starts shaking strongly from tension again, his legs bend from weakness, and he has something heavy on his chest that squeezes it and does not let him breathe deeply. Nevertheless, he gets a little better when he is hugged tightly around the shoulders by Daniel and then Edward. When Terrence gives him the bottle of water lying on the sofa with an encouraging smile. Even though the blond takes it, he does not rush to open it and just squeezes it tightly, still suffering from the attack of panic that he is still able to control thanks to the effort of his friends.       

***

      When they go to the home of Scarlett to leave Sammy with her, Raquelle, Natalia, and Anna get surprised nicely when they meet Lillian and Maximilian Seymour, who, as they promised, decided to support the woman after they found out what happened to Helene. Although the girls and the former spouses are happy to see each other, they do not show their happiness too loudly and openly. All their attention is now on Mrs. Marshall, who has been spending a bigger part of her time in bed, trying to make her condition a little better with cures and changing handkerchiefs often since they water too quickly, and she does not stop crying bitterly.       “I talk to Mr. Johnson every day, but he says he cannot make me happy with anything,” Scarlett sighs heavily, squeezing the glass of water in her hands as she leans on the pillow with her back and is covered with the blanket. “The police cannot even figure out he approximate location of my granddaughter.”       “We were horrified when we found out what happened to your granddaughter,” Maximilian confesses, sitting on the edge of the bed along with Lilian, and shakes his head. “My God, she’s such a sweet and good girl, but she is now in the hands of some beasts.”       “And they did their best not to leave any tracks,” Anna notices with sadness in her eyes, caressing the head of Sammy sitting next to her on the floor as she is standing next to Natalia and Raquelle in front of the bed.       “And the owner of the car is hiding somewhere and doesn’t show up where he is registered,” Raquelle adds.       “And the one who started it all refuses to say where he hid Helene when Peter met him yesterday in the city,” Natalia confesses.       “God, what’s the fault of my granddaughter with him?” Scarlett wonders and sniffs quietly. “My Helene… My little girl… She lived quietly, worked, dated the man, spent time with her friends, educated the dog… And then she was taken away somewhere!”       “We completely understand your pain, Mrs. Marshall,” Lillian says softly, stroking Scarlett’s hand. “And we’re so sorry about what happened to Helene. The girl is really very good.”       “It’s been four days, but I know nothing about her. If she’s alive or dead… How those cads treat her… Where they are holding her: at a cold place or a warm one… If they torture her with hunger… She left home in a thin top and shorts. She may get cold, get sick… Nights are cold now…”       “Anyway, you can always count on our help,” Maximilian assures.       “Yes, darling, if you need something, we will do anything for you with no problems.”       “I need just one thing, Mrs. Seymour: to see my granddaughter alive,” Scarlett replies in a shaking voice. “Helene is the meaning of my life. I’m living for her only. To attend her wedding and meet her children. I can die only when I know she is not alone and has her own family.”       “Don’t worry, Mrs. Marshall, Helene will be found,” Natalia replies softly. “Those people will not hide her forever. Early or late, they will contact us.”       “I pray to God every day that He protects Helene and helps her save herself. That He does not let her kidnappers do anything terrible to her.”       “I’m sure God has heard all your prayers,” Raquelle says confidently and strokes Sammy’s head when he presses himself to her legs.       “By the way, Natalia, Raquelle, do your families know what happened?” Maximilian asks.       “Yes, Grandpa, Mom, and Dad are shocked by this piece of news,” Natalia replies with sadness in her eyes. “They wanted to visit Mrs. Marshall, but they’re too busy now.”       “Just like Grandpa and Aunt,” Raquelle adds.       “My gosh, why do good people always have to suffer?” Lilian wonders. “Anna barely got away from Julian and Norman, but Helene is now nobody knows where.”       “With the murderer, who killed hundreds of people and was well known in the 90s,” Maximilian notices with horror in his eyes. “Who hasn’t been caught yet.”       “Gosh, Max, don’t remind me of that!” Lilian puts her hand on her heart. “I don’t even wanna think of the hell we lived in all these years.”       “Roger and I were horrified when Helene told us she ran into Marcus and barely escaped from him,” Scarlett confesses. “It happened that we lost her in the shopping center, and she was found by herself.”       “That’s what makes the guys and me much more scared,” Anna confesses quietly. “Who knows what that man wanna do and when.”       “And his henchmen look filthily at her,” Raquelle adds. “The witnesses of the kidnapping and Sammy’s wound told us they looked at Helene with hungry eyes as if she were a fresh piece of meat.”       Sammy barks quietly and whines.       “Oh, thank God, the dog has almost recovered,” Maximilian exhales with relief.       “Raquelle helps me a lot with taking him to all the necessary procedures,” Scarlett confesses. “I would hardly do this by myself.”       “Don’t worry, Mrs. Marshall, we will take care of Sammy,” Anna promises. “And when Raquelle can’t, the guys and I take care of him.”       “Can’t imagine what’s happening inside Sammy because of his owner, who is in trouble now,” Lilian sighs heavily.       Sammy whines much louder, with a greater pity, showing all his pain in this way.       “You’re right!” Scarlett exclaims. “The boy is so depressed, eats almost nothing, forgot about all his toys, and just lies in his corner and sleeps all day long.”       “Nevertheless, he goes to the clinic for procedures quietly,” Raquelle notices. “He was just a little capricious when he got a certain injection.”       “He fears them so badly, even if the doctor does everything very tenderly.”       “Oh, girls, how are you doing?” Lilian asks with sadness in her eyes.       “Holding on, Mom,” Anna pronounces quietly. “Trying to hold on. But sometimes we can’t stop crying.”       “And the men?” Maximilian expresses anxiety. “What about them?”       “Hard, but they’re holding on,” Natalia replies. “Though they’ve got many more responsibilities. They have to comfort Peter, calm the girls and me down, and not to go crazy themselves.”       ‘Oh, poor guys…” Scarlett shakes her head with a heavy sigh. “I wish they would take it all.”       “Knowing Peter’s bad condition, this test isn’t gonna be a hard test for him,” Anna says thoughtfully.       “Mr. Johnson and I had our hearts broken when he was hysterical right here. His cries and shouts made me feel unbearable pain.”       “We’re so sorry you had to hear and see all of that,” Natalia apologizes softly.       “I am so sorry for that poor boy. God. Why is he so unhappy and neglected? Peter is such a good man, but he has to suffer and feel pain again and again.”       “I noticed his sad eyes full of pain when I met him for the first time,” Lilian confesses. “Peter kind of tried to hold on confidently, but it was clear that he got through something horrible at the bottom of his heart.”       “We thought he let everything go and no longer suffers because of the past,” Raquelle says thoughtfully. “But it was wrong. Peter is still not fine. And now, when Helene is in trouble, the situation gets much worse.”       “Gosh, what’s gonna happen if the girl dies?” Maximilian horrifies. “Will he get through this?”       “Hardly, Dad,” Anna embraces herself with both arms. “Helene is the only one Peter allowed to get closer to him for the first time so many years after he was betrayed by the girl he loved. After that case, he was afraid to fall in love, trust, and be humiliated and left again.”       “Now his love for her is too strong,” Natalia adds. “He can’t live without her. And we’re afraid we’ll lose Peter if something happens to Helene. Our friend will not take it.”       “It’s awful…” Lilian shakes her head. “Poor boy… He is really some kind of neglected. As if someone in heaven chose him as a wrecking ball.”       “We also don’t understand why he has to get through all of this,” Raquelle sighs heavily. “Peter is a very good boy. Kind, loyal, smart, understanding, harms nobody, doesn’t stay aside when his close people feel bad…”       “Sadly, it always happens that good people suffer, but bad people live as if nothing happens,” Maximilian shrugs. “Kindness doesn’t always get a victory over evil in this life.”       “We’ve made much effort to help Peter hold on,” Anna confesses. “We always remind him that we’re near. He can always count on us, and we will never leave or judge him… We consider that guy a close person.”       “Mr. Johnson and I talked about Peter,” Scarlett says with sadness in her eyes, looking at the glass in her hands. “And he thinks that boy is hiding something horrible. I mean, he doesn’t hide it, he made himself forget it to save his mental health.”       “But what could be much worse than the school bullying?” Natalia wonders.       “Who knows, my girl. But I agree with this man and think some things are still unknown in this story.”       “It’s possible, yeah,” Lilian agrees. “If the boy got through something tragic one day and was a child, for example, his brain kind of protected him from a stronger self-destruction.”       “People are right that adults’ problems are caused by their childhood,” Maximilian notices. “You should find the answer to all your questions in Peter’s childhood. I don’t think he would be what he is now if he grew up in a healthy atmosphere and got through nothing shocking.”       “Yeah, sometimes you need to get through something not to grow up in a cocoon protected from the whole world and to take any pain quietly. But everything has its limits.”       “But how do we make him remember what happened if it’s the truth?” Raquelle throws her hands up.       “You will not make him. Peter should want it and be ready to come back to that tragic experience again.”       “Gosh, but what could happen?” Anna wonders. “And if it’s really the truth?”       “Most likely, Peter cannot tell you anything because he remembers nothing,” Scarlett assumes. “But as Mr. Johnson thinks, his body does remember everything and sends him signs. Which the boy cannot understand, though.”       “So, should we get deeper?” Natalia concludes. “The case is not only the bullying and the fact that Peter didn’t want to fall in love categorically after the girl from school betrayed him?”       “We can say nothing, girls,” Maximilian shakes his head. “Sadly, we aren’t psychologists and can’t see people through.”       “One thing is clear – he must remember what he forgot, talk about all his feelings, release his emotions, and learn to live with it,” Lilian adds. “Otherwise, your friend will keep suffering until the end of his life.”       Sammy barks quietly in approval and moves his eyes to Maximilian, who yanks him softly by the ears.       “Maybe it has to do with his mother?” Scarlett assumes. “Maybe that woman did something horrible? Maybe… Is the case not only about her alcohol dependence?”       “Who knows, Mrs. Marshall,” Maximilian pronounces thoughtfully. “But whatever happens, that case gave Peter a really strong psychological trauma. And… If he remembers that, his close people must be near to help him get through the pain and let it go.”       “We’re always near, Mr. Seymour,” Natalia replies. “Even if Peter takes it out on us and falls into a hysteria, we understand it all and keep supporting him.”       “And we don’t judge him for being a man and acting like this,” Anna adds. “There’s nothing bad in showing emotions. Men and girls can laugh, smile, cry, and scream. It’s the thing you should never be ashamed of. Because you’re a human, not a heartless machine.”       At this moment, Raquelle feels that her smartphone lying in the pocket of her jeans makes a vibration and decides to see what she got quickly, going aside.       “By the way, where’s Peter now?” Lilian asks.       “Daniel, Terrence, Edward, and he have a show scheduled,” Natalia replies. “If everything is fine, they are supposed to end it now.”       “Can the boy go on the stage in this condition?” Scarlett expresses anxiety.       “The guys suggested that they reschedule it, but Peter insisted that they perform,” Anna shrugs.  “He said he’d do this and no longer wanna let anyone down. It’s like… He’s let them down once, but now he has no right to.”       “I’m quiet at least because the men are with him,” Maximilian notices.       “The guys are awesome,” Natalia cracks a slight smile. “They managed to help Peter stop his hysteria quickly enough and didn’t let him harm himself.”       “And now they don’t leave him alone or call him and send him messages regularly,” Anna adds. “Daniel is especially worried.”       “It’s clear, Peter and he are very close friends,” Scarlett shrugs. “I remember Peter worrying about that guy when he had amnesia and recognized nobody. And when he realized that he had cheated against his will.”       “Daniel is a wonderful man,” Maximilian notices with a slight smile. “Lilian and I kind of miss him because we haven’t met him for ages. We’re busy with work, he performs with the band, and works on the therapy of his younger sister.”       “Nevertheless, Daniel always thinks of you and asks me to give you a greeting from him when I meet you or talk to you on the phone,” Anna notices.       “I hope that guy will not leave Peter now when he feels too bad,” Scarlett expresses hope. “While we know nothing about Helene and cannot help her, he and his friends must focus on not letting his condition get worse.”       “Don’t worry, Mrs. Marshall. Daniel will not leave that guy. Peter means a lot to him. He became his first loyal friend, who didn’t talk to him for money and benefits that Mr. and Mrs. Perkins could give. Yes, their relationship hasn’t always been nice, but they’re still friends. Very close friends, who are always ready to help each other.”       “How much has happened.... I feel kind of anxious for all of you. Whether you can bear this load. Whether you manage to keep your mind straight.”       “Yes, it’s hard for all of us now, but we can get through it. We’re stronger together. Despite all the ups and downs. Despite all the fears and doubts.”       “If it’s too hard for you, you can ask us for help,” Lilian says confidently. “Don’t think we, adults, would be aside.”       “Exactly, we’re worried about you and ready to give you any kind of help,” Maximilian adds.       “Thank you so much, Dad,” Anna thanks with a slight smile, comes to Maximilian and Lilian, and kisses them sweetly on the cheek. “Thank you so much, Mommy. Your help would mean a lot to us.”       “If we meet the Rochesters, Mr. Cameron, and Mrs. Middleton someday, we will surely talk about the current situation and decide how to help Mrs. Marshall.”       “We’ll help you a little while you watch Peter and Sammy,” Lilian adds. “You’ve run into too many problems.”       “You’re very nice, Mr. Seymour, Mrs. Seymour,” Scarlett thanks amicably and sniffs quietly. “And I’m so grateful to you. But I will feel better only if someone brings my baby Helene to me.”       “She will be found, darling. The police are working on the search, and Mr. Johnson controls everything personally.”       While Lilian and Maximilian keep comforting Scarlett crying quietly, and Anna presses the whining Sammy to herself, Natalia moves her eyes aside and sees Raquelle standing in the other corner of the room and looking excited and pale as she sees something on her smartphone. Not thinking a lot, the blonde comes to her friend and puts her hand on her shoulder, asking carefully:       “Hey, Raquelle, are you okay? Why are you so excited?”       “Don’t shout, please,” Raquelle says confidently. “They must not see what I’m gonna show you now.”       Raquelle turns her smartphone to Natalia and shows her several photos of the naked Helene from all sides that were taken from the smartphone’s screen.       “Oh, God!” Natalia pronounces loudly, opening her eyes widely.       “Quiet, I said!” Raquelle shushes, closing Natalia’s mouth with her hand. “No sound!”       “Is that Helene?” Natalia asks in a whisper. “Absolutely naked? With nothing?”       “It seems like those deadbeats are having fun to the fullest. Put Marshall to sleep with something, undressed her, pictured her from all sides, and went to fuck her.”       “Hey, how did ya get these photos?”       “Terrence just sent them.”       “Terrence?”       “Marcus sent these photos to Peter. Terrence said there were many more of them.”       “My God, poor Helene…” Natalia closes her mouth with her hand with a horror in her eyes. “What did they do to her?”       “Peter got enraged when he got these photos. He almost crushed the entire dressing room.”       “Does it mean they’ve played the concert?”       “I think so.”       “Hey, don’t you think Helene kinda lost some weight?” Natalia asks, turning the phone in Raquelle’s hand on herself and viewing the photos better. “If you look closer, you can see her bones stick out.”       “Agree, she used to have much more seductive curves. Either she lost weight due to stress, or those cads just don’t feed her.”       “And it happens that these assholes have been raping her with no shame for four days, while she is somewhere near them?”       “I’m afraid to think about it, but most likely, it’s the truth. We do know they drool over her. They probably slept and dreamed of this moment.”       “What if they fuck her in duos? Or trios?”       “I dunno what to say… I dunno what to say…”       “Hey, girls, what are you whispering about?” Anna wonders, coming to Raquelle and Natalia.       “First, we’re begging you not to shout now, and second, just breathe,” Natalia says in a little shaking voice.       “What? What do ya mean?”       Raquelle shows silently the photos of the naked Helene that Terrence sent her, making the girl go sharply pale and close her mouth tightly with both hands.       “My God…” Anna horrifies.       “Marcus decided to play on Peter’s nerves again and sent him these photos,” Raquelle says. “And he definitely got what he wanted ‘cause Rose is now wild.”       “Do those scums rape our friend so hard? Do anything they want to her, knowing nobody can get them caught?”       “They hardly just undressed Helene to take tons of photos and send them to Pete,” Natalia assumes. “These assholes won’t miss this chance.”       “It’s insane…” Anna shakes her head with half-wet eyes. “Just insane… I can’t wait for Helene to be found. If she’s their prisoner for several days, we’ll lose her for sure.”       “Damn, we can do nothing now! And if the police found some tracks, it gives us nothing ‘cause the criminals hide in their holes like freaking rats.”       “Gosh… Mrs. Marshall is gonna have a heart attack if she sees her granddaughter like this.”       “No, we must not show these photos to her!” Raquelle orders harshly. “And we will say nothing: neither her nor Seymour!”       “I hope those idiots won’t think of publishing them on a random porn site. In this case, Marshall won’t avoid the shame.”       “Terrence said Marcus had some videos, but that man didn’t send them.”       “I hope Marcus won’t send Peter one or two videos of all those nasty men undressing and fucking Helene with no regret,” Natalia expresses anxiety, putting her hand on her heart.       “That asshole decided to drive Rose insane,” Anna assumes. “Bring the guy to the condition that even the guys wouldn’t make better.”       “Gosh, looking at Peter makes me horrified, but those scums don’t wanna stop at all!” Raquelle resents. “A little bit before he comes back to his old habit of harming himself, but kills himself.”       “Oh, and these blocked memories…” Natalia sighs tiredly.       “Don’t you think we’re starting to lose control of the situation?” Anna asks, running her hands through her hair. “Marcus is pressing more and more. Soon, we won’t be able to resist him.”       “I know,” Raquelle pronounces thoughtfully. “But we must not let Marcus wash Peter’s brain and make him stop believing us.”       “The important thing is that he doesn’t believe Helene wanted to undress for those unfamiliar men and let them fuck her,” Natalia replies confidently.       “Until Daniel, Terrence, and Edward are with him, there is a small chance that he will not,” Anna replies. “But I can’t personally be sure about it at one hundred percent.”       “Anyway, let’s keep doing what we’re doing and insisting upon what we want,” Raquelle insists determinedly. “Now this is the least we can do.”       Natalia and Anna say nothing, just sigh quietly and incline their heads slightly, while Raquelle hugs both of them around the shoulders, and Sammy standing next to them gets their attention shyly by barking quietly. And when the girls give some love and care to the doggy, they have to put themselves together not to tell anything about the explicit photos of Helene when Scarlett, Lilian, and Maximilian ask why they are standing aside and call them to join their talk again.       

***

      Despite the heavy rain that came in the city closer to the evening, Marcus did not give up on his plans. Arriving at the place he needs in a taxi, the man pays for his trip and leaves the salon with a bouquet of white chrysanthemums that he recently bought. He opens his umbrella and, covering himself and his flowers, goes quietly straight on the asphalt path, on which there are little pools. That’s why he has to look down often not to water them accidentally.       After a short walk, Marcus comes to the cemetery that is not fenced with anything and has many graves with the names of dead people, their birth date, and their death dates. Everyone looks different: someone definitely paid a lot for a funeral, but someone did not care about it and did not mind a small, nondescript grave. The man has to go down the slide, going on the literally endless glade with pale green grass and looking at all the graves he meets in his way with indifference in his eyes. In this rainy weather, there is nobody around, even though there are usually always two or three people who come here to put the graves of their close people in order, talk to them, and leave a bouquet of fresh flowers.       When he takes a few more miles, Marcus comes to the grave that he needs. Gray, small, looks like a bigger part of those that are installed here. The man gets true sadness in his eyes and swallows nervously, feeling how tension gets through every cell of his body. After stopping in front of the grave, he inclines his head slightly and closes his eyes for two seconds, squeezing tightly the handle of the open umbrella that does not let him get wet in the rain. Then he starts viewing the photo on the grave. A young woman at the age of about thirty with thick wheat blonde hair, gray almond eyes, and slightly downturned corners of her mouth seems a sweet and light person who did nothing bad to anyone. Probably, her kind and tender look is the only one that can break the ice in the heart of Marcus, on the face of whom a true, little sad smile shows up at some moment.       “Hello, Julia…” Marcus pronounces quietly. “Hello, my sweetheart. We’ve met again.”       After hesitating a little, Marcus comes closer to the grave of the woman named Julia, squats down, and places carefully the bouquet of chrysanthemums, which immediately get wet under the heavy rain.       “I’m sorry about not coming for too long. Sadly, I had too many things to do at work. And something happened and became the reason for my long departure, too.”       Marcus runs his fingertips slowly over the photo on Julia’s grave and reads what’s written on it two times:       “Julia Whitney Longbottom, December 4th, 1964 – April 11th, 1991, Forever in the hearts of her family and friends.”       “I hope you’re gonna love these flowers. I still remember they’re your favorite.” Marcus flashes a slight smile. “You always shined so bright when I gave them to you. You pressed every single bouquet from me to yourself so sweetly. I wanted to buy them for you every day to see the happiness on your beautiful face.”       Marcus puts his hand on the ground in front of Julia’s grave.       “You know, honey… I recently viewed the photos of you and me. Thinking of the time you and I were so happy. Remembered our first meeting. Remembered how surprised I was by my feelings for you. I was surprised that I started to fall in love.” Marcus swallows nervously. “On the one hand, I felt such tender and warm feelings. But on the other… I had tears in my eyes. I viewed your photos and was close to hysteria. Because I didn’t have you next to me, my love.”       Marcus closes his eyes and exhales slowly with a shake.       “It’s been more than twenty years since you died, but I still can’t accept it. I cannot accept the fact that I’m a widower. Never thought I’d be called the one. I thought our love would be eternal. It would be immortal. I dreamed of us getting older and dying on the same day. But… You were gone too early… Too early… You and I didn’t enjoy our life together a lot. You could not get through what took you away from me.”       Marcus inclines his head slightly and clenches his free hand tightly into a fist.       “I miss you so badly, Julia. I still haven’t learned to live without you. I haven’t let you go. And all these years, I’ve been dreaming of death to come for me. So, you and I meet again. So, nobody tears us apart anymore. Living in the world without you is unbearable. Terribly lonely.”       Marcus runs his fingertips over Julia’s photo again.       “Someone told me once that life goes on. It’s time to get you out of my head and move on. They dared to suggest I meet another woman and marry her.” Marcus sniffs quietly. “You imagine, sweetie, meet another woman! Bring the one who would replace you to my home. I… I am even afraid to think about it! What another woman? How would I dare to betray you? How would I dare to hug and kiss another woman? How would they imagine it?”       Marcus shakes his head sharply.       “I swear, honey, nobody will take the place that is still yours. You will always have it. I’ve been loyal to you for more than twenty years. Yes, some women tried to catch my attention, but I rejected them and said nobody would replace my Julia. There is not and there will not be a place for another woman in my heart. It will always be you, sweetie. No matter how many years have passed, nobody will replace you.”       Not being afraid to dirty his pants, Marcus gets down to his knees and sits right on the wet ground, watching the way the drops of rain hit against the grave of his beloved woman with a quiet slushing with sadness in his eyes.       “Julia, my sunshine, the light of my life… Why? Why did you leave me? Why did you leave me alone in this world? I loved you so much! I was ready for anything for your happiness! You could say just one word so that I would be ready to do anything for you. With you, there was always fire in my heart. For you, I wanted and aimed to get better and be nicer to everyone. You know well that I tried so hard. Because I didn’t want to disappoint you. I didn’t want to make you regret the decision of being with me and becoming my own Mrs. Longbottom.”       Marcus makes a quiet sob, clenching his hand into a fist so that his knuckles get white.       “Yes, we fought sometimes. Fought hard. I was terribly jealous of you and other women because I was afraid I’d lose you. But I still loved you. And I couldn’t imagine my life without you. I fell in love with you at a teenage age, and I could not get rid of the thoughts of you. And I didn’t care if someone minded our relationship or approved of it. I could, I wanted, and I was ready to fight for our love. But if you hadn’t answered my feelings, I would’ve tried to accept it and kept living. However, I was lucky because you answered.”       Marcus falls into silence for two seconds and flashes a slight smile.       “I remember you crying bitterly on my chest when boys annoyed you. When they swore at you, pulled you by the hair, and stole your stuff. And my heart squeezed with the pain when some assholes raised your skirt and tried to press you to the wall and kiss you by force. It was terribly painful to watch you like this. A little later, you asked why it stopped later. The answer is easy: I did it. I found all those jackasses and threatened them with serious consequences if I knew you just looked at you or breathed on you. I always protected you, even if you didn’t know it before a certain moment. But when you found it out, you began to look at me with admiration that made me feel proud.”       Marcus swallows nervously and shakes his head.       “It all started so beautifully…” Marcus says thoughtfully. “Everything was alright… We loved each other and got married shortly after we got a chance. We had so many plans, so many desires, so many goals… Nobody believed we’d be together and wouldn’t break up. Everyone thought you’d leave me quietly because I was a heartless hooligan to everyone, but you were a good girl with a straight-A student syndrome. But it didn’t happen. We were together in spite of everyone and lived a happy life. Those several years were the best in my life. I was happy to love you and be loved by you. Can’t describe how strong my happiness was. I, a young guy, thought it would last forever.”       Marcus starts breathing heavily enough with the thought that something is pressing on his chest, and all his muscles are squeezed from the growing tension.       “But one case turned everything upside down… Just one case took you away from me… If I hadn’t assured you not to do it, everything would’ve been alright. You would’ve been with me now. But sadly, you didn’t listen to me. You said you knew what you were doing. You were too stubborn and didn’t listen to my piece of wise advice. And you paid a lot for this.”       Marcus blinks his eyes multiple times because of tears in them.       “I blame you for nothing, though. I could not save you.” I didn’t show harshness and gave up on you. I did it with a heavy heart. With a terrible presentiment. That didn’t betray me. I could not save you, as well as the doctors. We were all powerless in front of what got a victory over you. I mean, I didn’t insist and literally put you in the grave. You’re here because of me, Julia. I could not save you.”       At this moment, tears start rolling down Marcus’s cheeks slowly, and his shaking fingers slide slowly over the medium-sized photo of Julia on the grave.       “Forgive me, sweetheart…” Marcus pronounces in a shaking voice. “I’m sorry… I made a mistake… A great, unforgivable mistake. I killed you… Though I could’ve avoided it if I’d acted like a real man and persuaded you not to do what became the reason for your death.”       Marcus puts his hand on the ground near the grave.       “Why did I let it happen? Why did I listen to you? Why did I hope naively that it would be alright? A-a-a-a… I’m such an idiot… A stupid idiot… I think your death and my ‘proud’ status as the widower is the punishment for this mistake. When I married you, I took the responsibility to take care of you. But I failed it.”       Marcus exhales with a shake.       “I do not doubt that your family hated me back then,” Marcus assumes. “Yes, nobody told me directly about it, but I know they thought I was guilty of your death. Your father, your mother, grandmothers, grandfathers… All those people were against our relationship, even if they accepted our choice later, thinking we were adults and would solve it on our own. And your death made their opinion about me much worse. They cursed me silently for coming into your life. And I… I got mad at the whole world…”       Marcus winces his forehead strongly as he looks into the distance gloomily.       “All the kindness you settled in me was gone instantly. I no longer wanted to be good. I wanted to fret and fume. Take revenge on everyone for taking my treasure away from me. And I didn’t care about what they thought of me. Even the change of scenery and move didn’t help me feel better. I still felt anger, despair, loneliness, and disappointment at the same time. It was freaking disgusting to hear people giving me their condolences and calling me proudly a widower. I had to bite the bullet not to break down. Deep inside, I protested so hard and didn’t want to believe it was the truth. But sadly, reality turned out to be less colorful than my dreams.”       Marcus squeezes a little piece of the grave ground in anger, shaking slightly when bright lightning shows up in the sky, and then deafening thunderclaps are heard.       “I am still mad. Mad at the whole world. Though I have to pretend to be good for those who know nothing. Nevertheless, I feel a little better when I think one person is going to be dead soon. Peter… I hate him… That boy wakes up a hurricane of negative emotions inside me. I cannot wait to kill him. When I tell him why I am doing this to him and his gal who I don’t actually care about but want to get rid of to make him mad. If everything is fine, Peter Rose is going to lie dead in the ground soon. As he has always wanted. I will be happy to fulfill his dream. Do what something or someone does not let him do all the time.”       Bright lightning shows up in the sky again, and the rain gets kind of heavier, but Marcus does not rush to find a place to hide and ride out the storm.       “I know you wouldn’t approve of anything I'm doing now if you were alive. You would tell me a person must be kind and nice. Anger, scuffles, and any kind of revenge would not solve anything and give them any relief. That I should leave the boy alone. That his girlfriend is guilty of nothing. But I can’t. Can’t do anything to me. I need to do something to get rid of the pain that’s still living in me. I’ve kept it inside for almost thirty years. And it gets me exhausted. I have a little time to live and want to spend this time quietly. But I shall calm down only when I take revenge on the one I chose as my victim for a certain reason.”       Marcus runs his hand slowly over the wet gravestone.       “I’m sorry, Julia…” Marcus sniffs quietly. “I’m sorry about disappointing you so much. I swear I’m not a bad man. I’m just broken and unhappy. Because I lost you. Yes, I did many terrible things in the past. But I was ready to end all of this and say goodbye to my old life. I wanted to change. I wanted to do it for you. And I honestly tried to, you know it. And it would’ve probably happened if fate hadn’t decided to mock me and take you away from me. I didn’t have the strength or the will to keep all the promises I gave you. Because I lost everything. I have nothing.”       Marcus inclines his head and rubs his eyes with the back of his hand, starting to rub his forearm because he is getting cold due to the cold wind outside.       “I can be weak next to you only. You’re the only one to see what I am now. I’m not ashamed to cry in front of you. Others will not understand. They will laugh at me. Humiliate me. I can’t let it happen. I can’t let anyone insult my dignity. I must be a strong man for everyone. I must hide the pain caused by the loss of my beloved wife and never complain. And I don’t need anyone’s pity. I don’t feel better when a certain woman says a good word. Or a man claps me on the shoulder and says, ‘Hold on’. My pain would be gone if you came back to me. But sadly, it’s impossible. So, I continue to live without you. Wait for the moment when death comes for me.”       Marcus moves his eyes full of sadness to Julia’s photo.       “But I can promise you one thing for sure: when Peter Rose and Helene Marshall die, I shall end it all. I swear, Julia, I will no longer take revenge on anyone. I will no longer harm anyone. I only need to get rid of these two to feel a little better. And I shall not stop until it happens. Even if I don’t do this again, I shall try again. And it will happen until I get what I want. Even if one or two years have passed, I shall destroy that sweet couple. Destroy, honey. And nobody will stop me. I am really determined and will not give up.”       Marcus sneers evilly.       “I shall make the boy torture a little and go absolutely insane so even his friends cannot save him. So, he begs me to kill him, lying at my feet broken, humiliated, and emptied. Peter still suffers from a bunch of psychological problems, but I shall add some fuel to the fire and crush that poor boy. So, he doesn’t have the strength or wish to snap back at me.”       When thunderclaps are heard somewhere far from here, Marcus moves his umbrella slightly and looks up to the sky covered with thick clouds for two seconds.       “Don’t be mad at me, my love. But if you’re mad, I hope you will understand and forgive me someday. I will never forget you and will come here to check on your grave often. I will be buying your favorite chrysanthemums, the most beautiful and the freshest ones. It’s literally a symbol of our love. That started with just one flower that I pinned to your hair. In your soft blonde hair that you took care of so much since childhood. That I loved stroking and touching so badly. You liked it, too. You always fell asleep on my laps when I caressed your head.”       Marcus exhales heavily with a shake, running the back of his hand over the photo on the grave.       “Julia, my beautiful Julia… My dearest and most beloved person in this world. I love you so much. I will always love. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And I will always remember all the moments we had together. Even if they make me cry, they are full of warmth and happiness.”       Despite the bad weather, Marcus is still not going to leave and keeps spending time at the grave all alone. No people have gone by here over all this time. Even birds that often fly over here hide in their holes not to get their feathers wet. While the man emptied by the grief does not even care about the defeating thunderclaps and rain that is the reason why pools of different sizes show up everywhere, and the entire street is now in the thick smoke that does not let you see anything somewhere far from here.       

***

      After the heavy rain that did not stop until the end of the day, the air seems super wet now, and it becomes the reason for some kind of discomfort. Even in the deep night when the bedclothes seem wet. And Helene still being a prisoner can see the flashes of lightning show up in the sky and hear the thunderclaps. That’s why the girl keeps herself from the window, through which she can see the blinding flashes of light even from afar, hiding in the furthest corner of the room and pressing her knees to her chest with shaking arms.       When the weather gets a little better, the pale, exhausted Helene does not understand that she closes her eyes at some moment and falls asleep. The coldness in the air is the reason why the girl has to cover herself with the blanket, but it does not help her since it’s as thin as the sheet. However, due to the pain in her stomach, Marshall cannot fall asleep too deeply and wakes up at times, twirling in the ball and feeling like a little, unprotected girl that needs someone to be strong next to her.       Nevertheless, Helene gets a little better at some moment, and her sleep gets much deeper, even though it’s still restless. However, the girl wakes up with a quiet cry when the bright lightning shows up in the sky, and then a much louder thunderclap is heard. In fear, she puts her head on her shoulder, covers herself with the thin blanket, and squeezes the pillow with both arms tightly, trying to see something through the darkness she has had to spend time in for several days. Marshall does not know what time it is, but she assumes it’s a deep night when everyone sleeps and sees a tenth dream.       After lying on the bed for a little while, Helene sits up slowly and looks around the whole room with dead eyes. Then she gets out of the blanket, sits on the edge, stands up, and takes a couple of circles on her weak legs. Then the girl comes to the table and lights up a couple of candles with a match to light up the dark room a little. Little, bright flames that shake slightly get her attention for some time, distracting her from the thoughts of her stomach pain and the pain in her abdomen. And when another, much brighter lightning shows up in the sky, she comes carefully to the window and watches what’s happening outside with a little anxious look, asking herself how long the weather will be so bad and wishing to get out of this place that drives her crazier and crazier.       Helene does not realize how deeply she falls into her dark thoughts. She does not hear the quiet voice that seems kind of familiar. And when someone calls her name for the second time, the girl turns around sharply with widely open eyes and looks around, not seeing anyone. Then the whisper is heard somewhere near again, but she still cannot understand the source of this. She immediately asks herself, “Am I starting to go crazy since I started to hear some voices?” At first, Marshall is confused, but after the voice calls her multiple times, she starts to feel super creepy and understands that she gets goosebumps on her whole body, squeezes, and embraces herself with both arms.       “Who’s here?” Helene asks in a shaking voice, walking nervously through the whole room. “Make a sound! Hey!”       Looking around herself again and again and turning sharply to the place where she hears someone’s voice that’s calling her, Helene feels that the tears in her eyes from fear and panic that possess her. At some moment, she shouts loudly when she turns her head to the door and sees that it’s open to her surprise, and sees the human’s black figure. Looking at this closely, the girl starts getting closer to the one very slowly on her weak legs, and not being able to look at the face better when it’s lighted up by the flashes of lightning showing up outside.       “Who are you?” Helene tries to get the answer. “What are you doing here?”       But when Helene comes very close to the mysterious figure, it suddenly disappears after a much brighter lightning. That’s why the girl shakes with a quiet shout and freezes from fear like a column, holding her breath, trying to swallow with no success due to the dryness in her mouth, and feeling that her heart starts beating like crazy. But she kind of comes back to life when she thinks someone touches her shoulder.       “Oh, God…” Helene pronounces quietly with tears that come to her eyes. “What kind of insanity? I’m so scared… So scared…”       A defeating thunderclap makes Helene scream loudly again and close her mouth tightly with both hands. And she shakes sharply when she sees the black human’s figure that cannot be recognized. It disappears at some moment and shows up in a different corner of the room. Then a different. Then a different. And when the exhausted girl moves her eyes aside, she screams hysterically when the black figure gets too close to her. And it starts getting closer to her determinedly when the brunette steps back.       “No, no, please…” Helene begs in despair. “Please, no… Don’t… Don’t get closer…”       But no matter how hard Helene begs, the figure gets closer and closer to her. At some moment, she presses herself closely to the wall with her back and comes to the corner, falling into a hysterical condition more and more as long as something black gets closer. Her eyes are widely open, her legs can barely hold her, her heart echoes in her temples and throat, every muscle is squeezed from the tormenting tension, and the pair gets out of her mouth. And when the black body decides to take one sharp step toward her, the girl closes her eyes tightly with a hysterical shout and covers her face with her hands, feeling like a heroine of a horror movie that is about to be killed. She does not move for two seconds and does not breathe as she is waiting for what is going to happen next, and then she opens one of her eyes and sees that the black figure is not near.       “I’m going crazy…” Helene whispers under her nose, embracing herself tightly with both arms. “I'm going crazy here… It’s just my imagination… It’s my hallucinations… Hallucinations…”       Another flash of light, another thunderclap – the black human’s body shows up in the middle of the room again, making Helene rack her vocal cords again. And when it starts chasing the girl super fast, the brunette starts running in the whole room as fast as possible, looking like someone who went crazy, at first sight. Someone’s muffled, evil voice calls her name again and again, and can be heard in all the corners of the room.       “NO, STOP, PLEASE!” Helene screams with a heavy breath. “LEAVE ME ALONE! NO!”       Helene looks around so often that she does not notice that she runs into one of the walls painfully in her hysterical condition. That’s why she is about to fall to the floor with deafening shouts. But someone’s strong arms grab her at the last moment and do not let her face meet the floor along with the flash of lightning and thunderclap. She is afraid to open her eyes closed tightly for two seconds, and find out who saved her. But when they call her name in a much nicer way, Helene decides to open her eyes to the savior. At first, she cannot see anything in the darkness, even though she understands that it’s the man. But when the bright flash of lightning shows up behind the window again, she starts to recognize some features that seem very, very familiar.       “Peter?” Helene pronounces surprisingly with a heavy breath, feeling that her heart misses a beat.       And while Helene keeps being in a stupor, Peter puts her silently on her feet, steps back a little, and looks at the girl closely. With a quiet but by far not warm glance.       “My God, Pete, is that really you?” Helene still cannot believe her eyes and shakes slightly after another flash of lightning. “You’re here…”       Again, Peter says nothing and just smiles slightly, looking closely into Helene’s scared, widely open eyes.       “Please, say something. Tell me my eyes don’t lie to me. I didn’t go crazy, and I really see you in front of me.”       “They don’t,” Peter confirms quietly and confidently. “It’s really me.”       “Peter…” Helene sniffs quietly, feeling that her eyes water with tears. “Peter, my sweetheart… My sweetie…”       Not thinking too much, Helene hangs on Peter’s neck happily and presses herself as closely to herself as possible, while he puts his arms around her waist. The girl starts crying bitterly in despair mixed with relief caused by the realization of the fact that she sees her beloved man. Whose hugs she missed so badly. It’s so amazing to feel the man’s strong arms press her to the male hot body, and his warm, soft hands slide over her skin covered with goosebumps and warm her up on this cold, heavy rainy night. Bright lightnings still sparkle behind the window, and thunderclaps still can be heard and make her shake and snuggle her nose in the man’s shoulder.       “Quiet, quiet, sunshine, quiet,” Peter pronounces softly, caressing Helene’s head tenderly. “It’s okay. I’m here. Fear nothing.”       “I fear thunderclaps…” Helene confesses in a shaking voice. “I fear lightnings. I fear the darkness. I’m so scared… I can’t…”       “Calm down, Helene, calm down, nothing will happen to you. I promise.”       Helene shouts quietly again and squeezes Peter much tighter in her arms when a thunderclap is heard behind the window again.       “My girl…” Peter exhales with relief. “Finally, I’ve found you. I was so worried… I was so restless. I was pulling my hair out in despair.”       “Aren’t you really my hallucination?” Helene asks with mistrust. “What if you aren’t Peter? What if you’re someone else? Something different?”       “No, Helene, it’s me.”       Peter steps away from Helene and, grabbing the girl’s face, leaves a few short kisses on her lips with a heavy breath.       “You’re with me… With me… My search is over…”       “My gosh… I…” Helene sniffs and swallows nervously. “I was waiting for you… I was praying that you find me every minute.”       “Really?”       “The way was hard and very long. But I did it.”       Peter takes Helene in a much longer hug, running his fingers through her matted hair and kissing her tenderly on the cheek a couple of times.       “I was ready for anything to find you.”       “Thank you… Thank you so much… I knew… I knew you’d come. I knew you wouldn’t leave me.”       “Nobody can tear us apart. No Marcus and his henchmen. Our love can overcome anything.”       “I missed you so badly…”       Helene steps away from Peter, grabs his face, and kisses him tenderly on the lips with a heavy breath and looks into the man’s eyes that she can only see as long as lightnings show up.       “There was no minute when I didn’t think of you. I dreamed of being next to you, in your tight hug. I wanted to press myself to your tot body and never let you go.”       “I will not let you go now,” Peter says determinedly with his head proudly raised. “And I will be protecting you from anyone who dares to hurt my little girl.”       “Peter, my sweetheart…” Helene caresses Peter’s cheek and runs her fingers through his hair, sobbing quietly with a shake. “Sweetheart… You’re here…”       “Here, my baby, here.” Peter kisses Helene on the forehead and then leans on it with his forehead, while they close their eyes with a blissful smile and take each other’s hands. “I will always be near.”       “Take me out,” Helene begs in despair. “Please, Pete, don’t leave me. I no longer wanna stay here anymore.”       “Of course, sweetie, of course.”       “I feel too bad here. It’s cold, it’s dark, it’s dirty… I’ve been bitten by mosquitoes. And mice and rats run here all the time. Though I fear them to death. I’m afraid to fall asleep. I’m afraid that someone may creep over me.”       “I promise, Helene, you’ll no longer stay here.”       Peter runs his fingers through Helene’s hair and caresses her cheeks with both cold hands.       “I will take you out. You’ll go with me and never come back here.”       “Don’t leave me, sweetheart, I’m begging you. If I stay here for some time, I will go crazy. I can barely realize something now.”       Helene wincing slightly puts her hand on her stomach, the pain in which lets her know about itself again.       “And I’m so hungry… My stomach hurts… These people give me nothing, or a couple of spoons of porridge that is not fresh, and a glass of muddy water.”       “My poor girl…”       “I always feel dizzy and weak in my legs. I feel like I’m about to faint. Though I can’t. I can’t, you know.”       “I get it.”       “These people mock me. They torture me with hunger and may beat me.” Helene makes a quiet sob. “My whole body hurts. It’s all in bruises. Sometimes it’s even hard for me to move my hand.”       “It’s okay, it will be gone soon.”       “For God’s sake, Peter, I’m begging you… Take me out of here. I wanna go home, to my grandma… I wanna see the girls and the men. I wanna know if Sammy stayed alive. Whether someone helped him after his wound.”       “Everyone will be happy to know you’ve been found healthy and alive,” Peter replies with a slight smile.       “Please, let’s get out of here. I can’t stay here anymore.”       “Being outside is not safe. Look at all these lightnings, look at the heavy rain… And the thunderclaps have already woken up the entire city, I guess.”       “I don’t care,” Helene replies literally in a whisper. “I’m ready for anything to run away from here. Far from all these bad men. Who mock me with Marcus’ approval. He doesn’t think of stopping them. I can do nothing against them. Because I’m powerless. Surrounded from all sides.”       “If you’re ready, we will go now.”       “Yes, yes, let’s go now.”       “But answer one question of mine, please.”       “What question?”       A smile immediately disappears from the face of Peter, who steps away from Helene sharply and looks at her with a cold glance full of despise.       “Did you like to spread your legs for four men?” Peter asks coldly in a low voice.       “What?” Helene opens her eyes widely, starting to breathe heavily, with the thought that her heart stops for a moment, while a thunderclap is heard behind the window.       “Did you like to suck the dick of one man, let another man get it into you, and get pleasure when you were caressed by the third and the fourth?”       “Gosh, Peter… Erm… What are you talking about?”       “So, did you think I wouldn’t know it?” Peter sneers evilly, while the frost hugs Helene tightly with its invisible arms, making her squeeze much stronger. “Did you think I wouldn’t know how you were lying naked for those bastards and enjoyed the way they fucked you?”       “C’mon, sweetie… I… I don’t understand you…”       “Don’t act like an idiot, Marshall. I was told and shown how you were undressed and fucked in all holes.”       “I didn’t want it, I swear!” Helene excuses herself in despair. “They raped me! Not for the first time! They didn’t care that I was scared and felt disgusted. Those people felt me up and undressed me by force.”       “What are you talking about, bitch?”       “Peter, for God’s sake, don’t talk to me like this…”       “I saw how scared and disgusting you felt! You got fucking pleasure! I guess you also HAD AN ORGASM after that so-called rape.”       “Not true!” Helene protests loudly. “It was madly painful! The bottom of my body hurts a lot. As if they tore and harmed something. I even had blood!”       “Stop telling me stupid tales, cheater! Just confess that you FUCKED A LOT OF THEM AT THE SAME TIME!”       “It was against my will! I would never agree to do this! And I’m glad I can’t remember some part of this hell ‘cause they knocked me out. I woke up after they did their business and left. And I was lying naked on the bed.”       “How could you?” Peter asks in a low, rude voice. “How could you do this to me? HOW DID YOU THE FUCK DARE TO BETRAY ME?”       “I didn’t betray you! I would never do!”       “When I think about how you snuggle me, I feel sick. Knowing you fucked some men secretly from me.”       “It was a rape! The rape! I didn’t want it! I did not! Please, trust me!”       “I do not wish to hear any of your excuses.”       “I only love you. I don’t need anyone else. The one I want to sleep with is only you.”       “I do not want! I do not want to undress and fuck the gal that has been felt up and fucked by so many men.”       “No, Peter, please…” Helene shakes her head with tears in her eyes. “Don’t talk to me like this… I don’t deserve it…”       “Say what you want, I give a fuck now.”       Peter goes two steps away from Helene.       “Stay the fuck here and die. Keep fucking some shit. And forget me.”       “No sweetie, please…” Helene begs in despair, runs to Peter, and takes his hand. “Please…”       “Do not dare to touch me!” Peter pulls his hand sharply. “Do not dare to touch me with your dirty hands that touched other dicks!”       “I’m not guilty of anything! I’m just a victim! The victim of the cruel rape!”       “Tell these stories to someone else. I do not want to listen to them.”       “Peter…”       “You deserve everything that is happening to you, Marshall,” Peter says confidently and coldly, without emotions on his face, looking into Helene’s eyes closely, “This is your pay for cheating on me and everything you have done in the past. For being the reason so many innocent people suffered.”       “It’s not you…” Helene shakes her head. “You’re not Peter. Not my man I love so much. You… You’re cold… You… You’re heartless!”       “Someone who’s been betrayed by their close person may turn to a real monster that could make a grave for you and bury you in it personally.”       Peter comes confidently to Helene, who puts her head on her shoulder and shakes with the thought that her beloved man spreads the squeezing frost.       “You’re guilty of waking up an animal inside me,” Peter says in an intimidating, low voice, breathing like a furious bull. “You made me the one. So, don’t wait for mercy from me. Don’t wait for me to give up on revenging on you for the pain you gave me. I shall never forgive you for that.”       A burning fire of hate sparks in the dark, dead eyes of Peter when he squeezes tightly the middle-sized knife in his hand. The sight of which makes Helene get sharply pale and ooh quietly, while a much louder thunderclap is heard behind the window, and the window kind of gets heavier.       “God, Peter…” Helene jabs excitedly. “Peter, hey… What are you doing?”       “Your grandmother also hates you for what you did,” Peter says coldly. “She is ashamed of having such a terrible granddaughter who can betray and give pain to those who love her. I mean, who loved her.”       “It’s not the truth!”       “The men hate you, too. Daniel, Edward, and Terrence regret letting me date you and don’t stop apologizing to me. They are fucking ashamed of being so wrong.”       “Stop, please, shut up…”       “Do you think the girls really forgave you?” Peter starts coming to Helene determinedly, while she gets back. “Do you think Raquelle, Natalia, and Anna forgot all the pain you gave them? Not the fuck at all, bitch! They hate you! They despise you!”       “No, don’t say anymore…”       “All these people dream of your death. They dream of the day Marcus finally kills you. I crave this more than anything in the world. And I shall be happy to come to watch them kill you and bury you in the ground.”       “NO, STOP!” Helene screams, closing her ears with her hands. “STOP TORTURING ME!”       “You stayed all alone. Nobody is looking for you. Nobody cares about you. Everyone has realized that you’ve been pretending to be holy. Though you’ve never been the one.”       “STOP, PETER, STOP IT!” Helene explodes with tears in her eyes.       “Even Sammy turned his back on you. This dog completely understands everything and hates his owner now.”       After another spark of lightning and a thunderclap, the dog Sammy shows up next to Peter, looking at Helene with evil in his eyes and growling at her loudly. That’s why the girl shakes sharply and starts looking scarily at the man, who seems so strange, cold, and heartless, with widely open eyes.       “It’s insane…” Helene pronounces in despair. “Insane! I’m going crazy… It all cannot be the truth. IT CANNOT! YOU ARE NOT PETER! YOU ARE A MIRAGE!”       “Mirage or not, but you will die now,” Peter says quietly but coldly. “For the happiness of Marcus, who is dreaming of this moment so badly. And I shall deal with you personally.”       Peter shortens the distance sharply between him and Helene, raising his hand with the knife to get it into her heart. The pale, tear-stained girl jumps back with a deafening shout and tries to hide somewhere from the one who is chasing her determinedly with the cold gun in his hand. He does not change the course when she starts taking everything she sees in her way and throwing all of this at him. Rose is like an unbreakable wall. Like a stubborn buffalo that has been provoked so hard.       “Don't run away from me, Helene, you will not avoid your death,” Peter says rudely.       “STOP, GET OFF ME!” Helene squeaks. “NO! DON’T DO THIS!”       Another blinding lightning – Peter disappears as if he melts in the air. Helene looks around with a heavy breath, freezing in the same position like a column. And after another flash, the man shows up behind her back and raises his hand to give her a knife wound. Luckily, she turns around in time, runs aside, and plays some time when she takes the blanket from the bed and puts it over his head, making him slip and fall to the floor. Seeing the open door, the girl rushes to it, but it suddenly closes right before her eyes. She pulls the handle again and again, but it does not work. That’s what makes her panic much more, and her attempts to hit her fists against the one and scream out for help do not lead to anything good.       Along with the thunderclaps, Peter shows up out of nowhere again and uses a chokehold from behind, squeezing her neck with his elbow, while his fingers squeeze the knife tightly in his free hand. Choking from the lack of hair, the girl resists so hard to break free and hits her boyfriend, who does not look like him, on his arms.       “Let me go, let me go!” Helene demands and hits Peter on his arms again. “Let me go! Get off me!”       “You will pay me for daring to cheat on me with a lot of men,” Peter says in a low, ominous, and frightening voice. “For becoming another bitch that dared to HURT ME!”       When Peter wants to get the knife into Helene’s stomach, she manages to get out of the trap by hitting him strongly on his ankle. But then she has to fight off the man with hands and feet with loud squeaks not to let him wound her. And the tenser their fight becomes, the heavier the rain gets, and the stronger thunderclaps are heard behind the window. When one of them strikes, the girl falls to the ground and has Rose out of her view again. But the next second, Sammy runs to her and starts barking and growling at her aggressively as if she is his biggest enemy, so that she squeezes from fear and horror and chokes on tears more and more.       “Sammy…” Helene pronounces in a quiet, shaking voice. “Sammy, my boy… It’s me… Why are you treating me like this? What did I do to you?”       After barking at her two more times, Sammy starts coming closer to Helene determinedly, while she creeps back with a heavy breath.       “Sammy, baby…”       And when Helene reaches out her hand, Sammy bites it with a contemptuous bark and a loud growl.       “SAMMY! SAMMY, NO! PLEASE, STOP!”       Sammy bites Helene’s hand for a few seconds and pulls it from side to side before the girl manages to get off him, hitting the dog strongly with her foot with a squeak. But he does not whine from pain and sets his much more frightening glance at Marshall, who creeps back quickly with tears in her eyes.       “This is a nightmare… My nightmare… I wanna wake up… I wanna get out of here…”       Helene squeezes tightly her hand bitten by Sammy, which starts bleeding and burning from the hellish pain.       “Someone, wake me up… Please…”       “Nobody will wake you up!” Peter says coldly after showing up in the other corner of the room, while his unnaturally evil face can be seen when bright lightnings spark. “You will never get out of this nightmare. You will stay in this forever.”       Helene gets up sharply on her feet and starts running away from Peter with a loud, heavy breath, while he starts chasing her determinedly. At some moment, she runs to the table near the bed and grabs the candle that is still lighting as if nothing had happened. When this thing gets into the man, it just falls to the ground and fades out, not harming him at all. Rose sneers evilly and rushes to her with a wide, unnatural smile, raising his hand with a knife. She has to fight with him again before he catches the moment to get the blade of the cold gun into the girl’s stomach deeply, making her tense all her muscles and wince strongly in pain that gets through her immediately. Marshall grabs the wounded area sharply, but does not see any drops of blood on her hands and clothes.       “I said you should not have run away from me,” Peter smirks evilly and gets the knife sharply out of Helene’s stomach. “It’s time to pay for cheating, lying, and hiding your secrets. YOU WILL DIE NOW!”       Peter gets the knife deeply into another area on Helene’s stomach and twists it, making her scream hysterically from the unbearable pain and double over. Along with the thunderclaps and flashes of lightning, the man does the same two more times, remaining cold and heartless even at the sight of his dying victim.       “Stop, Peter!” Helene screams in despair. “Wake up! It’s not you! It’s not you!”       “I am Peter!” Peter roars. “PETER ROSE! THE ONE, WHO YOU THE FUCK BETRAYED!”       Helene does not let Peter get the knife into her for the third time and, making much effort, grabs his hand with the gun. The edge of the bloodied blade is a few centimeters away from the chest of the girl, whose heart is beating much faster than after a many-hour marathon. The man tries to bring the case to an end, scaring his victim with his evil laugh to death, and growls irritably when he meets her hard resistance. At some moment, Marshall loses almost her strength, and Rose gets the knife into the area under her chest, smiling smugly when she screams hysterically in pain with a horror in her widely open eyes. Though, despite all her wounds, her body does not get soft and covered with blood, and the wounds are not open.       And after another flash of lightning behind the window, Helene jumps back sharply when something or someone runs something sharp over the throat of Peter, whose face freezes horrifyingly. He grabs his neck first, trying to stop the flow of blood getting out of the wound that dirties his dark clothes rapidly. And after a couple of seconds of trying to pump some air into his lungs, someone else breaks his neck sharply, which makes a specific loud sound. That’s why the man’s soft body falls to the ground motionlessly. The knife gets out of his hand, his dead eyes remain widely open and set into the distance, and his breath kind of stops.       “A-A-A-A-A-A!” Helene screams hysterically, looking at the dead Peter lying on the floor with horror in her eyes.       Along with the thunderclaps, the black figure of the unknown person shows up behind Helene, puts a rope around her neck with no warning or words, and tightens it as tightly as possible. The girl is deprived of the opportunity to breathe and tries to get out of this trap with no success, but the stranger strangles her tighter and tighter every second, being so calm because they are sure she cannot do anything.       “No… Please…” Helene coughs loudly, trying to pull the rope a little. “Let me go… No…”       Another flash of lightning hits right before the eyes of Helene, making her shake sharply in fear. Then Marcus wearing total black starts getting closer to her slowly but confidently with an evil laugh, glances contemptuously at the corpse of Peter lying on the floor, and raises his head proudly.       “Your time has come, Helene Marshall,” Marcus says in a low, rude voice. “I am no longer going to wait.”       “No, please, pity me…” Helene begs in despair. “I’m guilty of nothing. Please, don’t do this… Let me go… Please, do-a-a-a-a…”       When Marcus makes a gesture, the rope on Helene’s neck is tightened super tightly by the black figure of the human who chased her in the entire room before. Glancing at the one during her unsuccessful attempts to break free, she notices that their face changes every second. She sees Luther, she sees Elijah, she sees David, Darren… Even Peter’s face shows up two or three times at some moment.       And while the girl is choking from tears and feeling that she lacks the air more and more, Marcus grabs the knife from the floor and gets it determinedly and deeply into Helene’s stomach. Bright red blood starts flowing out of the one with no control this time. At some moment, Rose looking like a certain zombie shows up behind her back and gets the knife deeply and silently into her neck, making her shake and squeeze her face in a tormenting way.       “No, please, no…” Helene barely pronounces, coughs quietly, and starts to panic when the rope on her neck tightens much more strongly. “Please, let me go… Don’t do this… Don’t touch me… Let me go! DON’T DO THIS! PLEASE!”       

***

      “PLEASE, DON’T DO THIS!”       Screaming out these words, Helene opens her eyes sharply and sits up like boiling. Then she starts breathing too heavily with the sense of a fast heartbeat, barely realizing where she is and what happened. Just a few seconds later, the girl realizes it was just a dream. The nightmare is the reason why her forehead is covered with cold sweat, and every single muscle is tensed with pain. But it does not make her feel relieved because this nightmare seemed extremely real to her. As if everything happened right here, in this room.       Running her hands over her pale face, Helene just sits in the bed for some time and looks into the distance. The sleepy brain gives her a sign that she has a strong pain in her stomach that she grabs tightly, doubling over. She feels nausea in her throat because her stomach is literally eating itself. It’s literally a desert in her mouth due to the strong thirst, and she literally has nothing to swallow. If she were given something disgusting and uneatable at first sight, she would obviously eat it because she understands she would not live two or three days without water and food.       And when Helene looks around and at herself, she sits on the edge slowly, puts her feet on the floor, and gets up. And she almost falls with no strength to the bed due to the strong dizziness. Putting her hand on her forehead, the girl shakes her head sharply and stands up much more slowly. Even though she still shakes and her condition is close to half-conscious, Marshall comes to the window on her weak legs. The rain has kind of stopped, no thunderclaps are heard, and there is a full moon high in the sky. The light of it gets right into the room and lights it up enough on this dark night. It’s suspiciously quiet around. No bird, no insect, no other living creature makes a sound. That’s why this kind of silence seems horrifying to the girl.       Helene often saw nightmares that were the reason why she could not fall asleep, but what she saw was probably the most frightening one. That’s why she starts feeling much more ashamed of Peter. She is afraid to imagine what may happen if the man knows Marcus’s accomplices rape her with no shame. She is afraid that he will call it a betrayal and leave her once and forever, not wishing to hear any excuses. This nightmare seemed too bright and real. The girl thinks Rose was really here, hugged her, kissed her, and gave her multiple knife wounds. Her body kind of remembers all of that clearly, and the memories of that are the reason why her stomach pain gets stronger, and her heart gives her discomfort by hitting her chest.       “God, don’t let this nightmare happen in real life,” Helene begs quietly with tears in her eyes. “Don’t let Peter believe I betrayed him, and let those stinkers mock me. It’s not the truth. I didn’t want it. But they did their best to give me no choice.”       Helene sniffs quietly and embraces herself tightly with both arms, turning her back on the window and looking around the whole dark room, where it’s much quieter than in her nightmare.       “Please, Peter, come for me… Save me… I need you… I can’t get through all of this without you. I’m weak. Too weak. In all senses.”       Rubbing her arms covered with goosebumps, Helene falls to her knees in the middle of the room and starts crying bitterly and loudly, and shaking from coldness, fear, loneliness, and the realization of her powerlessness. Sometimes she makes heartbreaking shouts that nobody hears, though. Nobody sees her hitting her hands against the floor as strongly as she can, losing hope of being found by someone and saved from this real hell more and more every day. Nothing is going to be over. All of this keeps driving her crazy and depriving her of the strength that she still has.