The Criminal Diaries

      Seeing that Edward is now in a stupor after seeing her and has said nothing for several seconds, Helene comes closer to him with a slight smile and breaks the awkward silence settled in the air, saying in a quiet, peaceful voice:       “Don’t worry, buddy, it doesn’t seem to you. It’s really me.”       “Erm…” Edward still tries to say something, being unable to say something. “I… Erm…”       “Yes, I understand that it may seem weird and impossible. But I’m alive. I’m in front of you. And the explanation to this situation is easier than you think.”       The only thing Edward can do for several seconds is just to look closely at Helene with widely open eyes and shake his head, still thinking he is out of his mind, even after the girl's words, and sees what other people do not see. Though he notices that people do not look at him with suspicion when they go by him for their business.       “It’s…” Edward breaks the silence in a hoarse, low voice and swallows nervously. “It’s impossible… It can’t be the truth… It cannot be…”       “Just don’t forget to breathe,” Helene advises. “You’re standing here so pale as if you’re about to fall unconscious here.”       “But how? How is it possible? You… You died… You died! The guys and I saw it all from start to end! We watched your death with our own eyes! There was no chance to survive!”       “I thought so, as well. But…” Helene shrugs with a slight smile. “As you can see, sometimes miracles happen, and you can get help from someone you don’t expect.”       “My gosh, Helene…” Edward closes his mouth with a hand and looks at Helene from head to foot. “Is that you? Aren’t my eyes lying to me?”       “They aren’t. You ain’t going crazy.”       “No… No, no, no… I must be going crazy…”       Edward puts his hands on his forehead.       “Damn, it seems like stress started to impact my organism badly. I definitely need a rest… A lot of rest…”       “Can’t disagree,” Helene says thoughtfully. “You look really tired and pale.”       “I don’t understand it all. I’m trying to figure it out, but I can’t do this.”       “Can’t the fact that people don’t turn on you, while you talk to me, and the edges of my top are burned slightly, help you? If you hallucinated, everyone would put their finger against their temples as they watch you talk to something that doesn’t exist.”       Edward moves his eyes aside hesitantly and pays attention to a couple of an old man and an old woman who are too busy talking to each other and carrying packets of food they bought in the nearest supermarket.       “Can’t believe it…” Edward pronounces with a heavy breath. “Helene… You… You’re alive… It’s… It’s some kind of miracle!”       “It’s really a miracle!” Helene exclaims. “The miracle I didn’t count on until the very end.”       “Starting to realize what’s happening is real, Edward smiles a little hesitantly at first. But his smile gets wider and wider every second, his eyes are now full of true happiness, and he feels much better at the thought that Daniel, Terrence, and he are not guilty of her death.       “My God, friend…” Edward pronounces much more confidently and closes his mouth with both hands. “I don’t know what to say. I… I…”       Edward takes Helene in a strong, amicable hug with a wide smile, and she answers it with pleasure, barely holding down her wish to whoop from happiness caused by meeting one of her close friends for the first time in a while. The one who does not believe in this miracle but starts to make sure everything is real as he presses the girl to himself and notices that she looks pretty good, even after everything she has gone through.       “I’m so happy!” Edward exhales with relief. “Is this kind of miracle really possible?”       “Gosh, you can’t imagine how happy I am now,” Helene smiles widely. “Happy I’m hugging you now. I missed it so badly.”       “And we almost went insane from grief. We thought you died.” Edward exhales with a shake as he closes his eyes. “Cried for you, got ready to bury you, waited for the police to find your… Corpse…”       “I missed you all so much. I wanted to see you all and hug you tightly. The men and the girls.”       “Damn, Marshall, c’mon, you scared all of us! The girls are so restless now! Their eyes are always wet from tears.”       “Sorry… I’m really sorry about what happened.”       Two seconds later, Edward steps away from Helene and takes her hands, not hiding his wide smile and feeling that the heaviness and stiffness leave his body rapidly, and it’s getting easier to exhale and inhale.       “How did you do it?” Edward wonders. “How did you survive? It was impossible! You had no little chance!”       “I promise I will tell you everything,” Helene promises.       “Hey, you’re probably cold! It’s not quite hot outside, but you’re wearing these open clothes.”       “Nope, it’s okay.”       “Okay, take my jacket.”       Edward takes the wallet and the phone from his denim jacket, takes it off, and puts it on the shoulders of Helene, who does not reject this kind of attention.       “Thank you so much,” Helene thanks softly, taking the edges of the jacket with her fingers.       “Let’s find a warm place where we can talk about everything and warm up.”       “I’d be happy to answer all your questions.”       “Let’s walk down the street. There’s probably a café here. We can buy a cup of coffee and sit at the table.”       “Yeah, but I don’t have money for coffee. I mean, I have money, but it’s not enough to catch a taxi to go home. I don’t have a phone, a wallet, or cards.”       “Don’t worry, friend, it’s my treat!” Edward says cheerfully with a wide smile. “I’ll pay for your coffee and any taste bun you wanna buy.”       “Thank you so much, Edward, it’s very generous of you,” Helene replies shyly.       “Let’s go! I can’t wait to know how you managed to get out of your situation!”       “Don’t you rush?”       “I actually wanted to go to a hardware store and buy something for repair at my house. But since these things happen, I can do this on any other day.”       “I see…”       “C’mon, let’s go! Let’s not stand in the middle of the road and prevent people from doing their business.”       Hugging Helene by the shoulder, Edward goes with her by some places where there are shops of clothes, souvenirs, books, and other things. But the man does not care about it all since he is looking for a café where they can talk quietly and bother nobody. After taking some distance, the friends do not find anything and have to stop a couple of people and ask them if there is a place to eat and drink. Luckily, a company of teenage girls show them the way to the cool, as they say, place where they just ate and drank something tasty. The man and the girl thank them and go to where they need to go, following their instructions.       Edward keeps pressing Helene to himself and hugging her, while she enjoys these tactile touches that she needed so badly and starts to relax more and more with a realization of the fact that all the bad things are really over. With the man’s jacket on her shoulders, she feels much warmer, even if she is worried that he is getting cold in a thin dark t-shirt and light blue jeans. Nevertheless, he says that he does not feel cold, and she can wear his jacket as long as needed.       Some time later, Helene and Edward come to the place they were told by the teenagers. This is a place with a foreign title, the logo of which is hanging right above the hall's glassy door and high-ceiling windows. After they come closer and look inside, the friends see that the design of this small light place was made by someone who has good taste and a sense of harmony and balance in everything, even if it’s not quite popular, judging by how few people are there now.       After looking at each other, Edward lets Helene enter the café first after he opens the door, follows her, and looks around quickly. While the girl is looking for a free table for two people, the man looks quickly at the desserts placed in the showcase that literally make him drool, and comes to the cashier. He orders two cups of cappuccino and suggests that his friend order something sweet, but she refuses at first. Nevertheless, Marshall gives up later and chooses a piece of fruit cake after examining all the items, while MacClife, Jr., takes a chocolate one.       Edward pays for the order with a bank card and thanks the staff member gently when she says they have to wait for some time. Then he and Helene go to the table she likes, and he shows his gentlemanly side again by helping his friend sit at the table. Then he sits in front of her and puts his wallet in the pocket of his jeans after holding it in his hands all this time.       “No, no, keep it with you,” Edward refuses when Helene tries to give him his denim jacket. “You’re gonna need it.”       “It’s kinda warm here,” Helene notices. “I can do without it.”       “But you’re gonna need it when we go outside. It’s getting colder and darker.”       “Okay, then we’ll talk about it later.”       Helene puts Edward’s jacket carefully on the back of the chair she is now sitting on.       “Oh, after spending one week without food and drinks, I’m ready to eat anything,” Helene confesses shyly. “As much as possible.”       “By the way, I must confess that you look pretty good,” Edward notices. “As if nothing happened to you. Though it was impossible to look at you quietly on that day.”       “But I spent a little more than one week coming to myself a little. Of course, I still feel terrible mentally, but I feel a little better physically.”       “Hey, how did you save yourself? How did it happen you didn’t die when we didn’t count on anything?”       “You won’t believe me, but one of Marcus’s accomplices helped me.”       “One of Marcus’s accomplices?” Edward rounds his eyes.       “Elijah. He saved me.”       “Elijah? Elijah Hartley? The one whom the police can’t catch yet?”       “He knows they’re looking for him.”       “Damn, how did he manage to hide so well? The police have been in the place where he’s registered several times, but his neighbors haven’t seen him for ages.”       “He hasn’t really been here for ages. Elijah lived in his brother's apartment all this time. And I lived there, too.”       “You lived in his apartment?”       “Yeah, but I had to spend one week in the hospital. When I breathed too much carbon monoxide and lost consciousness, Elijah got into the house, took me away, and drove me to the hospital. Where I woke up and got therapy for some time. And when I was released, he drove me to the apartment.”       “But when did he do?” Edward wonders. “How did Elijah take you away from there? Marcus’s accomplices installed a bomb and exploded that place!”       “He said he managed to get out of it literally several seconds before the explosion happened.”       “Was it really the house where you were?”       “Yes, it was the one.”       “You know, after today’s talk with Mr. Johnson, we briefly got doubts that you were actually in the house they exploded.”       “Mr. Johnson? He knows about me?”       “He does. And he didn’t stop trying to find you as well as his colleagues. And today, he told the guys and me that your body wasn’t found yet. Like… No tracks of yours were found there.”       “Well…” Helene shrugs with a slight smile. “Now you understand why.”       At this moment, one of the café staff members comes to the table and brings the cups of coffee and pieces of cake ordered by Edward and Helene, and puts all the plates in front of the friends.       “Thank you so much,” Helene and Edward thank at the different time.       After wishing them a nice day, the staff member leaves the friends and leaves the plate in the special place before she wipes other tables with a clean rag, places chairs well, and gets rid of the dirty plastic dishes that are left by those who leave the place.       “Anyway, he decided to focus on finding Elijah Hartley, the only accomplice of Marcus that hasn’t been caught,” Edward confesses, drinking some coffee from the cup, and puts it on the table since it’s still hot. “We were sure that he knew something very important. He knew where to find you. And… It happened that it’s the truth.”       “When I lived in his brother’s apartment, I was afraid of Elijah at first and didn’t trust him,” Helene confesses, starting to eat the piece of cake. “Though he was always the only one I was less afraid of than the others. And he behaved differently, even if he didn’t show it with the others’ pretense. At least, he gave me some water and food, so I didn’t die earlier.”       “M-m-m, wow, how caring the criminal turned out to be,” Edward chuckles quietly.       “Nevertheless, I stayed alive thanks to him.”       “I wonder why he showed that kindness and went against his lord?”       “He said he realized his mistakes. He was tired of Marcus, and his obsession with revenge and blood scared him to death. He decided to change something somehow by doing his best to save at least one life.”       “Yeah… When he understood that he was about to be sentenced, he put his tail between his legs. He thought that doing good things would help him get away from it and keep living as if nothing happened.”       “I don’t know if it’s true, but Elijah promised to go to the police and surrender.”       “Come on? Seriously?”       “He said he wanted to finish some business before surrendering at his will and waiting for his sentence.”       “It’s okay, that guy won’t get away from it,” Edward assures. “He will pay for all his tricks.”       “Nevertheless, his crimes are not so serious as the crimes of the others. And if he makes a full confession, his sentence may be shortened.”       “Anyway, Elijah will be punished.”       “And yeah, he also said he knew some interesting information about the murders that Marcus committed. The murders that the police know almost nothing about.”       “And he’s ready to tell them about it?”       “He promised, but who knows.”       “Okay, let’s give him a chance to surrender,” Edward replies thoughtfully. “If he doesn’t, you’ll have to give us the address of his brother’s apartment, where they hid you.”       “I only spent four days in that apartment. And I spent a bigger part of my time in the hospital, where they quickly healed me from a cold, hunger… After all the hits, burns… If you haven’t noticed, my skin on the leg burned. I think it happened when I was unconscious. The fire came to me and… Almost burned me.”       “Listen, Helene, you’re really lucky! I didn’t think everything would end like this.”       “Trust me, Edward, I was also ready to die. And I was madly happy I got to see you, Terrence, Daniel, and Peter. For the last time, as I thought.”       “Oh, you can’t imagine how hard a sense of guilt was killing the guys and me all this time,” Edward shakes his head with sadness in his eyes. “Because we could not save you.”       “No, no, buddy, it’s okay, stop,” Helene claps Edward on his hand. “Don’t blame yourself for anything.”       “We gave a promise to the girls. We promised to come back with you before going to the place we needed. They were waiting, believing, hoping… But we, idiots, let them down. We disappointed them…”       “C’mon, Edward, don’t say that. The guys and you didn’t disappoint anyone. You came there. You fought. You didn’t give up. You did your best.”       “It wasn’t enough to save you.”       “You could’ve done nothing. That place was too far from Marcus’ house – it would’ve taken at least one hour to go there, as Elijah said. Even if you’d driven super fast, you wouldn’t have come in time.”       “This hopelessness made us cry and freak out and woke up anger inside us. The anger at those scums who tried to kill you. At ourselves. I think it was the moment when we weren’t proud of ourselves. When we didn’t deserve to be heroes.”       “Nevertheless, you didn’t leave Peter when he went to meet Marcus. Who turned out to be his father. You weren’t afraid to get in touch with one of the most dangerous criminals of the 90s. He could’ve done anything to you, but it didn’t stop you.”       “You know we can’t stay aside when our friends and close people are in trouble,” Edward smiles shyly and drinks some coffee from his cup. “We didn’t know Peter went there. But when we found it out, we didn’t waste even one second and didn’t doubt.”       “And how did you know it?”       “From Ryan.”       “From Ryan?”       “Yeah, from Anna’s friend and the younger brother of Julian Potter, who almost sent her to the afterlife.”       “But how did he know it?”       “He said his friend lived in that neighborhood. When he left that guy’s home, he saw some stinkers taking Peter with them, holding him under his arms. So, he called at Daniel and Anna’s home number. Seymour found out everything she could and told the guys and me about it.”       “My God, what would have happened if you hadn’t known to?” Helene sighs heavily and drinks some coffee to wet her dry throat. “Marcus would’ve dealt with Peter with no problems! And we wouldn’t have even known it!”       “Yeah, but luckily, Ryan helped us a lot. That’s what we’re grateful to him for.”       “You’re all fine fellows! I’m truly proud of every one of you and think you did a good job.”       “I think I can relax now…” Edward replies thoughtfully and shrugs. “Since I know you’re alive.”       “Ah, I still can’t believe this story has finally ended,” Helene smiles widely. “I was dreaming of being free and hugging all my close people: Grandma, the men, the girls… And Sammy… I missed all of you so badly.”       “Your grandmother was restless when the police tried to find you. The guys and I were worried that she could get seriously ill and end up in the hospital.”       “Gosh, how’s my grandma doing now?”       “She doesn’t literally let go of tablets. She didn’t get out of her bed for one week. Today, when we were at her home, she got up for the first time, walked into the apartment, made coffee for all of us…”       “My heart was broken when I thought about what would happen to her if she knew what happened to me,” Helene puts her hand on her head.       “We all watched her and took care of her somehow. Not just the guy and me: our relatives didn't stay aside and helped me take care of Mrs. Marshall. Even Mr. Johnson and his wife got along with her.”       “I think there wasn’t a day when I didn’t think of her. When I didn’t pray that she was alright.”       “Your grandmother feels bad now, but she tries to hold on. Though when she was told about her death, she repeated again and again that she didn’t wanna live in this world anymore and asked God to take her with Him.”       “You break my heart with these words.”       “I’m telling you the truth.”       “And Sammy? What about my doggy? These stinkers wounded him before I passed out after the injection and woke up in that abandoned house.”       “Don’t worry, darling, Sammy is okay,” Edward assures with a slight smile, caressing Helene’s hand. “Yes, he had a wound, but it turned out not to be deep. Your doggy healed in several days.”       “You probably had to pay a lot of money for his therapy.”       “Raquelle took responsibility to pay for the surgery of Sammy, his rehabilitation, and buy cures.”       “Raquelle?”       “She paid for everything and controlled the full process of the therapy. She went to the clinic with him and followed all the orders from the vet.”       “I’ve gotta pay this debt to her and give her the full amount. When I get to my bank card and banknotes.”       “Mrs. Marshall wanted to pay it off little by little from her pension, but Raquelle rejected this suggestion categorically. So, she won’t agree to accept your wish to give her the money.”       “Even if it’s incredibly high, I will be giving it to her in little parts. From every salary of mine. Maybe I will even open my stash and pay my debt with it.”       “Of course, you can talk to Cameron about it, but I think she won’t agree. And how would she demand money from the friend who was in such great trouble?”       “Anyway, I’m madly grateful to her for taking care of Sammy.”       “She drove him to the clinic shortly after she found him wounded on the street. Concerned people who went by helped her. And they, by the way, helped us find out that you were taken in the car of Elijah Hartley.”       “Doesn’t she have my bag? I don’t have a phone and a wallet…”       “Don’t worry, Helene, Raquelle has your bag,” Edward calms down. “Nothing has disappeared, everything is in the one.”       “Oh, thank God!” Helene exhales with relief. “I thought I’d have to buy a new phone and block my card.”       “You won’t have to.”       “And the girls? How are they doing?”       “Better than Mrs. Marshall, but it’s bad. They held on at first, but after your ‘death’, they can’t stop crying. They barely accepted this piece of news and didn’t wanna believe it.”       “I’m so sorry about making everyone so worried,” Helene replies with sadness in her eyes, setting her eyes on her cup of coffee. “I couldn’t stop thinking of all of you. Worrying about you. I was terribly afraid that Marcus would seriously decide to kill you and the guys. And I was on edge when I found out about his wish to make Peter go to his home. I knew it wouldn’t lead to anything good.”       “Did you know Peter was Marcus’s son?”       “I found it out several days ago from Elijah. Nobody had wanted to tell me anything before. And I didn’t know what Peter did to that man to make him so mad.”       “Natalia assumes they could be relatives because they were similar to each other. But we didn’t think it would really be the truth.”       “I didn’t think that man would be his father. I didn’t think the woman who raised him was nobody to him at all.”       “Yeah, his story is shocking. I still can’t accept the fact that his own father wanted to sell his child to some bastards for a lot of money.”       “It’s terrible!” Helene exclaims after eating a little piece of cake with a spoon. “I have goosebumps on my skin when I think about it.”       “He always cared about his wife only. He always repeated, ‘My Julia, my Julia!’ He didn’t care about his son! At all! Because he killed his Julia! Theodore Longbottom is a killer!”       “But I think there wouldn’t be worse parents than mine.”       “Ha, my father was actually holy, unlike that bastard. At least, he never tried to reject me in such a radical way.”       “Anyway, I'm glad that man has finally been arrested. I'm glad his story ended.”       “Yeah. He was running from responsibility for all his crimes and lived like nothing happened, pretending to be holy for more than twenty years. But now it’s his time to pay for everything.”       “Not just his but also those who served him.”       “Judging by what the guys and I saw via a video call, they didn’t pity you at all.”       “Oh, yeah! These stinkers came to me literally every day to rape me and beat me with their hands and feet regularly. I always had bruises and pain in my whole body.”       “Did they really rape you? They didn’t just harass you and say dirty things about you?”       “Yes, they didn’t just.” Helene swallows nervously. “That’s good I was unconscious almost all the time at these moments. They knocked me out with an electric gun, hit me strongly in my face, injected something into me a couple of times… And I always woke up with severe pain in the bottom part of my body. I understood they didn’t pity me and did it all very rudely.”       “Feel free to talk about it,” Edward says softly. “Everything you have inside. Don’t be silent. Don’t hold yourself down. Even if you wanna cry bitterly.”       “When it happened for the first time, it was like all my feelings were turned off. I was awake, but I was tired, with my mouth closed with a rag. I spent several hours in some kind of prostration and could barely realize anything. I felt nothing literally.”       “And what do you feel now?”       “I’m supposed to cry bitterly and have hysteria. But it doesn’t happen. Yes, I remember almost every moment, but I’ve got no emotions inside. Meanwhile, I deny it all. I deny what happened to me.”       “Anyway, remember that you’re guilty of nothing,” Edward says confidently. “You provoked nobody, you didn’t ask for anything. Those bastards who don’t understand the word ‘no’ are guilty because they used the fact that you couldn’t protect yourself and had nobody by your side to protect you.”       “I wanted it more than anything. I wanted someone to come and take me away from that place where I felt cold, scared, and lonely. And my nightmare made everything worse. I couldn’t sleep well because of them. When I barely closed my eyes, I started to see something awful: Peter trying to kill me, Marcus chasing me, or his friends wishing to rape me… I even saw a nightmare with you, Daniel, and Terrence showering me with mud and then chasing me and trying to kill me for a long time.”       “Oh, Helene, poor girl…” Edward caresses Helene’s hand softly. “How much you had to get through…”       “I think I’m still deeply shocked. Because… I can talk quietly about what happened to me, even if I felt really scared. The story about me being raped doesn’t make me feel universal-scale horror. Yes, it’s obviously terrible, but… I feel nothing. Though I don’t exclude that I may break down one day and fall into hysteria for several hours.”       “The most important thing you need to remember is that you’re not alone,” Edward says confidently. “Your grandmother and your friends will always be near. You’re not alone. And nobody’s gonna judge you for what happened because you are not guilty of it.”       “It makes me happy,” Helene smiles shyly.       “Nobody’s gonna devalue your feelings and emotions. If you wanna share something with us, we’ll listen to you and get through it together. Just don’t be silent. Hide nothing. Don’t keep it all inside. You don’t have to tell the whole world about it. But those you trust must know everything.”       “I’m asking you about just one thing – I want Grandmother Scarlett to never know anything. Didn’t you tell her anything, did you?”       “Nope, we told her nothing. Mrs. Marshall doesn’t know about the naked photos that Marcus sent to Peter. Nothing.”       “Please, Edward, for God’s sake, don’t tell her anything,” Helene begs desperately, taking Edward’s hand with both hands. “I’m not gonna hide it from you, but she must not know it.”       “I understand you, friend,” Edward smiles slightly, clapping Helene on her hand. “Nobody will tell a thing.”       “It may bring her to a heart attack. But her heart is not quite strong. An old woman who probably has little time to live. I don’t wanna be the one to blame for her death by telling her how five men undressed me, spread my legs, and used me.”       “It’s your right, darling. And the guys and I are gonna respect it. And we understand that the old woman must not know these things.”       “Swear to me that you’ll say nothing.”       “I swear, Helene, I’m gonna be as quiet as a tomb.”       “I count on you. Really.”       “By the way, I’m gonna tell you a secret about Mrs. Lascano still knowing nothing about Eugene Wainwright harassing Natalia many times and trying to rape her.”       “Really?” Helene rounds her eyes,       “She doesn’t even know why we almost broke up once. Natalia, her parents, and I agreed to keep it secret. For her grandmother, the reason for our breakup was banal – a little caprice. She thinks we were just too young and stupid.”       “So, I don’t want my grandma to know something about me. She shouldn’t know it.”       “Even Mr. Cameron hasn’t found out that Terrence and Raquelle’s fights were much wilder than they say. He doesn’t know that my brother pulled your friend by the hair, strangled her, raised his hand on her, and actually didn’t act like a real man.”       “Sometimes a wish to be silent about something shocking may be much better for you than a decision to be absolutely honest with those who shouldn’t know any details.”       “Lying is bad, but we sometimes do it for the better.”       “That’s what I mean. In this case, I have to lie. It would be much better.”       “Don’t worry, sweetie, this secret is gonna die with all of us,” Edward promises. “Your friends won’t betray you even under a gun.”       “Neither you and the men nor the girls?”       “No one. You know a lot about the girls. They’ve been keeping the secret about your past and say you’d rather tell us everything by yourself.”       “I wanted to confess everything to you and the men before the board fell over my head. Before I was about to die, as I thought.”       “I think it won’t be too late to do it in the nearest time.”       “And I’ll do this,” Helene replies confidently. “You’ll see, Edward, I’ll tell you everything. I think you, Daniel, and Terrence should know the truth. And I can’t hide it from Peter.”       “By the way, did Marcus really know your secret or just bluff?”       “Nope, he was really aware. He was told about it by the people I knew. The people who suffered a lot because of me. One day, Marcus told me their stories and threatened to tell Peter everything many times.”       “But as I understand, he told him nothing?”       “Nope, most likely. Though he already turned Rose against me by just making him doubt my loyalty.”       “At least, tell me honestly, should Pete be expecting a betrayal from you?”       “No, no, he shouldn't! My secrets don’t have to do with him. It’s all about the girls, mostly. And other people you don’t know. Pete shouldn't be worried that I can betray him. I love that man with all my heart and won’t replace him with anyone else. And… I pray so hard that he doesn’t turn his back on me.”       “If you confess everything, it’s gonna be good for you.”       “Anyway, I’m ready to be judged. Ready to be blushed for you. As well as my grandpa and grandma, who were blushing for those I harmed a lot.”       “You can completely trust us,” Edward says quietly with a slight smile. “We trusted you once when you promised to make Peter happy, but now it’s your time to trust us.”       “I trust you, guys,” Helene pronounces softly. “You’re the best people I’ve ever known in my life. I couldn’t dream of better friends.”       “Nice to hear it.”       “I literally jumped from happiness when you called me. And I’m literally dying of the wish to hug the others tight.” Helene sighs heavily. “But I have no idea how to do this. How to make a surprise for everyone and not to bring anyone to a heart attack. At least, my grandma and the girls.”       “I think I can help you arrange everything,” Edward says with his head proudly raised.       “You have any ideas?”       “First, we can tell the guys this piece of news, but then we can tell Mrs. Marshall about it quietly.”       “I know for sure that I can’t show up at the doorstep of every one of them like this and spread my arms aside, saying, ‘Hey, here I am!’”       “You don’t have to go to everyone's home. We can just bring our gang together and give them such a cool surprise.”       “Good idea.”       “Let’s work this business right now.”       “Now? But they’re probably busy now!”       “I don’t think so! Yes, the guys and I said goodbye two hours ago, but they can come together shortly if I ask them about it.”       “Okay, let’s try.”       “I’ll send a voice message to the guys. Who don’t even guess which surprise I’m ready to give them.”       With these words, Edward takes his smartphone from his pocket, types the password to unlock it, opens the message app, and finds a common chat with all his friends. Then he brings his phone to his mouth with the voice record button pressed and starts to speak quietly:       “Folks, hello again! Sorry for bothering you, but we need to meet shortly. I need to tell you something. It’s really important. So important that we can’t delay the meeting for tomorrow or any other day. I’m waiting for your suggestions about the meeting place and will come shortly after we agree on everything. Thank you for your attention!”       After finishing recording it, Edward presses the button to send the message to all the members of the chat. Then he blocks the screen and puts his phone on the table not to miss their messages.       “Ready to bet any money that Terrence’s gonna be really resentful,” Edward says with a sly smile. “He’s gonna be like, ‘Oh, that little rutrag got in trouble again!’ He’s gonna moan ‘cause his brother gave him problems again. That creeping reptile harms his tender psyche!”       “And Daniel and Peter are gonna agree with him,” Helene laughs.       “It’s okay, when I come to them and bring you to them, they’re gonna take their words back immediately.”       “I wonder how long we have to wait for someone to listen to the voice message and reply?”       “We’ll wait for as long as needed! We can eat this cake quietly and drink coffee. They turned out to be really delicious.”       “Agree, they have amazing coffee here,” Helene agrees with a slight smile. “And the cake is good. It’s strange that I never heard of this café before.”       “I guess they just opened it. Judging by the fact that there are not so many people here. People barely know it yet.”       “Why don’t you use your status as a celebrity and make a little PR for this place? Make a post on your social networks and tell them that you liked it. You have many followers – many people would love to come here.”       “Why not? Good idea, friend! A good place needs a good PR!”       “I’m not even sorry about giving my last money as a charge for this delicious food.”       “By the way, did you have money with you even after those bastards threw your bag off?”       “Erm, actually, Elijah gave it to me,” Helene confesses shyly.       “Elijah?”       “So, I can catch a taxi and go home in it. I didn’t even have money for a bus.”       “What a new benefactor!”       “Anyway, I will give him back the full amount shortly after I have access to my card and banknotes. Moreover, I learned the number of his card, on which I will transfer the money.”       “He called it?”       “Nope, I saw the card lying on the table in the hall. I wrote it down and put a piece of paper in my pocket.”       “That’s really his? What if his brother ordered a card for him? Or gave him his card for a while?”       “Nope, it’s his card. It had the name of Elijah, and it expires in two years.”       “I see…”       “Then… Let’s wait for the guys’ reaction!”       “Yeah, wait.”       “You say you met today?”       “Yup. We went to visit your grandmother. Mr. Johnson went to her, as well, and he said the mess was cleaned after the house explosion, but they could not find you.”       “Does she stay alone when you’re not with her?”       “Nope, your neighbor comes to her. She watches her, helps her with homework, and just distracts her with talks and business.”       “Can’t wait to make her happy…” Helene sighs with a sad smile.       “You will, friend, don’t worry,” Edward assures. “The guys are gonna know about her now, and we’ll solve the problem with your grandmother tomorrow.”       “Thank you so much, Edward. You’re an amazing man.”       “I’m always near to help my close people.”       “We’ve made sure about it already,” Helene laughs shyly. “Knowing how easily you start a fight with dangerous people.”       “Duty calls, people count on me. I can’t let anyone down when someone needs me.”       “Next to such a wonderful man, Natalia has nothing to be worried about and afraid of. As well as your future children.”       “I’d tear anyone apart for my beloved girl,” Edward says with his head proudly raised. “And if someone dares to hurt my child, they’re gonna lose their head.”       “Well, the girls and I are really lucky to have our men.” Helene drinks some coffee from her cup. “It seems that there can’t be such perfect people, but it’s not the truth.”       “Anything is possible in this world. Someone may survive even when everyone buries them. When nobody hopes that they can come back.”       “Anyway, what happened to me became my pay for the mistakes of my past. And since I really regretted it, they decided to give me a second chance to live my life well and be a good person.”       “I don’t know what you were before, but now we all consider you a wonderful person with a golden heart and a pure soul.”       “It didn’t always happen.”       “We weren’t all perfect. I made many mistakes, as well as Terrence and Daniel… Even the girls didn’t always do good things.”       “The important thing is that we learned the lessons we were given. At least, I learned my lesson very well.”       “Not just you, darling,” Edward replies amicably. “Not just you.”       Helene moves her eyes down for a second with a shy smile, while Edward caresses her shoulder softly. They enjoy the pieces of cake they bought and strong coffee with milk, before the smartphone lying on the table makes a loud sound with a vibration. After seeing the notification on the screen, the man sees that his voice message has been listened to, and everyone starts asking what’s going on and why he wants everyone to come together. But MacClife, Jr., keeps everyone in the dark and promises to tell and show them everything after they come together, reminding them about how important his piece of news is to all of them.       

***

      After a short discussion, everyone decides to come together at Daniel and Anna’s house, where Terrence, Raquelle, and Natalia come in less than one hour. They are curious and anxious at the same time, wishing to know why Edward asked them to come together immediately and refused to wait until tomorrow categorically. And while the man is still on the way with Helene, in the magical survival of whom he cannot still believe, the others try to guess what could happen and give their theories about it.       “Why did he ask us to come together?” Raquelle wonders, walking into the living room with her arms crossed over her chest. “What could happen?”       “It’s a very interesting question, huh,” Daniel replies thoughtfully, knocking his fingers against the table with some stuff placed under the stairs. “But I can’t answer it yet.”       “If that little pain in the ass got into something again, I swear I will strangle him,” Terrence threatens. “I swear! Right in this place! Having a problem with Rose is enough for you, but my brother wanna wash our brains, too.”       “Yeah, our babies went really loose. They don’t obey older people. And they go nobody the hell knows where, while nobody watches them.”       “Hey, Natalia, don’t ya know what your sweetheart came up with? How is he gonna make us ‘happy’ this time?’       “Ah, I wish I knew…” Natalia sighs heavily, leaning back on the sofa. “I have no idea what could happen to Edward.”       “Maybe he told you something?” Raquelle asks. “Or maybe, he was hiding something for a long time but decided to tell us about it now?”       “I swear, guys, I don’t really know what’s wrong! And he didn’t look like he had problems.”       “And where did he go after we said goodbye?” Daniel asks.       “He kind of wanted to go to the hardware store. To buy something for the repair of the house. Painting, spatulas, wallpapers, and something else… Many things, in short!”       “Did you go home?” Terrence asks.       “Yup, home. But I wanted to eat ice cream on the way and went to the small store and bought one and a bottle of water.”       “And Terrence and I were about to come back home before we got notifications on our phones about Edward’s voice message,” Raquelle confesses. “That’s good we weren’t too far from here – we walked on the beach and sat in front of the ocean.”       “Hey, where’s Anna?” Terrence frowns slightly. “Where did she go?”       “Anna went to walk with Sammy,” Daniel explains. “She took some toys with her. She wanna try to play with him a little.”       “Did Sammy start to walk?” Natalia surprises truly.       “Yes, I think he’s getting better little by little, even if he’s still sad.”       “I guess the change of place helped him a lot,” Raquelle assumes thoughtfully.       “At first, Sammy was lying quietly in the corner or just looked at the window. But he’s lately come to the room of Anna and me and slept next to us.”       “Wow…” Terrence pronounces surprisingly.       “Anna recently managed to persuade Sammy to eat some of his favorite treats. And this morning, we found out that he ate less than half of the food we left in the bowl for a night in case he wanted to eat.”       “It’s awesome!” Raquelle exclaims with a slight smile. “I’m glad he’s starting to come to himself.”       “Yeah, the boy rejected any food and didn’t wanna communicate and play,” Natalia adds.       “I think the progress is great already,” Daniel says confidently, putting his hands on his hips. “It’s just the beginning, but still.”       “How long ago did Anna go to walk with Sammy?” Terrence specifies.       “Like half an hour ago. But I think she’s gonna be back soon.”       “She knows about Edward’s plea to come together?” Natalia specifies.       “Yes, I called her some time before you came. She said she knew about the meeting and would come back home as soon as possible.”       “She doesn’t have to rush,” Raquelle replies thoughtfully. “Because the one to start it all does not want to show up and give us any explanation.”       “Yeah, he asked us to come together, but he’s late,” Terrence crosses his arms over his chest.       “Ar-r-r, why can’t MacClife sit quietly in the same place?” Daniel wonders. “He’d better calm down! He’s gotten so many kicks in his life, but he keeps getting into something.”       “Our little Eddy doesn’t like living without problems! He loves it when someone kicks his ass and reads him lectures.”       “I wouldn’t be surprised if Edward climbed trees like a monkey and parachuted even at the age of fifty or sixty,” Raquelle replies.       “Trust me, honey, he’s gonna surely do this. Even after two or three heart attacks, tons of fractures, and radiculitis in the latest stage.”       “But to be serious, which guesses about this situation do you have?” Natalia asks. “What could happen if Edward asked to come together immediately?”       “Who the hell knows!” Daniel exclaims. “Anything could happen!”       “One thing is clear: that guy wanna say something important,” Terrence puts his hands on his hips.       “Dealing with another stinker would be too much for us,” Raquelle raises her hands in front of herself. “We barely got away from Marcus, but now MacClife is gonna introduce us to a new criminal.”       “I said I’d make a cutlet outta him if that donkey got into something serious.”       “Anyway, he could just send us a message and tell us everything,” Natalia notices. “But it’s clear that the case is much harder since it requires our meeting.”       “At least, Edward didn’t look suspicious when we were at Helene’s grandmother’s home,” Raquelle adds. “He didn’t show that something happened to him.”       “But it doesn’t mean anything,” Terrence replies. “If something happens, we’ll have to get everything outta him by force or hope that he’ll betray himself against his wish.”       “Oh, c’mon, folks, stop guessing!” Daniel exclaims. “That pretty boy will come now and let us find out everything.”       “I don’t feel quiet,” Natalia confesses, putting her hand on her heart. “I ain’t sure if we can find out something good.”       “Nobody’s sure, Natalia,” Terrence says confidently. “Nobody is sure about anything when the case is about Edward. The one who can do any stupid thing.”       “As it turned out, not just him,” Raquelle crosses her arms over her chest. “We have another dark house.”       “The one we don’t know what to do with,” Daniel adds. “Though I ain’t sure that something can be fixed in Rose’s case. That we actually wanna fix something.”       “Agree,” Terrence pronounces thoughtfully. “I’m personally starting to lose hope of fixing something. And getting ready to accept the fact that we’re gonna have minus two people in our company, not one.”       “I’m trying to protest against this thought now,” Natalia confesses. “I don’t want everything to happen like this. I madly love recalling the times we spent all together.”       “I do this when I feel bad for one or another reason,” Raquelle says with sadness in her eyes. “It helps me stay strong and keep my mind kind of sober.”       “Me too,” Daniel cracks a slight smile.       “Me too,” Terrence adds.       Silence settles in the air for several seconds, during which everyone thinks about something. And when Terrence sits on the sofa, and Natalia gets up and ends up in a strong hug with Raquelle, who comes to her, they can hear a loud doorbell that makes everyone look at each other.       “Oh, the pretty boy speaks of the devil!” Terrence exclaims.       Chuckling, Daniel comes to the hall door quickly. When he opens it, he only sees Edward, who does not want to show Helene right now and asks her to hide behind the door.       “Hey yo again!” Edward greets.       “Oh, the kid is finally here!” Daniel exclaims and greets Edward with a homely handshake. “You asked us to come together, but you’re late.”       “Sorry, dude, the traffic jam was on the road. I barely got out and came here.”       “You excused yourself, good job!”       “Have everyone come together? Or someone’s missing?”       “Anna’s missing. She went to walk with Sammy, but she’ll be back soon.”       “Okay, it’s good, too.”       “Don’t stand here and come in. So, you explain what you got into this time.”       “Erm…”       Edward leans on the doorstep with his hand with a mysterious smile.       “You see, buddy… I’m gonna specify that the case is about one thing. I have a little surprise for all of you.”       “Little surprise?” Daniel frowns slightly and crosses his arms over his chest. “What are you talking about, Edward?”       “I didn’t actually come here alone. And I hope you don’t mind letting one very important and special guest join us.”       “Okay… Can I know why the fuck you’re standing here so happy and smiling wider than Cherish Cat?”       “Trust me, after you all know about my surprise, you’re gonna smile and be happy, too.”       “Stop giving guesses, MacClife. Stop pulling the cat’s balls and speak out about the trouble we should get you out of this time, who you brought here, and what’s the fuck going on.”       “I don’t have to speak long speeches to explain something,” Edward keeps intriguing. “I will show you something now, and you’ll understand it all.”       “Okay, where’s your surprise? Where’s the one you brought here?”       “I wanna warn you: remember that you must breathe. Whatever happens.”       “Maybe you will enter the house? Or do ya wanna keep talking on the doorstep?”       Edward chuckles kindly, moves his eyes aside, and makes a calling gesture with a mysterious smile, whispering something like, “C’mon, show up!” Then Helene shows up shyly out of the open door and folds her hands in front of herself. Her appearance makes Daniel hold his breath, while his fingers start shaking, the coldness runs over his skin, and all his muscles are squeezed with painful tension. The man getting sharply pale opens his eyes widely and opens his mouth slightly as he looks closely at the girl whom he considered dead for a long time, but who is now standing in front of him alive and healthy and smiling at him sweetly.       “H-h-hel-l-l-lene?” Daniel pronounces hesitantly in a shaking voice, barely moving his lips.       “Hi, Daniel,” Helene greets shyly. “I missed you.”       A lack of air is the reason why Daniel starts breathing heavily enough with a sense of tightness in his chest and a fast heartbeat.       “It’s…” Daniel shakes his head sharply. “It’s impossible… No way… Impossible…”       “Anything is possible if you want it,” Helene notices.       “Edward…”       Daniel moves his shocked eyes to Edward smiling sweetly for a second.       “Do you see the same thing I do? I ain’t going crazy? It’s… Real?”       “Really, buddy,” Edward raises his head and hugs Helene around the shoulders. “It’s really Helene. She’s alive. She’s with us again.”       “But how?” Daniel wonders. “How did it happen? We saw it all clearly! We saw her dying in the fire!”       “I managed to save myself,” Helene confesses. “I mean, someone helped me with it.”       “I don’t believe it…” Daniel closes his mouth with a hand, barely standing on his feet that get weak. “It cannot be the truth…”       “It’s really a true miracle,” Edward agrees. “But it happened. Here it is, in front of you!”       “I promise I’ll explain everything,” Helene swears. “I’ll explain how it happened. But you can be sure that it’s really me, Helene.”       “Damn, Helene…” Daniel pronounces in a much lower and more shaking voice. “Is that… Is that really you? I can’t believe it…”       Helene just smiles shyly in reply to this.       “Friend!”       Whooping funnily, Daniel takes Helene in a strong hug that she answers with pleasure, exhaling with relief, and laughing shyly when he lifts her off the floor in happiness.       “Unbelievable!” Daniel exclaims, steps away from Helene, and takes her by the shoulders softly, breathing a little heavily. “It’s you! It’s really you!”       “I can’t believe it, either,” Helene replies with a wide smile. “Can’t believe I’m standing here alive.”       “My God… It’s… It’s a miracle! You were dying before our eyes. The guys and I saw it all. Nobody was gonna lie to us.”       “Trust me, I also thought these minutes were the last ones in my life.”       “I dunno what to say…” Daniel takes Helene’s hands. “Helene… I… I don’t believe it…”       “Clam down, buddy, breathe deeper,” Helene laughs shyly. “It’s okay…”       “Hey ya, is it really a cool surprise?” Edward crosses his arms over his chest with a mysterious smile. “Isn't it a cool reason to tell everyone to get out of their homes and come together?”       “Okay, guys, come in the house now! C’mon, c’mon, quick!”       Daniel pushes Helene and Edward slightly in the back so they enter the house.       “You must explain everything to us! I won’t calm down ‘til I know what it means and how it actually happened.”       Edward lets Helene come in first with a gesture and follows her, while Daniel closes the door after them, catches them quickly, and comes to the living room with them. While Terrence is sitting there all alone for a certain reason and checking something on his phone. But when the owner of the house shows up, he distracts himself from the information that he examines with great interest.       “Oh, Perkins, why was it so long?” Terrence wonders, getting up from the sofa and turning to Daniel. “Who came to you? Who were you talking to for so long and…”       Terrence does not speak his mind when he stops his eyes on Edward and Helene, who just shows up in the living room. The girl’s appearance makes him immediately pale, open his eyes widely, and hold his breath unconsciously.       “Shiver me…” Terrence pronounces in a little shaking, exciting voice, setting his shocking eyes on Helene.       Terrence’s fingers unclench the smartphone that he does not break and manages to hold in his hand in a magical way. Then he puts it automatically in the pocket of his leather jacket and starts breathing a little heavily, shaking his head in mistrust and understanding that the goosebumps run over his skin.       “It…” Terrence barely moves his numb lips. “It cannot be the truth!”       “Anything’s possible, Terrence,” Helene replies with a slight smile. “By the way, I’m very happy to see you.”       “Am I… Going crazy? Am I hallucinating? Do you see the same thing as I do?”       “If it’s the thing that can’t be called a miracle, I don’t even know what it could be,” Daniel replies with his head proudly raised, hugging Helene around the shoulders.”       “Hey, bro, just don’t forget to breathe, okay?!” Edward insists. “I don’t like your pale and scared face at all.”       Terrence shakes his head and closes his mouth with both hands.       “But how?” Terrence wonders and throws his hands up. “How did it happen? I don’t understand… You… You died! You died before our eyes! Those bastards killed you! They started a fire and exploded the house!”       “Right,” Helene nods. “But I was madly lucky.”       “It’s impossible! You didn’t have any chances! How did you make it?”       “I’ll explain everything, guys, don’t worry. I’m just asking you to trust me. Believe that it’s really me. Though… I understand you have no idea of what’s going on.”       “Guys, tell me again that I really see Helene in front of me,” Terrence tries to keep calm. “Tell me that I ain’t going crazy.”       “No, buddy, even if we’re all exhausted by the strong stress, it’s the truth,” Daniel assures. “Though I’m shocked, too, and I don’t believe it.”       “By the way, this is what I asked you all to come together for,” Edward confesses. “I didn’t doubt that you’d appreciate such a cool surprise. Because of which I can’t come to myself, either.”       Terrence spends several seconds coming to himself more or less and keeps his mind kind of sober. But at some moment, a wide smile shows up on his face, and he shakes his head, looking at Helene from head to foot again and again.       “My gosh…” Terrence pronounces excitedly. “Helene… Friend…”       Terrence comes to Helene quickly and ends up in an amicable hug with the girl, which makes him believe in what’s happening a little and exhale slowly with relief. Though all his muscles are tensed strongly, it’s a little hard to breathe, and he cannot stop thinking that his eyes do not really see what’s really happening.       “How did it happen?” Terrence wonders, steps away from Helene, and takes her hands. “How? I don’t understand! We saw it all…”       “I understand it, buddy, but please, don’t be so nervous,” Helene replies softly. “You all aren’t going crazy. I’m really standing in front of you.”       “Wait, you’re wearing the same clothes you wore on the day your… Death?!”       “Hey, I just noticed that the edges of the top are burned!” Daniel exclaims, looking at what Helene is wearing. “And your shorts…”       “I know…” Helene pronounces softly.       “Oh, damn, what a fiery burn on your feet!” Daniel points at the big red spot on Helene’s ankle. “It’s kinda skinned!”       “Indeed…” Terrence horrifies, “It burned strongly, I must notice.”       “It still hurts if I touch it,” Helene confesses. “But the doctors said it would be gone in one month or a little longer.”       “They tortured you?”       “Nope, it’s the burn from the fire. It showed up when I passed out, and the fire got close to me. So, it burned my foot.”       “It’s awful…” Daniel horrifies with widely open eyes.       “Gosh, Helene, we’re so happy!” Terrence exclaims happily, caressing Helene’s shoulders. “So happy you’re alive! You can’t imagine how much we mourned for you. How we went crazy at three thought that ye’d have to go to your funeral.”       “You won’t have to, buddy,” Helene chuckles kindly. “Since I got a second chance to live as much as I'm destined to. And I ain’t gonna die in the nearest time. I have many things to do.”       “We’ve been spending a whole week in mourning!” Daniel confesses. “The girls are crying, can’t stop, and the guys and I blame ourselves for not being able to save you.”       “No, no, guys, please, don’t.” Helene caresses Daniel and Terrence’s shoulders softly. “You’re guilty of nothing.”       “Listen, Helene, we’re really sorry about not being able to help you,” Terrence says with sadness in his eyes. “We suffered a lot because of that and blamed ourselves for your death.”       “And we couldn’t get rid of this feeling even if everyone tried to change our minds,” Daniel adds.       “You did everything you could,” Helene smiles shyly. “And you wouldn’t have helped me even if you’d really wanted to. We were too far from each other.”       “Really, Helene, forgive us, please,” Edward apologizes with sadness in his eyes, caressing Helene’s shoulder. “We’re sorry about not meeting your expectations and not saving you.”       “We let you down.” Terrence adds. “We let you and the girls down. They don’t say it, but we know your friends are disappointed in us.”       “Gosh, guys, what you’re talking about!” Helene opens her eyes widely. “I ain’t blame you for anything. And the girls don’t do. I’m sure they completely understand it all.”       “Yeah, but we feel guilty anyway,” Daniel replies. “We let you suffer and broke our promise. We were so unfounded, sassy, and confident, but in the end… We just screwed it up.”       “You’re alive, I’m alive. The criminal is in prison. It means you didn’t screw it up.”       “We’d say, this failure hurt our dignity,” Terrence replies. “We did everything we wanted, but then we got such a bad surprise!”       “C’mon, guys, relax and stop suffering!” Helene says cheerfully. “Since I’m standing here alive, it means it doesn’t make sense to blame yourself and say you failed it.”       “Aren’t you mad at us for not coming to you to help? Because… You counted on us so badly…”       “You did come. And I’m madly grateful to you for that. Grateful to you for not leaving me and for coming for me.”       “It’s hurt that we didn’t find you much earlier,” Edward inclines his head. “All of that wouldn’t have happened.”       “As they say, better late than never.” Helene smiles sweetly. “Anyway, I made sure again that I’ve got the best friends in the world.”       “Oh, Helene…” Daniel brings his hands folded together to his mouth. “We’re so happy to see you alive and healthy…”       “And I’m madly happy to see you all, guys. You can’t imagine how much I missed you all. How much I needed you all this time.”       Feeling emotional, Terrence, Daniel, and Edward take Helene in a group hug with wide smiles, and she answers it with great pleasure, while they press her closely to themselves and caress her head, shoulders, or back. At this moment, the girl lets herself relax fully and enjoy the attention from her friends, who do not hide their happiness as they see her alive. But even if the men are full of emotions, they try to hold themselves down somehow. At least, to be able to help their sweethearts, for whom Marshall’s appearance is probably going to be a great shock.       “Oh, where are the girls?” Helene asks, stepping away from the men several seconds later. “Aren’t they with you?”       “Yes, yes, where are Raquelle and Natalia?” Daniel frowns slightly. “Where did they go?”       “The girls went to the bathroom,” Terrence replies. “I didn’t understand why, but they said they’d be back now.”       “And Anna?” Helene specifies. “She is on the up?”       “Nope, Anna is now walking with Sammy,” Daniel replies. “She’s gonna come back soon.”       “Sammy? Are you watching him?”       “Mrs. Marshall allowed us to take him to our home and take care of him while she couldn’t do this.”       “Edward said he’d already come to himself after the wound but suffered a lot because of me.”       “It’s true,” Terrence nods. “Sammy just started to come to himself a little. At first, he ate some treats, but he came to the bowl with food last night.”       “I can’t really wait to see my boy,” Helene confesses with sadness in her eyes. “I’m missing him so badly. I couldn’t stop thinking of him as well as all of you.”       “Don’t worry, sweetie, you’ll see him soon,” Daniel assures, caressing Helene’s shoulder. “Anna knows that Edward asked us to come together and is coming home.”       “And while she’s on the way, you can show yourself to the girls and let them know they can calm down,” Edward adds. “And stop crying for you.”       “Hey, Perkins, go to the kitchen or the bathroom – I dunno where you have a first aid kit – and bring ammonia here,” Terrence says quietly.       “Yes, yes, the idea is good!” Edward clicks his fingers. “Helene’s appearance may be a great shock for the girls.”       “C’mon, tough guy, go!” Terrence exclaims, pushing Daniel in the back.       “You really think we’re gonna need it now?” Daniel throws his hands up.       “Be sure, we’re gonna need this thing one hundred percent. We’ll have to bring at least one of the girls to life after they come here.”       “Okay, okay, I think you’re right… I’ll bring it here. The girls can really get overwhelmed at the sight of their friend who came back from the dead in a magical way.”       While Daniel goes to the kitchen, where there is a counter with all the cures and medicines, Raquelle and Natalia come back to the living room, whispering about something at first and then letting the men know that they are here.       “So what, guys, hasn’t Edward come here yet?” Raquelle asks.       “And haven’t Anna and Sammy come back from the walk?” Natalia asks.       “Sorry for leaving… We just needed…”       Raquelle and Natalia stop sharply like columns and, getting sharply pale, open their eyes widely when they see Edward and Terrence standing on both sides of Helene. Whose appearance makes them feel that their heart starts beating faster, and it’s harder to breathe.       “Oh, my God…” Raquelle closes her mouth tightly with a hand,       “My God…” Natalia shakes her head in mistrust.       “Raquelle, Natalia…” Helene pronounces with a wide smile, barely holding down the tears. “My girls…”       “Helene?” Natalia and Raquelle pronounce in a shaking voice and look at Helene from head to foot several times.       “It’s…” Raquelle swallows nervously and feels that she can barely breathe. “It’s impossible!”       “Guys, please, tell us we didn’t go crazy,” Natalia says. “Tell us you see Marshall, too.”       “We see and can even hug her,” Terrence replies with a mysterious smile, hugging Helene around the shoulders.       “It’s me, girls!” Helene exclaims. “Alive and healthy. It doesn’t seem to you…”       “But…” Raquelle shakes her head sharply. “You… You died… We thought you were dead.”       “But I didn’t die. I’m here.”       “No way,” Natalia pronounces with a heavy breath. “It just cannot be the truth!”       “I understand it all, my sweeties.”       Helene takes several steps toward Natalia and Raquelle being pale and standing in the same place like columns.       “I can’t believe I’m here with you, as well. My best friends, whom I missed so badly.”       “No…” Raquelle puts her hand on her heart, literally feeling that the echo of it hits her temples. “No, I don’t believe it. I don’t.”       Natalia and Raquelle feel that something presses on the chest and does not let them breathe well, everything goes blurry before their eyes slowly, and they can hear all the words Helene keeps saying like through a deaf wall. Again and again, they look at their friend from head to foot and do not believe they are not out of their mind, even if Edward and Terrence are standing next to her, smiling shyly, and hugging the girl around the shoulders, even if they do not believe what can be called a true miracle.       “Hey, hey, quiet, girls, quiet,” Daniel pronounces as quietly as possible after coming back to the living room with a little bottle and a pack of cotton. “Quiet. Breathe deeply, look at us, don’t faint. It’s okay, we’re here just in case.”       “Excuse me, I don’t feel good…” Natalia puts her hand on her forehead with a sense of dizziness and a fast heartbeat. “I feel dizzy and can barely breathe…”       It takes less than two seconds for Edward to come to Natalia and grab her when her legs get weak.       “Quiet, quiet, quiet, sweetie, quiet,” Edward pronounces softly and quietly. “Breathe deeper. It’s okay.”       “Hey, hey, hey, hey, it’s okay,” Terrence jabs, ending up next to Raquelle shortly and grabbing her by the waist when she starts choking from a lack of air and shakes slightly with the thought that everything goes blurry before her eyes. “I’m here, it’s okay.”       “Seat them on the sofa, but I’ll give them water,” Daniel says and goes to the kitchen in a quiet step.       Terrence and Edward carefully bring Raquelle and Natalia to the sofa and seat them, while the girls keep struggling with a strong weakness, dizziness, a slight nausea, and a lack of air in their lungs.       “It’s okay, girls, it’s okay,” Helene pronounces softly, bending to Raquelle and Natalia and caressing their hands. “Don’t be afraid. Relax, breathe deeply. It’s okay.”       “I’m here, my baby, don’t worry,” Edward calms down, holding Natalia’s hand with one hand and caressing her head with the other.       “Don’t be afraid, my sweetheart, nothing terrible happened,” Terrence assures, hugging Raquelle around the shoulders and kissing her on the temple. “Calm down, please.”       And a few seconds later, Daniel comes back to the living room with two glasses of water that he gives Raquelle and Natalia, with the hope that it will help them to come to themselves a little.       “It’s okay, it’s just a moment of weakness,” Raquelle replies with a little false smile, puts the glass on the coffee table, and runs her hands from the forehead to the nape of her neck. “Don’t worry.”       “I’m okay, too,” Natalia calms down and exhales sharply with closed eyes. “I feel better now.”       “Girls, don’t scare us like this anymore!” Helene exclaims. “You almost fainted here!”       “Aren’t we really going crazy?” Raquelle cannot believe it. “Is that… Is that really you?”       “Listen, beauties, the men and I are now shocked, too,” Terrence confesses, holding Raquelle by the shoulders. “This is what we can’t explain yet.”       “But what we can call a real miracle!” Daniel exclaims.       “But how’s that possible?” Natalia wonders, moving her eyes to Helene. “We thought you died! The guys said they saw it personally.”       “Don’t worry, girls, Helene will explain everything to you now,” Edward assures, hugging Natalia around the shoulders. “But you can be sure that’s really her.”       “Yes, my sweeties, it’s really me,” Helene smiles shyly. “Alive. Maybe I’m not quite healthy psychologically and morally, but I’m here, with you.”       Not stopping to look at Helene with shocking eyes, Natalia gets up from the sofa first and comes to her closely, and then Raquelle does the same. Both girls can barely hold down the tears and close their mouths tightly with their hands, while Edward and Terrence prefer to be next to them in case they feel bad again.       “My God, friend…” Natalia pronounces in a shaking, low voice and shakes her head slightly. “I can’t believe it…”       “It’s a real miracle!” Raquelle sniffs quietly. “The impossible miracle!”       “You can’t even imagine how much I missed you.” Helene does not hold back her tears and smiles widely. “How much I wanted to see all of you.”       After looking at each other, Natalia and Raquelle let their emotions take control and take Helene in a strong hug, while the black-haired girl starts crying from happiness and presses her close friends to herself.       “Girls!” Helene exclaims happily.       “You’re alive!” Natalia sobs quietly. “You’re really alive!”       “We were so worried about you,” Raquelle adds and sniffs after she steps away from Helene. “We couldn’t calm down when we didn’t know where you were.”       “We pulled our hair out ‘cause we could do nothing.” Natalia does the same. “Though we were dying of the wish to help you.”       “And when we were told that you died, we couldn’t stop crying for one week.”       “Uh-huh, my eyes are so puffy that I can’t even do makeup. And does it make sense when everything would go down?”       “My manager was shocked when she saw the condition I was in during one of our business meetings.”       “I didn’t spend a day without thinking of you,” Helene replies. “I think only the thoughts about my close people helped me keep my mind kinda sober.”       “My God, Helene, our friend…” Raquelle presses Helene to herself and caresses her head softly. “Sweetie…”       “How much you suffered because of those scums!” Natalia horrifies, caresses Helene’s cheek, and fixes her black hair slightly in a ponytail. “What did they do to you? You’re all in bruises and burns!”       “Trust me, it was much worse one week ago,” Helene replies shyly.       “A-a-a-a!” Natalia whops happily. “My God! You’re with us again!”       “With you, girls, with you. I will always be.”       “Unbelievable!” Raquelle exclaims with a wide smile. “Just unbelievable!”       The girls get each other involved in a group hug, not holding down the tears of happiness, letting themselves make loud whoops, and even jumping twice in the same place. While they talk about something wildly and try to believe in what’s happening, Daniel, Edward, and Terrence are standing not far from them, watching them with a wide smile on their faces, letting themselves let go of a sense of guilt that was killing them inside for a long time and being truly happy to see the girls being in a good mood.       “It’s so good to see their smiles for the first time in a while,” Daniel says with a slight smile.       “We’ll no longer have to feel guilty for Helene’s death,” Edward notices. “Because she’s alive.”       “It’s really some kind of miracle!” Terrence exclaims. “I didn’t think she would manage to survive.”       “Oh, it’s so good to get it off my chest…” Daniel puts his head on his heart. “This sense of guilt was killing me…”       “Yeah, I wasn’t so happy for a long time. I wasn’t so dumbfounded for a long time.”       “Agree, I gave you a cool surprise!” Edward says cheerfully, clapping Daniel and Terrence on the shoulder as they are standing on both sides of him. “It was worth coming together and fucking all our plans off.”       Edward, Daniel, and Terrence laugh shyly when Raquelle, Natalia, and Helene barely stand on their feet after someone trips on the edge of the rug, loses their balance, and pulls the others after herself. But when they come back to the standing position, they just decide to laugh at it all together.       “Alright, Edward MacClife, while our cuties are having fun there, you will now explain what it all means right now,” Terrence says confidently, putting his arm around Edward’s neck.       “Yes, MacClife, c’mon, tell us all the truth!” Daniel exclaims, clenching his hand into a fist and hitting Edward on the forearm with it. “Where did you find Helene? How did you know she was alive?”       “And how long did you, asshole, know it and say nothing about it?”       “Listen, guys, I’m still overwhelmed, too!” Edward throws his hands up. “I wanted to go to the hardware store and buy something for the repair. And go to a couple of places on the way, I came to the crossroads, waited for the green light, and saw the girl was standing in the crowd on the opposite side. I looked closely and was fucking dumbfounded at the thought that it was Helene.”       “Was she walking there for nothing?” Terrence asks surprisingly.       “Yeah, she said she just walked in the city and enjoyed the freedom.” Edward clears his throat quickly. “Of course, I didn’t believe it at first when I saw her and thought I started to hallucinate due to stress. But I decided to follow Marshall. I went to that side where she wanted to go, caught her, called her, and stood like a column when that girl was coming to me.”       “And what was she doing in the city?” Daniel wonders. “Where was she all this time?”       “You won't believe it, guys, but Elijah Hartley saved her.”       “Elijah Hartley?” Terrence opens his eyes widely. “The one the police can’t find yet?”       “As it turned out, Helene was hiding in the apartment of his brother with Elijah himself. But she spent one week in the hospital, where he drove her after carrying her out of the burning house some time before the explosion.”       “C’mon?” Daniel surprises. “But how didn’t the other bastards catch him? How didn't he die with her?”       “I guess that man had his own plans. But if not for him, Helene would’ve died there.”       “Ha, we said that folk knew something for sure! There was a reason why he suddenly disappeared on that day.”       “Yeah, everything fits now,” Terrence agrees. “The police couldn’t find Helene in the mess ‘cause she wasn’t there at all. She didn’t die and stayed alive.”       “Hey, but why wasn’t he the fuck afraid of Marcus’ anger? Didn’t he know what that bastard could do?”       “As Helene said, he was just sick of pleasing his wrinkled ass and being overwhelmed by the tricks of that old man,” Edward replies. “Like, he decided to change the direction and become a good man. A certain savior. Hoping he’ll avoid the punishment.”       “Then we must get the address where that rat is hiding from Helene and tell the police about it,” Terrence replies determinedly. “So, they pack him.”       “Elijah promised to surrender at his will, but I ain’t sure it will happen. But I really like the idea of catching him.”       “Oh, Edward, you’re fucking awesome!” Daniel exclaims cheerfully with a wide smile and claps Edward on the shoulder.       “Uh-huh, you rock on!” Terrence agrees, ruffling Edward’s hair a little. “You gave us such a cool piece of news!”       “And did you, idiots, think I got you involved in some shit again, and there would be no way to get out of it?” Edward crosses his arms over his chest with a sly smile.       “What? No! We didn’t actually say it!”       “You didn’t. But you thought. And discussed. I do know it for sure.”       “You can’t know it!”       “Hello, brother, I know you too well!” Edward pinches Terrence by the cheek. “I learned all your thoughts by heart and can easily guess what you’d say and do at a certain moment.”       “Hey, little rugrat, get off me now!” Terrence and Edward exclaim at the same time, not agreeing.       “And yeah, don’t even dare to touch my head,” Edward says with a slight smile. “Or I’m gonna cut your hands.”       “Ha, I didn’t even wanna shave your head!” Terrence chuckles nervously, crossing his arms over his chest. “Fuck yourself!”       “Yay, guys, you really surprise me at times,” Daniel puts his hands on his hips. “And even scare me.”       “It has to do with you, too, Perkins,” Edward replies. “I don’t doubt that you thought about it, too.”       “If there was a dirty pool somewhere near, I’d be happy to wash you in it,” Terrence states.       “By the way, they say that mud baths are really good. If I wash myself in mud, I’m gonna be much younger, more handsome, and much healthier.”       “That’s what I need then!”       “I’d be happy to help you dirt your gorgeous but insolent face.”       “The exchange of kind words was a success,” Daniel chuckles kindly.       “You know I’d do anything for my bro,” Edward replies confidently, putting his arms around Terrence and Daniel’s necks. “For my friends, who mean a lot to me.”       “Don’t relax, mangy, I will deal with you a little later, when the girls aren’t near,” Terrence smiles sweetly.       “Will be waiting with impatience.”       “Shut up before I hit you.”       Edward funnily imitates Terrence, making his brother wish to give him a slap on the back of the head. But the man holds himself down when Helene, Raquelle, and Natalia call them and Daniel.       “Hey, Daniel, when will Anna come back home with Sammy?” Helene asks. “I can’t wait to see them!”       “Don’t worry, darling, you’ll see the doggy and your friend soon,” Daniel assures with a slight smile.       “Did Seymour manage to persuade Sammy to play?” Natalia wonders. “She would’ve come back earlier in the opposite case!”       “My girl can do this. She’s the first one to persuade Sammy to eat a couple of his favorite treats.”       “After he sees his owner, he’s gonna ask for food and eat the full bowl,” Edward assumes funnily.       “That’s right!” Raquelle agrees. “So, Daniel, I advise you to get a lot of food and a lot of water.”       “He’s gonna eat one week ahead!” Terrence exclaims.       “Hey, Raquelle, is that true you paid for Sammy’s therapy after he was wounded?” Helene asks shyly.       “True,” Raquelle nods. “I paid for the surgery, the rehabilitation, and cures.”       “It was probably a huge amount.”       “It’s not a big deal for me.”       “Don’t worry, I will give everything back to you. Show me all the checks so I can pay for them.”       “No, Helene, don’t even think about it!” Raquelle takes Helene’s hands. “Don’t give me anything. I did it for our friendship. A friend’s help can’t be considered a duty that you must pay immediately. The one who wants payback doesn’t do it with all their heart, they do it for a benefit. And the friendship with you means nothing to them.”       “I get it, but I feel kinda awkward.”       “It’s okay, friend, don’t even think about it. You and your grandmother don’t have to give me anything back.”       “We can agree on everything…”       “No, Helene, I said I wouldn’t take your money!” Raquelle repeats determinedly. “Taking responsibility for Sammy’s therapy was the least I could do for you when you were in trouble.”       “And Raquelle did it well,” Terrence adds with a slight smile. “She drove Sammy to the clinic for an examination every day and followed all the orders from the doctor. She went to Mrs. Marshall’s home and took care of your doggy.”       “Of course, we all gave him attention, but Raquelle was fully responsible for his therapy,” Daniel adds.       “My God, Raquelle…” Helene closes her mouth with a hand with a slight smile. “I… I don’t know what to say. I can’t describe how much I am grateful to you.”       “The important thing is that your doggy is okay,” Raquelle smiles shyly. “I couldn’t leave him when I ran to that place and saw you weren’t there, and Sammy was lying all in blood.”       “Don’t you have my bag, by chance?”       “I have it, yes. Everything is in it: your phone, your wallet, your other things. Nothing was stolen.”       “Thank God…” Helene exhales with relief. “I was so worried!”       “You can go to the home of Terrence and me so I can give it to you.”       “Thank you so much, Raquelle. Thank you…”       Helene takes Raquelle in a strong hug.       “You’re the best friend in the world!”       “Ah, I still can’t believe you’re with us again,” Raquelle exhales with a wide smile, steps away from Helene, and takes her hands. “It’s a miracle!”       “I’m so happy!” Natalia exclaims and hugs Helene tightly with both arms, pressing her closely to herself. “We can hang out as a quartet again!”       “We’ll catch up starting from today,” Helene says confidently.       Laughing shyly, Raquelle and Natalia keep holding Helene in their strong hug, not stopping to express their great happiness. And after Daniel, Edward, and Terrence look at each other, they all can hear the sound of the door opening and the clattering of the claws against the parquet floor.       “Oh, Anna’s back, I guess,” Edward assumes.       “Okay, I’ll go to prepare her,” Daniel replies determinedly. “And I’ll be near in case she wanna faint.”       “We have ammonia, just in case,” Terrence notices, glancing at the small bottle placed on the coffee table. “We will handle it.”       “Stay here, but I’ll be back now.”       After clapping Terrence and Edward on the shoulder, Daniel goes to the hall door and sees Anna really come back home and unfastens the leash from Sammy’s collar.       “Hey, how was your walk?” Daniel asks.       “It was quiet,” Anna replies and wraps the leash after she unfastens it, letting Sammy go aside with his head inclined, lie on the floor, and put his head on the paws folded in front of him.       “Did he play a little?”       “Nope, sadly. He didn’t care about the toys. We just walked somewhere at first, then I saw on the stump, and he was near and just looked around. Watched the birds, bugs, and something else.”       “It’s okay, you’re a fine fellow anyway.”       Daniel kisses Anna sweetly on the forehead, holding her cheek with his hand tenderly.       “You take care of Sammy so well that he started to eat a little and doesn’t withdraw into himself so much.”       “Agree, there’s obviously progress,” Anna smiles shyly.       After Anna leaves the leash on the table not far from the hall door, she turns to Daniel.       “Hey, what about Edward’s plea? Is everyone here now?”       “Yes, here,” Daniel nods. “We’re waiting for you only.”       “He explained why he asked us to come together? He got into something again?”       “Edward said and showed.”       “What do you mean?”       “You can’t even imagine what surprise he just gave us.”       “What are you talking about, sweetheart?” Anna wonders. “What did I miss? And why are you so happy?”       “Let’s go to the living room. You’ll see everything now.”       “You’re smiling so mysteriously that I’m intrigued and wanna know what’s going on.”       “Trust me, princess, it’s worth it.” Daniel kisses Anna sweetly on the cheek. “But I wanna warn you: whatever happens now, don’t forget to breathe. And I’m asking you, don’t faint after what you’re gonna see.”       “Why would I faint?” Anna frowns slightly. “As if we’ve got a ghost at our home!”       “Well… Almost…” Daniel bites his lips. “Anyway, I’m gonna be near. And if you feel bad, let me know it.”       “Well…” Anna shrugs hesitantly. “Okay, as you want.”       “Let’s go, someone’s waiting for us.”       Hugging Anna by the waist, Daniel goes to the living room where Terrence, Raquelle, Edward, and Natalia surround Helene from all sides, not believing in such an amazing miracle and aiming to touch the girl often to make sure she is real.       “M-m-m, look who’s come!” Terrence smiles mysteriously.       “You’re late, friend,” Raquelle puts her hand on her hips. “Everyone’s here, but you aren’t.”       “Sorry, guys,” Anna apologizes shyly. “I just walked with Sammy. I mean, I tried to walk.”       “And what?” Edward asks.       “More or less good. Though it didn’t make sense to take his toys.”       “It’s okay, Sammy is gonna wish to eat, drink, and play after he sees something special,” Natalia says cheerfully. “I mean, someone special.”       “What do you mean?” Anna frowns slightly.       Then Helene smiling shyly shows up out of the backs of Natalia, Raquelle, Edward, and Terrence.       “Surpri-i-ise!” Helene exclaims with a wide smile. “Hi, friend.”       Anna getting sharply pale holds her breath immediately, while her heart is beating much faster, and her widely open eyes are focused on Helene and look at her from head to foot.       “H-h-hel-l-l-lene?” Anna pronounces hesitantly in a shaking voice and puts her hands on her chest and her mouth. “Is… Is that y-y-you?”       “It’s okay, Anna, it’s okay, I’m here,” Daniel says softly, holding Anna tighter. “Breathe deeper. Just breathe.”       The goosebumps run over Anna’s skin, every single muscle is squeezed by the painful tension, and she freezes and cannot literally move.       “No way…” Anna shakes her head hesitantly. “It cannot be the truth… It’s impossible!”       “Don’t worry, sweetie, it’s okay,” Helene replies softly, comes closer to Anna, and takes her hands, making the girl feel a little dizzy. “It’s me, Helene. It doesn’t seem to you, you’re not out of your mind.”       “Friend… Sweetie…”       Anna’s eyes water with tears and look at Helene again and again, while a strong shake possesses her whole body.       “How is it possible?” Anna sniffs quietly. “How? We thought you were dead!”       “I was saved in time,” Helene explains. “I was saved seconds from the inevitable.”       Not being able to hold down her emotions, Anna starts crying much more bitterly and closes her mouth tightly with both hands. At some moment, she runs to Helene sharply and takes her in a strong hug, and snuggles her nose in the girl’s shoulder. That’s why Marshall even shakes slightly but manages to keep her balance and does not hold back the tears as she presses her close friend to herself.       “Can’t believe it…” Anna cries and sniffs loudly. “It cannot be the truth…”       “Please, Anna, don’t cry so bitterly,” Helene begs. “Don’t break my heart.”       “How wouldn’t I cry? How wouldn’t I cry?”       “I’m gonna cry loudly, too.” Helene caresses Anna’s head softly. “My nerves are so weak.”       “I can’t, sorry. I can’t…”       Anna breathing heavily steps away from Helene, takes her hands, and looks at her from head to foot with wet eyes.       “My God, Helene… It’s you… It’s you!”       “It’s me, my sweetie, it’s me,” Helene nods confidently and wipes tears carefully under Anna’s eyes.       “I’ve cried my eyes out for this whole week! I didn’t wanna believe you were dead. I missed you so badly!”       “For God’s sake, don’t break my heart. I can’t look at you like this.”       “Guys, please, tell me my eyes don’t lie to me,” Anna begs desperately, looking at everyone. “Tell me you see Helene in front of you.”       “They don’t, my sweetheart,” Daniel assures.       “We still can’t believe it, too,” Terrence adds, pressing Raquelle tightly to herself, while she snuggles in his shoulder with her nose. “But it’s the truth.”       “Look, your friends are crying, too,” Edward notices, caressing the sobbing Natalia on the head. “And we almost had a fainting epidemic here.”       “We’re crying with happiness,” Natalia replies in a low voice with a slight smile.       “Great happiness!” Raquelle sobs.       “Oh, my gosh…” Helene exhales sharply, wiping tears under her eyes. “Since I’m crying like this after meeting you, I think I’m gonna cry bitterly when I meet my grandma.”       “How did you survive, I don’t understand?” Anna wonders and sniffs loudly, while Daniel holds her by the shoulders. “How did you get out of the fire?”       “I said I was saved,” Helene recalls. “One of Marcus’s accomplices helped me. And he drove me to the apartment of his brother, where I spent several days after the release from the hospital.”       “What accomplice?”       “Elijah.”       “The one who hasn’t been caught yet?”       “He promised to surrender at the nearest time.”       “Unbelievable… It’s really unbelievable!” Anna grabs her head with both hands. “I just can’t understand it all.”       “You will understand, I promise. You all will. I know it all seems like some delirium. But the important thing is that I stayed alive. I’m with you again.”       “My God, Helene… Honey…”       Anna hugs Helene tightly again, kisses her sweetly on the cheek a couple of times, and keeps crying bitterly, snuggling her nose in the curve of the girl’s neck, while Marshall caresses her head and back.       “Gosh, girls, stop it, please…” Helene begs, glancing at Raquelle and Natalia. “You want me to cry with you, too?”       Sniffing and sobbing, Natalia and Raquelle come to Helene and Anna and hug them at the same time. And while they cry on each other’s shoulders, caress each other’s head or back, and try to say something in this dumbfounded condition, Edward, Terrence, and Daniel do their best not to follow the herd and not to shed a tear at such an emotional moment.       “Damn, if they don’t stop it now, I’m gonna cry, too,” Edward says.       “Although these are tears of happiness, they break my heart anyway,” Daniel confesses.       “Hey, bro, look what you did to us!” Terrence exclaims and exhales sharply to get rid of tension.       “What’s my fault?” Edward surprises. “I just did what I should’ve done – I let you know that Helene was alive after I met her.”       “Yeah, you should’ve the fuck prepared us somehow!” Daniel notices. “Warn us in advance, I dunno… But you came here and were like – a surprise!”       “But what a surprise it is, m-m-m…” Edward smiles mysteriously. “It’s like proposing to a girl who’s been waiting for this for several years. It’s like gifting her an expensive car or an apartment in an elite neighborhood.”       “There are people who make you wanna kill them with a cast-iron boil and strangle personally, but also kiss them and squeeze them in a hug,” Terrence throws gloomily.       Edward says nothing and keeps his head proudly raised as he watches the girls not even trying to hold down the tears of happiness and not thinking about letting each other go. And while Daniel ruffles MacClife, Jr.’s hair and hugs him around the shoulders, Terrence glances aside at some moment and sees Sammy coming slowly in the living room, looking at everyone with sad eyes and coming to the male trio.       “Hey, Sammy…” Terrence pronounces softly, reaching out his hand that Sammy sniffs, and caresses his head.       “Don’t be sad, boy!” Edward exclaims cheerfully. “We have a freaking awesome piece of news for you!”       “Yeah, buddy, don’t ya notice that we’ve got a special visitor here?” Daniel smiles mysteriously, pointing at the girls. “Beauties, Sammy came to us!”       While Anna, Raquelle, and Natalia move their eyes full of tears to Sammy, Helene steps away from her friends and smiles widely when she sees her dog. He sees her, but he acts like she is a stranger to him.       “Sammy, my boy…” Helene pronounces in a shaking from excitement voice and closes her mouth with her hand for a second. “Sweetheart… I missed you so much…”       “Go, Sammy!” Daniel exclaims, clapping Sammy on his back softly. “Go, what are ya waiting for?”       “Come to me, my boy. Come to me.”       Helene squats down and makes a calling gesture to call Sammy to her.       “C’mon! Come to me, my sweetheart. C’mon!” Helene clatters quietly and claps her hands. “Sammy! Sammy!”       “Sammy, what’s wrong?” Terrence wonders. “Why aren’t you coming? It’s your owner!”       Everyone looks questioningly at each other, not understanding why Sammy is standing like a column and looking at Helene without emotions on his face like, “Woman, who are you?” While she is also a little discouraged by the behavior of her dog.       “Sammy…” Helene pronounces softly. “Sammy, it’s me, Helene. Your owner. Did you forget me? Yeah, I’ve changed a little… But… It’s still me. Me, baby.”       “Your owner is back, Sammy,” Natalia says confidently. “Why aren’t ya meeting her?”       “Did you get mad at me? Are you mad that I disappeared for so long?” Helene gets down to her knees, looking at Sammy with a greater pity. “Forgive me, my baby… I am really sorry. I didn’t want it at all. I didn't spend a day without thinking of you. I wanted to see you soon and press you to me.”       “Don’t worry, buddy, it’s all over!” Raquelle exclaims. “Your owner is back and will no longer leave you. You’re not alone anymore.”       “Don’t break my heart, Sammy, I’m begging you. You know how much I love you. You have a special place in my heart. You always will. And I wouldn’t leave you for anything at my wish. Never. I swear.”       “C’mon, Sammy, come to Helene,” Edward encourages, claps Sammy slightly on his back, and pushes him. “C’mon, c’mon, go. Go, I said.”       “Come to me, Sammy,” Helene makes a calling gesture. “Come to me, my baby. Come to me. C’mon, c’mon, come here.”       A few seconds later, Sammy comes to Helene with great reluctance and sniffs her hands with indifference after she reaches out to him. Then he definitely starts to suspect something, sniffs them two more times, and checks on other areas before he starts wagging his tail energetically and starts making loud howls with a gloss that he suddenly gets in his eyes. The dog finally recognizes his owner and starts to run and jump around her happily, thrilling with a loud barking non-stop. That’s why the girl can barely pet her retriever and press him to herself.       “Sammy, my boy!” Helene pronounces happily and laughs when Sammy snuggles his nose in her face and tries to lick it. “My baby… My God… Sammy… My sweetheart… You’re so skinny… So slim… My God… You ate nothing, I guess…”       A few seconds later, Helene manages to hug Sammy and press him to herself, while he keeps being excited from happiness and being as restless as a slug in salt since he does not know how to express all the emotions that he feels as he feels the smell of his beloved owner.       “I missed you so much…” Helene kisses Sammy in the face several times, and he licks the tip of her nose with a happy whine. “I was so worried… I asked myself what happened to you after the wound. My heart hurt at the thought you could be all alone. I was so scared…”       At some moment, Sammy gets out of Helene’s hugs and keeps running from side to side or snuggling his nose in her face, making her laugh and smile widely.       “I’m so sorry, my sweetie… I’m sorry about almost leaving you. I’m so sorry. I’m ready to do anything you ask me about. Anything. Just let me know it.”       In happiness, Sammy strikes Helene down to the floor with a happy bark, falls over her, and keeps snuggling his face in everything, licking the area he stops his eyes on. And even if the girl does not always feel comfortable with it, she allows her dog to do anything and express his happiness in any way he wants.       “Oh, my God…” Natalia laughs shyly, closing her mouth with a hand. “Look at what Sammy is doing!”       “I think he’s never so happy even when getting the freshest meat bone,” Raquelle assumes.       “So, what, buddy, get ready that the doggy is gonna eat a one-month stock of food today,” Edward replies, clapping Daniel on the shoulder.       “Yeah, his eyes suddenly got a gloss after he smelled Marshall and recognized her,” Terrence adds.       “Ah, it’s so good when everything is good,” Daniel puts his hands on his hips with a wide smile. “When life doesn’t seem shit.”       Everyone laughs shyly when Sammy running from side to side, gets confused in his paws and falls to the floor. However, he gets up quickly, shakes something off, thrills with a happy bark, and jumps, while Helene sits up and caresses or scratches his hair.       “Sammy, my baby…” Helene pronounces softly, grabs Sammy’s face, leans on his head with her forehead, and kisses it sweetly. “Boy… I love you so much. You’re my happiness. I’ll never betray you. I’ll never reject you and kick you out like a thing. Never. We’ll always be together. I promise.”       Sammy whining with pity starts butting his head against Helene’s chest, while she keeps caressing his hair and embraces her doggy again, since he cannot hold himself down at all.       “Quiet, quiet, sweetie, quiet, your owner is with you. Here I am. I’m here. Here, my sweetheart…”       Helene spends several seconds caressing Sammy’s whole body before she decides to get up on her feet. Daniel helps her with it immediately, holding the girl carefully with both hands and letting her lean on him.       “Sammy…” Helene pronounces happily, grabbing Sammy’s face and rubbing his cheeks energetically. “Sammy…”       “He’s finally got the happiness in his eyes!” Natalia notices.       “He won’t leave Helene alone from now on,” Raquelle assumes. “He’s gonna walk after her everywhere.”       “He can do,” Helene replies softly, caressing Sammy’s head, while he looks closely at her with eyes full of loyalty. “May my boy walk. May.”       “I thought he really got mad at you,” Terrence confesses. “He thought you left him.”       “I wouldn’t have been surprised. I wasn’t with him for so long.”       “C’mon, he would’ve been mad for some time and then forgiven you!” Edward exclaims. “But actually, dogs can recognize their owners by smell. So, Sammy sniffed you and started to wag his tail immediately.”       “What, my baby, what?” Helene gets tender feelings, seeing Sammy butt his head against her feet and press himself to them as closely as possible. “What do ya wanna tell me?”       Sammy barks several times quietly, making everyone smile shyly. But at some moment, Daniel moves his eyes aside and stops smiling immediately when he sees Anna standing aside, keeping her hand on her chest, and then barely managing to lean on the table with a heavy breath because her legs get weak. Not thinking a lot, the man comes to his girlfriend and hugs her around the shoulders, asking anxiously:       “Are you okay, sweetheart?” Daniel caresses Anna’s cheek with the back of his hand. “You’re kinda pale…”       “I don’t feel good…” Anna pronounces faintly, glancing at Daniel briefly and seeing him a little blurry. “Feel dizzy… Feel really weak…”       “Quiet, quiet, breathe deeper.” Daniel hugs Anna tighter by the waist, while she snuggles her nose in his shoulder. “It’s okay, baby, I’m here.”       “Anna, what’s wrong?” Helene expresses anxiety, coming close to Anna. “Hey, honey…”       “My God, friend…” Raquelle holds her breath,       “Anna, darling…” Natalia opens her eyes widely.       “Hey, hey, don’t dare to pass out here,” Terrence says determinedly.       “Yes, yes, your friends made us super worried already,” Edward jabs.       Following after his owner, Sammy starts whining with pity so that he expresses the anxiety for Anna, who feels a little nausea, a fast heartbeat, and a lack of air in her lungs.       “Let’s sit down,” Daniel suggests and takes Anna aside in a slow step. “Okay, don’t rush.”       “I think I got too excited…” Anna assumes in a quiet, faint voice and swallows nervously. “Too excited…”       “Hold on, friend, don’t fall,” Helene says quietly, taking Anna under her elbow. “Don’t fall…”       “It’s okay, guys, don’t worry. It’s okay…”       But Daniel does not manage to bring her to the sofa and seat her on it, and Helene does not take her under her arm to help her, the sounds around her stop reaching Anna’s ears, and she falls into the infinite darkness, closing her eyes powerlessly.       “Anna…” Daniel pronounces excitedly and grabs Anna in time when her body goes limp and almost falls to the floor. “Anna!”       “Anna!” Raquelle, Natalia, and Helene almost shout.       “Anna!” Edward and Terrence horrify at the same time.       While Sammy starts whining and barking with pity, Daniel gets Anna’s body on the floor, and Helene, Raquelle, Natalia, Edward, and Terrence surround her from all sides.       “Anna, can you hear me?” Daniel tries to reach, clapping Anna slightly on the cheek and holding her suspended by the shoulders. “Anna… Sweetie…”       “My God, Anna…” Raquelle opens her eyes widely after she gets down to her knees along with the other girls and takes Anna’s hand. “Honey…”       “Friend, c’mon?” Natalia pronounces with a heavy breath and caresses Anna’s cheek. “Don’t scare us… Please, sweetie, please…”       “Honey, say something,” Helene begs with pity in her eyes, caressing Anna’s head. “Please, Anna, please…”       “Don’t scare me, sweetheart,” Daniel begs in despair, still clapping Anna on the cheek with his hand, while she does not react to it. “Please, Anna, please…”       “Damn, she’s so pale and cold,” Edward horrifies, putting his hand on Anna’s cold forehead, and checks the pulse on the girl’s wrist. “The pulse is weak.”       Sammy whining quietly snuggles his nose softly in Anna’s face and licks the tip of her nose shyly with the hope that it can help him wake her up.       “Daniel, put her on the sofa,” Terrence says confidently. “Quick!”       “Damn, you kinda saw it through when you saw we’d need ammonia,” Daniel exhales sharply.       After getting up on his feet, Daniel grabs the limp body of the unconscious Anna on his arms and carries her to the sofa, while Raquelle, Helene, and Natalia get up quickly and follow him, as well as Sammy.       “When she started to cry so bitterly, I expected something like this,” Edward confesses, following the others along with Terrence. “I didn’t even feel comfortable.”       “And she was mourning for Helene’s alleged death much more than the other girls,” Daniel notices. “She cried literally all day long. And I literally had to put food in her mouth by force ‘cause she ate nothing.”       After putting Anna on the sofa, Daniel sits next to her, moves some strands of hair off her eyes, and claps her on the pale cheeks with both hands.       “Agree, she looked bad all these days,” Terrence notices, taking the bottle of ammonia from the coffee table and soaking a piece of cotton in it. “Yes, Anna tried to hold on, but it was clear that it was hard for her.”       “Besides, Anna fears deceased people and cemeteries to death,” Natalia confesses, caressing Anna’s head and just holding her hand on her forehead. “Everything about funerals.”       “Uh-huh, Anna told us somehow how her friends persuaded her to go to the place where they found a real corpse of a person,” Helene adds. “Someone killed them and left them right there. And she was pretty young and was scared to death.”       “Yeah, going to funerals is a hard thing for her since then on,” Raquelle adds. “And she turns aside when there are corpses in movies or shows. And during the funeral of one of her relatives, Anna actually lost consciousness when they were burying them.”       “Although Anna has never said it, I can imagine how horrified she was at the thought that she’d have to go to her friend’s funeral,” Daniel replies with sadness in his eyes, holding Anna’s hand with both hands, caressing it from both sides, and kissing it tenderly at some moment.       Meanwhile, Sammy keeps snuggling his nose in Anna’s face or touching it softly with his paw, while she looks deathly pale, and tears are still seen on her face.       “Sammy, get back!” Edward exclaims and kicks Sammy out with a gesture, seeing that Terrence cannot come to Anna. “C’mon, c’mon, move! Let Terrence come!”       Edward caresses the excited Sammy on the head when he comes to him. And while Natalia, Helene, and Raquelle lean on the back of the sofa, caress Anna’s cheek or head, and hold her hand, barely holding down the tears, Terrence brings the piece of cotton soaked in ammonia to the nose of the girl.       “C’mon, Anna, c’mon,” Helene begs quietly with pity. “Please…”       “C’mon, my sweetheart, wake up, wake up,” Daniel pronounces determinedly, trying not to show that everything squeezes inside him from the excitement and the lack of air in his lungs. “Wake up… Come on…”       “If she doesn’t wake up now, we’ll have to call an ambulance,” Edward says with anxiety, embracing himself with both arms.       “Please, Anna, please…”  Raquelle pronounces in a little shaking voice, shaking her head. “Please…”       “Damn, why doesn’t it work?” Terrence wonders. “It’s something we need…”       “Maybe you should bring it closer?” Natalia suggests hesitantly. “What if it helps?”       “Hey, lemme try it!” Daniele exclaims, takes the piece of cotton from Terrence, and brings it to Anna’s nose. “C’mon, sweetie, c’mon…”       Sammy whines with great pity, comes closer, snuggles his nose in Anna’s leg, and touches it softly with his paw. Daniel keeps the cotton near her nose for two more seconds before the girl winces slightly and turns her head aside slowly.       “It worked!” Terrence exclaims.       “Thank God…” Edward exhales sharply.       While Raquelle, Helene, and Natalia exhale with a slight smile on their faces and embrace each other, Anna puts her hand on her forehead and winces slightly with a quiet, tormenting moan before she opens her eyes slowly with a sense of strong dizziness and looks at everything that surrounds her with a confused glance. And even if her vision is not clear yet, she can see the anxious face of Daniel even through the veil, while he takes her hand and caresses her wrists, not showing how scared he was about her.       “Quiet, quiet, my baby, it’s okay,” Daniel calms down in a soft, quiet voice. “I’m here.”       “Daniel?!” Anna pronounces faintly in a little hoarse voice and looks at everyone with a confused glance. “Guys?!”       “Don’t worry, friend, you’re with us,” Helene says with a slight smile, caressing Anna’s head. “You’ve got no reason to be afraid.”       “Erm… What happened?”       “You fainted,” Terrence explains.       “Got a little excited,” Edward adds, squatting down in front of Anna and caressing her shoulder. “Don’t worry, it’s okay. Anything happens.”       “How do you feel, darling?” Raquelle expresses anxiety, caressing Anna’s cheek with the back of her hand. “Something hurts?”       “Feel dizzy…” Anna closes her eyes for a second. “Weakness… Lack of air a little…”       “It will be gone now, wait for a while,” Daniel assures, moving some strands of hair off Anna’s forehead and putting his hand on her cheek. “Lie for five or ten minutes.”       “If something else bothers, we can call an ambulance,” Natalia suggests.       “No, no, no ambulance,” Anna shakes her head slightly and swallows nervously with the dryness in her mouth. “It’s okay…”       “Guys, someone, open the window!” Daniel says. “She needs the fresh air.”       While Edward opens one of the windows in the living room, Sammy whining with pity comes closer to Anna and puts his face right beside her, showing that he is really worried about her.       “Sammy…” Anna smiles slightly, caressing Sammy’s head. “My boy…”       “Oh, girls, you’re gonna put the boys and me in the grave someday!” Terrence exhales sharply, putting one hand on his forehead and another on his hip.       “Uh-huh, one almost fainted here, another followed her example, and the third one gave up!” Edward adds. “You think we’ve got nerves of steel?”       “Sorry, guys,” Anna apologizes shyly. “I’m really very sorry. I didn’t wanna scare anyone.”       “But you did scare!” Helene exclaims. “The guys and I were standing happy that Sammy’s mood got better, but then we turned around, and you could barely stand.”       “I didn’t feel good when he came to us. When you tried to persuade him to come to you, I felt dizzy and got weak. Then my heart squeezed weirdly, and I started to lack air. And then everything got worse and worse…”       “You should’ve told me that,” Daniel replies. “I would’ve seated you on the sofa. Maybe you wouldn’t have fainted. The guys reacted in time and helped your friends, and nothing happened.”       “I’m really sorry, sweetheart.” Anna puts her hand on Daniel’s cheek and caresses it tenderly, “I could barely think at that moment. I thought it seemed to me that Helene was here.”       “You know, sweetie, we can still barely believe it,” Natalia confesses. “We can barely believe that we were mourning for our friend for one week, but then she showed up for us alive and healthy.”       “I briefly thought I started to hallucinate due to stress. Moreover, I could barely sleep and didn’t wanna eat for this whole week.”       “As if we didn’t have it!” Terrence exclaims. “You think it was easy for the men and me to live with a sense of fault for our friend’s death? We were sure that it happened because of us. And it made us much more depressed.”       “I know…”       Sammy barks quietly, sitting on the floor right in front of Anna, whom he looks at closely with true pity in his eyes.       “Okay, the important thing is that it’s all over,” Edward exhales with relief. “You will lie now for some time and come to yourself little by little.”       “Oh, drink some water!” Helene exclaims, pointing at one of the two glasses put on the coffee table.       “Yeah, Anna, good idea,” Daniel agrees. “It can help you get better. Let me help you… Be careful, don’t rush, do everything slowly…”       Daniel helps Anna sit up very slowly and hugs her around the shoulders when Terrence gives the glass to the girl, who drinks some water from it in little sips.       “Okay, my princess,” Daniel pronounces softly, caressing Anna’s head. “It’s okay…”       “Breathe deeper, friend,” Raquelle advises, sitting on the sofa next to Anna and stroking her knee. “We’re here.”       “Don’t worry, Anna, it’s okay,” Terrence calms down, bending to Anna and caressing her shoulder. “Nothing terrible happened. It happens, too.”       “Moreover, you cried so bitterly,” Edward adds, standing in front of Anna. “We were worried about you, huh.”       “It’s because of mistrust and happiness,” Anna replies quietly, gives the glass to Raquelle, and puts her head on Daniel’s shoulder. “When I saw Helene, tears started to get outta my eyes by themselves.”       “Just like in the case of mine, when Edward called me on the street,” Helene confesses shyly. “At first, I was in a stupor, but then I realized it all. And then I started to cry.”       “I get it.”       “You know, this moment was so emotional that the men and I could’ve drowned the whole house with tears, too,” Daniel jokes and drinks water from the glass that is still full, and puts it on the table when it’s empty. “But we magically managed to hold our emotions down.”       Sammy barks quietly two times, and then Natalia sitting next to Helene and Raquelle caresses his head. Meanwhile, Daniel sits on the sofa so that Anna can sit between his legs in a half-lying position and press her back to his chest.       “Okay, guys, let’s try to put ourselves together and calm down,” Natalia exhales slowly. “What’s happening still seems something unreal, but still.”       “Anyway, now you know how I saved myself,” Helene shrugs, scratching the hair of Sammy, who sits next to her. “You know that one of Marcus’s accomplices literally betrayed him. Got sick of all the tricks of that man. Was horrified by how cruel his crimes were.”       “Not only did Elijah betray Marcus,” Terrence replies thoughtfully, sitting on the sofa next to Daniel, while Edward sits down next to his brother one or two seconds later.       “It’s right!” Edward confirms. “And Marcus was so angry that he was ready to tear apart all those stinkers. Who didn’t avoid the punishment that they’d get anyway.”       “By the way, guys…” Helene frowns slightly, looking at her friends quickly. “Where’s Peter? Why isn’t he here? I thought… He’d be with you, too.”       A tense silence settles in the air, during which everyone looks at each other, and Sammy whines quietly.       “Why are you silent?” Helene rounds her eyes. “Something happened to him? Marcus dealt with him, yeah? He killed him? Please, don’t be silent! Tell me just something!”       “No, Helene, don’t worry,” Raquelle shakes her head. “Marcus didn’t kill Peter. He’s alive.”       “But what’s wrong, then? Why isn’t he with you?”       “Erm, you see, friend…” Anna pronounces hesitantly and bites her bottom lip slightly. “It’s… Erm… A complicated and… Long story…”       “But speaking extremely shortly, Peter doesn’t talk to us anymore,” Terrence adds with sadness in his eyes.       “Doesn’t talk?” Helene asks surprisingly. “What do you mean, he doesn’t talk to you? You fought?”       “He turned his back on us after we started to think you died,” Natalia confesses.       “We’d even say we’ve become something like enemies to him,” Anna adds.       “But why?” Helene wonders. “What happened between you?”       “Peter considers us guilty of your death,” Daniel confesses. “He says you allegedly died because of the men and me. Because Terrence, Edward, and I went to save you and help him.”       “Yeah, we learned about his plan of meeting Marcus accidentally – from Ryan, who saw Rose,” Raquelle adds. “He told nobody about it and went to the meeting alone. And when the guys found it out, they rushed after him. But… It seems like the blond didn’t appreciate it at all.”       “But why?” Helene shakes her head. “You’re guilty of nothing! How could he say that? How could he blame you for something like this?”       “Rose went crazy after those scums exploded the house where you were,” Daniel confesses. “At first, he was screaming, crying, and saying he didn’t believe it. And then he suddenly became kind of a different man. He got kinda wild at that moment! It was like a demon possessed him!”       “Yeah, at first, Peter struck all the accomplices of Marcus all alone, and then he grabbed a gun and started to shoot at him,” Terrence confesses.       “Those assholes suffered, too,” Edward adds. “It led to the moment when they got scared to death and actually stopped asking for trouble. They hid in the corner all together and didn’t show up. That’s why they betrayed Marcus, who got really enraged after that.”       “But then the blond decided to deal with us,” Daniel continues. “I mean, we tried to stop him and change his mind. But we three couldn’t deal with him: he beat us, wounded us, and shot at us… He even put us under some torture. He did really try to kill us: strangling me and almost stabbing me with a knife, tying Edward and Terrence up, and putting ropes around their necks.”       “No…” Helene shakes her head. “No, I don’t believe it. You don’t talk about Peter. About my Pete that I love.”       “We’re really sorry, Helene, but the guys tell the truth,” Anna says with sadness in her eyes.       “Yeah, I even got the seal recently,” Daniel adds, pointing at his tooth that was broken before but is now totally restored. “Your sweetheart did this. He hit me so hard that my tooth broke. That’s good it wasn’t a full one but just half of it.”       “You obviously mean someone else,” Helene protests. “Peter couldn’t do that. He is not like this.”       “He is, sweetie, he is,” Raquelle replies with sadness in her eyes. “Peter went outta his mind and almost killed Marcus, his accomplices, and our men. And then he started to call himself Theodore. The name he was given after the birth.”       “Yeah, look at the guys!” Natalia exclaims. “It’s been one week, but their bruises haven’t gone, even if they’re now paler. And Terrence actually has back pain!”       “Really?” Helene opens her eyes widely, moving his eyes to Terrence. “Peter did it, too?”       “Nope, it was Marcus pushing me off the stairs,” Terrence replies. “But don’t worry, I feel much better now. I’m gonna have therapy for one more month, but the pain is almost gone.”       “Excuse me, guys, but I don’t wanna believe that my man can be like this. I don’t believe he could go so far. Tried to kill someone… And how could he just take a gun in his hand?”       “Yeah, but we must notice that Peter has never been so sweet and fluffy,” Edward notices. “It seems that he’s so quiet and shy, but he can easily show his claws and sting like a bee.”       “Yeah, I agree… Peter is a man with a tough character: he can say a bad word and smash a fist against an eye. But… I don’t believe it anyway.”       “Hey, Helene, didn’t you notice anything weird about his behavior before?” Natalia asks. “Didn’t you see Peter… Talking to himself… Looking at something badly…”       “Erm…”       Helene bites her lip, clenching the fingers of her hands tightly.       “It actually happened once… Peter didn’t know I was near when he looked aside and talked to someone. In a rude enough voice. He was really irritated. And he got so enraged one time that he started to… Like… Strangle someone… Squeezing his hands on someone’s throat…”       “Does it mean everything confirms?” Anna concludes. “Rose is really suffering from hallucinations.”       “Why do you think so?”       “Because we noticed it before, too.”       “I started to notice it in the first years of our acquaintance,” Daniel confesses. “But I didn’t pay attention to it at first. And I have a suspicion that these hallucinations are the reason why Rose attacked me once with a knife and cut my wrist.”       “What do you mean, he attacked you with a knife?” Helene opens her eyes widely, getting sharply pale. “It… Happened on the day of my alleged death?”       “Nope, on the day we fought. When the end of the band began. One month before Peter tried to kill himself.”       “My God, Daniel, what you’re talking about!”       “He lied to me when I saw his bandaged hand and asked what happened,” Anna confesses. “I tried to get the truth several times, but Daniel always lied and refused to explain everything.”       Sammy barks quietly with sadness in his eyes.       “But why?” Helene shakes her head. “Why didn’t you say anything? Why didn’t you say your conflict was much more serious?”       “I’m sorry, Helene,” Daniel replies with sadness in his eyes. “I’m really very sorry. I just didn’t wanna make it worse for me. You know I was the one to blame for all his problems. It’s partly true, but still…”       “And why did you forgive him so easily? Why did you talk to him as if nothing happened and never reproach him for that attempt to kill you?”       “It happened. I tried not to think about that case. And Peter preferred to be silent. Yes, I am supposed to be mad at him nowadays. But I forgot everything after Jessica and you told Terrence and me about his self-harming. And when he told us about his wish to kill himself, I forgot it all. I didn’t care to reproach him and blame him for something.”       “Did someone else notice these weird things before? Men? Girls?”       “Yeah, it happened,” Terrence nods. “But there weren’t too many cases. And Peter didn’t see us at these moments.”       “Peter didn't see me either when he talked to someone. And when I decided to ask what was wrong, he pretended that nothing happened, and it all seemed to me.”       “He’s never shown any kind of aggression toward the girls and me,” Raquelle notices. “He didn’t hurt Edward and Terrence a lot. But as I understand, he took it on Daniel as hell.”       “I understand why,” Daniel replies quietly. “I made mistakes, I said wrong things… I didn’t listen when I was told to shut up and not to do something.”       “Do you wanna say this is a mental illness?” Helene sighs heavily.       “Anything’s possible, but we don’t wanna say it in advance,” Natalia says. “But to be honest, we’re shocked by everything we’ve found out about Peter recently. He’s opened the other side of him. Not a very good one, let’s say.”       “And there are secrets we don’t know about,” Anna adds. “Mr. Johnson gave us some hints, and we made sure about it personally. When the guys talked about it for the first time, Peter started to suffer from a panic attack. He suffered from it every time we mentioned what happened to him.”       “And what do you think he is hiding?” Helene frowns slightly.       “Who knows, Helene!” Terrence throws his hands up. “It’s clear that it has to do with men. Peter confessed that he felt panic and fear when he talked to them. A much stronger one than when he talked to girls.”       “What’s surprising? We know that Peter was bullied at school. Where boys who nobody wanted to get in touch with studied there.”       “No, the case is not just about school,” Edward protests. “Something happened before. When he was a child.”       “And what could happen?”       “As Peter said, he doesn’t remember,” Daniel replies. “He remembers nothing from his childhood. Like, all his memories start with his teenage years. That’s why he started his story with school.”       “Lying? Or he doesn’t really remember?”       “It doesn’t look like. Though Rose understands that something happened. But he can’t remember anything yet. Or he doesn’t want. As he says, he ain’t ready. He’s afraid that it may bring him to hysteria.”       “Hm, it’s something like blocked memories? Something happened in childhood, but his psyche subdued these memories to help him keep living?”       “Most likely,” Anna nods with sadness in her eyes. “And until he wants it, we will not know the truth.”       Anna sighs heavily.       “I mean, we’ll never know it. Since Pete added us to the list of his enemies and ignores us.”       “Wait, have you tried to talk to him at least once?” Helene frowns slightly.       “We left him alone for several days so he could calm down,” Natalia confesses. “We thought Rose was too emotional and could barely think. Then we started to send him messages and call him, but he ignored all of it. We suggested a meeting to talk about everything, but Peter just reads messages and declines our calls too hard.”       “And then we decided to go to his home, but he didn’t open the door,” Edward adds. “But he wasn’t at home the first time, he got out somewhere. But we talked to his neighbors, who confirmed all his weird things. Like, he talks to someone and screams at someone at night, not letting anyone sleep.”       “That’s all?” Helene surprises. “Did you go to visit him just one time?”       “Nope, we recently tried to do it two more times, but he keeps ignoring,” Daniel shrugs. “But Rose was one hundred percent at home at least on one of those days.”       “Listen, guys, let me go to his home and try to talk to him. I’m sure I can do this. He’s gonna listen to me.”       “You can try, nobody’s gonna change your mind,” Raquelle approves. “But we advise you to be careful. Who knows what has happened to him while he’s all alone. Maybe Peter is now out of his mind, and it won’t end with just hallucinations.”       “Don’t worry, men, girls, I’ll try to go to his home tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. I will talk to him.”       “Maybe you can do this,” Edward assumes. “His condition got worse after we learned about your alleged death. Rose kept his mind more or less sober thanks to you, but when he thought he lost you, he was like, ‘Fuck it all’!”       “You’re the only one to impact him positively,” Anna notices. “And you’re the only one to bring our friend back to us. We don’t have the power you keep.”       “Yeah, Helene, we have hope now,” Terrence replies with a slight smile. “You can help us wash Rose’s brain and bring him back to us. Or… Bring him back to you… Because we aren’t sure if we wanna keep befriending him.”       “I’m sure he’s gonna be shocked when he sees you’re actually alive,” Natalia assumes. “And if you’re near, his condition is gonna get better. It’s gonna be as more or less stable as it was several months ago. When nothing bad happened in his life.”       “At least, he admitted that he wasn’t okay,” Helene shrugs.       “Because he’s got many unsolved problems,” Raquelle replies. “Including what he’s gonna have to remember if he wanna live a normal life. Peter has to run into it and try to forgive those he’s still mad at.”       “I’d be happy to help him. But I don’t know how. I did everything I could, but as I can see, it wasn’t enough.”       “We believe in you, Helene,” Anna says confidently, taking Helene’s hands, “You can do this. You’ve already done magic once by making Pete sure that he’s got a reason to live. And you can do this again.”       “What if magic had never happened? What if I, so to speak, just made him suffer longer?”       “No, Helene, don’t say it!” Daniel protests. “Magic happened! Peter really wanted to live when you said you loved him. We saw him cheering up and wanting to do something nice for you. He didn’t wanna let you down and break his promise of getting rid of his bad habits and finding the will to keep living.”       “Sorry, Daniel, but I don’t really know how to help him. What worked for the first time will hardly work for the second time. We’re gonna need something stronger.”       “You can change the situation if you just show up for him and let him know you’re alive,” Natalia says determinedly. “He’s gonna get a reason.”       “Yes, honey, do this, at least,” Terrence says. “Let him know nobody is guilty of your trouble. Show him that there are those who are ready to help him and give him a helping hand. Who love him, even despite all his shortcomings.”       “Even if Peter is really mentally unhealthy, it won’t change anything,” Edward assures. “Even if he almost killed the guys and me, we still love him, worry about him, and wish that man the best. Yes, we’re really after what happened, but we’re ready to forget everything and give him a chance if he wants it.”       “I promise, guys, I will do everything I can, but it doesn’t mean I can do this,” Helene warns. “I gave myself a promise that I wouldn’t leave that man, no matter what. No matter what Peter is, I love him anyway and am ready to do anything for him.”       “Show him how much he means to us,” Anna says. “Let him know that Peter is still our friend. We’re ready to help him find out why he doesn’t trust people and thinks the whole world wanna betray him.”       “I don’t feel quiet at the thought of this responsibility. I worry that I may not handle it.”       “Don’t worry, friend, you can do this,” Raquelle assures, hugging Helene around the shoulders. “You can bring our friend back to us for the second time and help him get rid of at least a part of his problems.”       Sammy barks confidently two times as if he agrees.       “If only it’s not too late to do something…” Helene sighs heavily. “What if Peter kills himself while we’re looking for a way to help him? Or maybe he’s done it already. After cutting himself for a whole week and weakening his pain with alcohol, he may deprive us of any hope to bring him back to us.”       “Yeah, but we can do nothing!” Edward throws his hands up. “Peter withdrew into himself! He ignores us and thinks we’re guilty of all his problems. He doesn’t let us in his home, he turns off our calls, he doesn’t respond to our messages…”       “And his neighbors? What if they know something? There’s a woman he gets along with! What if we try to ask her to find out something?”       “Yeah, but he ignores her, too,” Daniel confesses. “Mrs. Larson somehow complained about it to us: she saw Peter going somewhere and greeted him, but he ignored her. And his rivalry with Hillary and Marta reached its peak. Rose doesn’t hold himself down: he’s rude to them, he insults them, and he even threatens them with murder, as they said. In short, he listens to nobody.”       “And when Mrs. Larson invited all of us to her home, she told us that Peter had estranged himself from her some time before,” Terrence confesses. “Like, he often visited her for a cup of coffee and spent hours talking to her, but now he answers her rudely.”       “You said he talked to someone and even screamed at night?” Helene specifies.       “That’s what his neighbors said,” Anna shrugs. “Who knows if it’s the truth or they just wanna slander the guy.”       “It’s true, likely. A bigger part of us saw him talking to himself. And actually, there have been many signs telling that something is not right with him.”       “Knowing that his father is the mentally unhealthy Marcus Longbottom, it’s explainable enough,” Edward crosses his arms over his chest, leaning back on the sofa.       “Not just him. Everyone in their family suffered from some mental illnesses.”       “And Peter is probably a collector of shit who got all of this at once,” Terrence throws gloomily. “So, it means that the phrase ‘still waters run deep’ describes that guy so well. He’s kinda fluffy and sweet, but he can make anyone horrified and make their knees shake. Just like in the case of Marcus’s accomplices and us.”       “Anyway, we shouldn't blame him,” Raquelle notices. “Peter is not guilty of having some issues since birth, and the fact that the terrible attitude of other people toward him became a catalyst for other, not less serious problems.”       “But after what he did to us, Marcus, and his accomplices, we’re afraid to be with him,” Edward confesses. “If you do something wrong or say something bad, he may stab you.”       “The situation is really complicated,” Daniel notices. “On the one hand, he’s our friend, and we can’t leave him like this due to his weird behavior. We surely know that Peter needs help. And his aggression is a protective reaction. An attempt to hide from this world with the thought that it’s his enemy. Though that guy is actually unhappy, unprotected, lonely, and weak.”       “But on the other hand, we all have to decide if we wanna keep supporting the connection with that man,” Natalia adds. “If we wanna keep talking to the one who probably has mental issues.”       “But Peter hasn’t always been like this!” Helene notices with sadness in his eyes. “He hasn’t always behaved so terribly. Remember, he was a very quiet, wise, and determined man several months ago, and we could come to him for advice and support.”       “But it cannot last forever!” Anna exclaims. “It’s not okay when these drastic transformations happen to the person: we see a kind and caring guy who may suddenly turn into an aggressive and heartless bastard.”       “And he really changes every time he has a problem,” Raquelle notices. “Because of his conflict with Daniel at first, and now because of his problems with Marcus and Helene’s alleged death. And these things have likely happened before.”       “It probably has a reason for all of that,” Helene replies confidently. “And since we don’t know everything about Peter, we must find out what he’s hiding. Maybe that’s the root of all his problems.”       “How?” Terrence throws his hands up. “We can’t make anyone remember everything if they don’t want it!”       “But we can try to recreate the event that he’d associate with what happened.”       “Uh-huh, do we know how to recreate it?” Edward asks surprisingly. “Do we know where the roots are? We don’t have any hits! Nothing that could help us have any guesses.”       “He doesn’t remember anything about his childhood, as if he were born as a teenager. He ignores people for this reason. He thinks they wanna hurt him for the reason.”       “We know, Helene, but there are no clues!” Daniel exclaims. “And does it make sense to work on it? What if we have to accept the fact that Peter made the decision? Since the man doesn’t want it, should we make Rose talk to us?”       “I get it… But Peter doesn’t want it deep inside. He doesn’t want us to leave him. You know that he fears loneliness to death.”       “Yeah, but he’s hiding from us,” Raquelle recalls. “It’s like he tells us to leave him alone.”       “Listen, guys, I’m not sure about the success, but I promise I will try to do everything I can,” Helene promises. “I’ll find him. Catch him somewhere. Talk to him. Try to make him sure that he's making a mistake. If I need it, I’ll spend all day, all night near his home. Or maybe I won’t have to do this. Maybe he will answer my calls and messages.”       “Are you really ready to stay with him even after what you heard?” Anna asks hesitantly.       “Ready,” Helene raises her head proudly. “Absolutely. I know Peter well. I know what he really is. I know he needs help even if he doesn’t talk about it. I don’t know how to help him, but I promise, guys, I won’t give up. I won’t give up. If Pete tells me to leave, okay, I’ll have to leave. But you can count on me anyway.”       “Thank you so much, Helene,” Terrence thanks with a slight smile. “Thank you for all your efforts.”       “Please, friend, let the miracle happen again,” Daniel begs with sadness in his eyes. “Bring our friend back. Bring our brother back. Whom we love, no matter what.”       “And no matter what, it’s gonna be very sad for us to lose him,” Edward adds. “It’s gonna be sad to know he turns his back on us because of what we aren’t guilty of.”       “Yes, I haven’t always been a good friend to him, and I’m guilty of many things. But I’m trying to be better. I don’t leave Peet in trouble and always come to help him. He knows he can call me even in the middle of the night when I sleep deeply. I don’t care, I can sleep later – a friend is more important.”       “I’ve never heard Peter reproaching you for that and saying he’s mad,” Helene notices. “And don’t think your effort means nothing to him. It does. He’s ready to do anything you ask him about and would sacrifice his time, his business, and his sleep to come to you. To come to all of you, guys.”       “Anyway, we put our great hopes on you,” Natalia smiles shyly. “You’re our last chance to bring Pete back. If you can’t do this, we’ll have to accept it. But since you’re with us again, we’ve gotta fight.”       “I will start it tomorrow!” Helene exclaims with a slight smile. “I won’t waste time.”       “Yeah, but first, it would be great if you made your grandmother happy with your appearance,” Anna notices. “Poor Mrs. Marshall doesn’t let go of her tablets for high blood pressure and spends her time in bed all day long.”       “I remember. But I don’t know how to make it happen well. So, she doesn’t end up in the hospital from the excitement. I can’t go home suddenly and say, ‘Hey, Grandma, I’m alive!’”       “You're right…” Natalia agrees thoughtfully. “That woman should be prepared at first.”       “Someone can go to her home and tell her this piece of news softly,” Edward suggests. “And make sure she doesn’t get much worse.”       “Raquelle and I can do this!” Terrence exclaims. “And we could go to our home to take your bag and bring it back to you.”       “Let me come with you right now?” Helene gives an idea. “I’m ready.”       “No, Helene, let’s do this…” Daniel says quietly. “Stay with Anna and me until tomorrow. Eat well, take a shower, sleep enough… Anna can give you something from her clothes. And tomorrow, I’ll drive you home to Mrs. Marshall and make sure your meeting ends well.”       “Good idea, too,” Terrence shrugs.       “Moreover, Sammy lives at our home with the permission of your grandmother now. You can spend some time with him, play, and feed him… He didn’t eat anything and was in a deep depression.”       “I don’t mind it,” Helene smiles shyly and caresses Sammy’s head softly, while he looks at her with eyes full of loyalty. “It would be great to spend some time with my close people. And honestly, I can’t go home by myself. I spent the money that Elijah lent me on something different: I gave a part of it to the street singer who sang ‘Electric x Magnetic’ and gave another part to the staff members of the cage where Edward and I talked about everything as a charge.”       “We’ve decided it, then!” Anna exclaims. “You’ll spend a night here and come back home tomorrow.”       “But I will bring your bag to you tonight,” Raquelle promises. “No problems, I have nothing to do. You can charge your phone and make sure it has everything.”       “Thank you so much, guys,” Helene thanks with a wide smile. “You’re the best friends in the world!”       “Gosh, I still can't believe you’re with us again,” Natalia says happily, putting her hands on her cheeks.       “I can say fate gave me a second chance. To try to fix the old mistakes and not to make new ones.”       “Oh, we don’t care about mistakes – the important thing is that you’re alive!” Anna exclaims, hugs Helene tightly with both arms, and puts her head on the girl’s shoulder. “Helene, friend…”       Sammy barks happily two times.       “And how happy Sammy is!” Raquelle notices, caressing Sammy’s head. “He’s now so funny!”       “Not just him,” Natalia smiles shyly and hugs Helene and Anna with both arms. “We’re so happy everything ended well.”       “The miracle that we can barely believe.” Raquelle presses herself to her friends and hugs them sweetly.       “Hey, cuties, hug me, too!” Daniel whines with eyes full of pity, pressing himself to Anna and hugging all the girls sweetly. “Me too!”       “Don’t forget us!” Edward and Terrence jab, getting up sharply from the sofa and joining the group hugs. “Don’t forget us!”       Sammy does not stay aside, stretching himself up and leaning on Helene’s laps with his front paws, while everyone caresses his head softly or yanks him by the ears.       “Hey, guys…” Helene pronounces shyly after everyone steps away from each other. “Forgive me for what happened. For scaring you like this and making you so excited.”       “Don’t worry, friend, it’s okay,” Raquelle replies amicably and glances at Edward significantly. “Though it’s a thing you should have warned us about earlier.”       “But you’ve got such a cool surprise,” Edward raises his head proudly raised with a sly smile. “It was always, ‘Edward got into something, Edward can’t sit quietly, Edward did this or did that…’”       “Uh-huh, actually, Edward is the reason why we had a fainting epidemic here!” Terrence throws gloomily. “Yes, we avoided it, but we failed one of the cases.”       “Anything happens, buddy,” Anna excuses herself shyly. “Anything…”       “Hey, Anna, how are you feeling now?” Raquelle expresses anxiety, caressing Anna’s hand.       “Much better now. As if nothing happened.”       “Hey, cutie, don’t kill our friend, please!” Edward puts his hands on his hips. “Of course, Perkins didn’t show it, but he got kinda green when you felt unconscious.”       “I confirm it!” Terrence exclaims. “I think if we hadn’t been here, he would’ve been in a stupor and done nothing to help you.”       “Oh, guys, you must’ve seen your pale and scared faces when your cuties got too excited here,” Daniel smiles innocently. “You were about to get a piece of cotton with ammonia under your nose.”       “Look who’s talking, tough guy!” Terrence and Edward chuckle loudly, crossing their arms over their chests.       “But they’re right, buddy,” Helene notices. “You looked so scared that we thought we had to bring you to life.”       “But now we know that our lovebirds have something in common,” Terrence replies funnily, standing behind Daniel and Anna and hugging them around the shoulders. “One faints at the sight of blood, and another faints at the sight of dead people. They’re literally made for each other!”       “Shut up, MacClife,” Daniel and Anna say with an innocent smile.       Sammy barks confidently two times.       “What?” Terrence opens his eyes widely. “Even Sammy agrees with me!”       “Before laughing, you'd better pay attention to yourself,” Daniel says quietly and stops his eyes on Edward laughing. “It has to do with you, too, kid.”       “C’mon, guys, why you’re laughing at the man,” Raquelle sighs tiredly. “He was scared for the reason. That’s why he looked pale and was in a stupor.”       “Were you really so scared?” Anna asks with sadness in her eyes, running her fingers through Daniel’s hair.       “What do you think, princess?” Daniel asks surprisingly, caressing Anna’s cheeks with both hands. “How could I be indifferent when you fell unconscious on the floor, looked terribly pale, and couldn’t wake up?”       “Aw, Daniel, sweetheart…”       Holding one cheek of Daniel with her hand, Anna kisses the other cheek tenderly.       “I’m really sorry, my sweetheart.” Anna runs her hand over Daniel’s hair, puts her arms around his neck, and takes him in a strong hug. “I didn’t wanna scare you.”       “Just don’t do this anymore,” Daniel says, running his hands over Anna’s back up and down. “I really almost went insane. And I would’ve been in a stupor if not for the guys.”       “Sorry, I’m very sorry.”       Sammy barking quietly puts his paw on the lap of Daniel, who caresses his head with a slight smile, while Anna keeps pressing herself sweetly to him.       “Hey, what about the story of the corpse the girls mentioned when we tried to wake you up?” Terrence frowns slightly.       “It happened…” Anna replies thoughtfully. “Can’t remember my age, but I was pretty young. There was one boy in my company who suggested that we go for a walk somewhere out of the city. So, we went, went, talked, ate something… Then something caught our attention, and we went to check it out. Something covered with rags… And when that boy removed them, we saw a human corpse. The corpse of a man. It was clear he was there for a long time because it was rotten through and spread the disgusting, strong smell of a carcass, I still remember it…”       “My gosh…” Daniel winces slightly.       “There were three girls in our company, including me, and two boys. The one who removed the rags had an unhealthy interest in it, and another turned around. Two girls rushed to run. And I screamed and then cleaned my stomach. I felt very bad: I couldn’t breathe, I felt dizzy, I felt too hot… And I eventually fell into the darkness. I woke up in a different place surrounded by the girls and the boy who disliked the corpse. They wanted to drive me to the hospital, but I persuaded them not to do this. And I categorically banned them from saying something to my parents. I told them to keep their mouth shut.”       “Your parents still don’t know it?” Helene asks.       “Nope, they know nothing. Though some time later, after that case, I had to go to the funeral of one of our close relatives. I thought I’d get through it somehow, but the sight of the coffin and the cemetery itself made me panic and fear I couldn’t explain. And at first, I held on somehow, but when they began to put the coffin in the grave, I felt much worse. And I lost consciousness in the end. But even after that, I didn’t tell my parents that my friends and I found a corpse, the sight and smell of which made me horrified.”       “Didn’t you have a chance to stay home and not go to the funeral?” Edward surprises.       “I tried to make my parents sure to let me stay home. I said I needed to study. But you know that nobody listened to me back then. Like, if they told me to go, I must have gone. And I must’ve obeyed older people, if they said to do something, I should’ve done it. So, I had to do it. It was my first experience with funerals. Nobody gave me moral support, nobody calmed me down. Everyone just shut me up and told me to be quiet and not to shame people, waking up when I was lying unconscious on the ground.”       “Anna, my girl…” Daniel pronounces with sympathy, hugging Anna tightly and pressing her to himself, and kisses her on the top of her head. “My baby…”       “Since then, I fear everything about dead people. The sight of a corpse, the smell, cemeteries, coffins, graves… I… I can’t look at all of this quietly. And… I was horrified that… I have to get through it all again by going to Helene’s funeral.”       “But thank God, you don’t have to do this,” Raquelle smiles shyly. “I don’t like cemeteries, either. I always leave them in a depressed condition and try not to spend too much time there. Though I’ve never had such a strong fear of it.”       “I don’t even know what I fear more: airplanes, dogs, or dead people.”       Sammy whines with pity and touches Anna’s leg softly with his paw.       “Don’t think about it, princess,” Daniel insists, caressing Anna’s head. “Don’t let these things get into your head. Luckily, you won’t have to bury your friend. And if you ever have to do this someday, I will be near and won’t leave you alone.”       “We all will be near,” Terrence assures with a slight smile. “We promise.”       “It’s okay, friend, don’t worry,” Helene pronounces softly, caressing Anna’s hand.       “Please, don’t tell my parents what I told you,” Anna says with sadness in her eyes. “I don’t want them to know it. Won’t you say anything, right?”       “You can trust us, Anna,” Edward says confidently. “We’ll say nothing to them.”       “And don’t tell them about this faint. They shouldn’t be worried. Moreover, I feel much better now.”       “If it’s so important to you, we will do what you want,” Natalia promises.       “Thank you so much, guys,” Anna thanks amicably. “You’re the best. The best people in the world.”       Sammy barks two times confidently, and Anna kisses Daniel sweetly on the cheek and looks at him with a tender glance full of love. Then he, hugging her tightly, rubs the tip of his nose against her nose. Meanwhile, Edward and Terrence come to Natalia and Raquelle sitting on the sofa and hug them touchingly, locking their fingers on the chest of their sweethearts, while the girls share a wide smile with their men. And Helene laughs shyly when the retriever climbs on her and presses himself closely to her chest, showing how much he wants love and attention from his owner, whom he missed so badly all this time.       

***

      After a senseless walk in the city and drinking a glass of strong drink, Peter comes back home. He looks tense enough after he fights with Hillary and Marta spending time together, as usual, on the bench near the high building where his apartment is. He shouts at them, showers them with tons of insults, and pisses them off after their criticism of his lifestyle. Then the excited man presses the button angrily to call the elevator until it comes and opens its door. And when an old woman wants to enter it two seconds before it closes, the guy pushes her out rudely enough and goes up to the floor he needs all alone, rolling his eyes as he hears the insults and resentful things about the current generation being non-educated.       When the elevator opens the door, Peter goes down the wide hall for some time in a quick step, not seeing anything or anyone around. He says nothing when his neighbor, Clarissa Larson, goes by him, greets him, and asks him how he is doing. He does not turn around when she looks at him with suspicion and hears him saying something under his nose in a low, rude voice. And when he comes to the door with the necessary number of the apartment, Rose opens it with one of the keys from his set. He enters it, locks the door, and goes to his room right in the shoes and the top clothes he wore outside.       “Fuck, I am fucking done with everyone…” Peter growls irritably. “How I wish everyone gave a fuck about me, I wish no bastard read me lectures that I never asked and never ask about. How long are they going to play on my nerves and teach me how to live?”       With these words, Peter throws the keys on the writing table casually and falls to the bed powerlessly, setting his eyes on the ceiling.       “I am an adult man and can decide what to do. What are you all annoying me? Live your fucking life! Get off me! Why do you care about me? You don’t let me live, you don’t let me die!”       Peter runs his hands over his pale face with a tired sigh.       “It’s like I shouldn’t leave home at all,” Peter says quietly. “At least nobody bothers me here.”       At this moment, Peter feels that his phone in the pocket of his coat makes several quick vibrations in a row.       “Not saying about those who have sent me tons of fucking messages and called me hundreds of times.” Peter takes his smartphone from his pocket, checks the list of notifications quickly, swipes them right, and throws it aside. “When will you finally understand that I don’t want to see and hear anyone? When will you finally leave me alone? Fuck! I definitely need to get a SIM card out of my phone so nobody calls me! I am fucking done with your calls!”       “Well, I wouldn’t say it, buddy,” the hallucination in the form of Theodore pronounces, walking into the whole room with his arms crossed over his chest. “You’re just acting like a girl who pretends to be a strong and independent persona that doesn’t need a man. So, you’re pretending to be a mentally strong dude that doesn’t need this fucking world.”       “I don’t need it.”       “You just fear it. You’re afraid to show your feelings to the one and think aggression and attacks are the best protection.”       “Your mind changes fucking fast,” Peter throws gloomily and sits up lazily. “You tell me all these people are evil and devils. But now you say I need to stop ignoring them.”       “Sorry, these are your thoughts. You don’t understand what you need. You’re of two minds about it, as they say. On the one hand, you need all these people because you think they can help you keep your mind sober. But on the other hand, your mistrust for people is now at its peak, and you’re ready to turn your back even on those who have done nothing bad to you.”       “Deep inside, I understand I’m doing a stupid thing by ignoring the guys. I understand I miss them. I need them right now. While I’m alone, I go crazy and lose myself.”       “You doom yourself to what you’re afraid of. As usual, people aim to hide from what makes them panic so hard. But you go against the system by pressing something named Fear to you and snuggling with it without a wish to let it go.”       “Oh, who cares about it now?”       “Peter gets up from the bed and comes to the window, crossing his arms over his chest, and starts watching what’s happening outside.       “Honestly, I don’t actually understand why I waste time. Why I am still living in this world that doesn’t have a place for me. Where nothing holds me.”       “Why is it nothing?” Theodore surprises. “Even if your sweetheart is gone, it doesn’t mean you aren’t obligated to others. The band, for example, Are you really gonna leave it? You wanna let your friends down? You wanna deprive them of the chance to fulfil their greatest dreams and conquer the world with their music?”       “You’re trying to make me feel guilty?”       “I’m telling you the truth. If the band is disbanded, you’re gonna be guilty of it. Moreover, it almost happened once. Because of you. Because you acted like an egoist and thought of yourself much more. You didn’t care what other people wanted.”       “If I keep playing in it, I won’t be getting pleasure. It’s gonna be an everyday work that I’m gonna get sick of.”       “Not everyone works where they want. People work because they need to eat something, buy something, and pay for their home. They need money. A lot of money.”       “Why would I need it? I no longer see the meaning in my life. I have nothing to fight for.”       “Your problems with your friends shouldn't impact your work. Since you started a business, keep doing this.”       “I can continue to perform. I can. But honestly, I really give a fuck about the band. I give a fuck about what’s gonna happen to it. I don’t care if they break up or don’t.”       “You’re gonna drag them down.”       “They can kick me out and find someone to replace me.”       “Do you remember what the guys said? Without any one of you, the band wouldn’t be the same! If you aren’t with them, the band doesn’t exist.”       “I’m sorry,” Peter pronounces without emotions.       “Oh, listen, Peter, aren’t you really sick of acting like this?” Theodore sighs tiredly. “Yes, you're mourning, you suffer, I get it. But you can't live like this forever. You’ve gotta put yourself together and move on.”       “I won’t live forever. One day, my life will end. And I will do my best for nobody to know it.”       “You don’t want this, confess. You didn’t actually want everything to happen like this.”       “You’re right.” Peter steps away from the window and starts walking in circles in the room. “I didn’t want. I didn’t wanna live the way I’m living now. But sadly, this world doesn’t agree with me. It rejects me.”       “Turn your face on it, not your ass. Smile at the one and say something good, not show your middle finger to it, curse everyone, and insult them. The way people treat you depends on the way you treat them. If you want them to love you, behave as you should and don’t show off. That man from the bar told you right enough things that you should’ve accepted.”       “To love the world that hates me? That tries to get rid of me? That does hate to see me happy?”       “You made yourself think it hated you,” Theodore notices. “You thought so after what happened to you. The reason for your mistrust of people is what you put under lock and key a long time ago and don’t wanna release.”       “But when I unlock it, everything is gonna suddenly change?”       “If you want it.”       “Why would I remember something if this world is gonna lose me soon? I ain’t gonna suffer my whole life like this. And tolerate lectures from my pathetic copy that exists in my head only.”       “By the way, about your life in this world…”       Theodore stops sharply in the middle of the room, comes to the table, leans on it with his buttocks, and puts his finger on his lip.       “Have you never been chased by the feeling that you’re not trying to die for the first time? Similar cases like the one when your friends saved you could happen before?”       “What?” Peter frowns strongly and turns sharply on Theodore. “What do you mean, not for the first time?”       “Was that suicide attempt the first one?”       “Yes, first! And I had just harmed myself before!”       “Are you so sure about it, buddy?” Theodore smiles mysteriously. “Are you sure that nothing like this happened before?”       “These things can’t be forgotten! I clearly remember the day I wanted to die,”       “What if something like this happened before? What you already have experience in it? But something or someone stops and saves you.”       “What are you hinting at?”       “Nothing! I just speak aloud all the things your blond-haired head is full of. You do somehow feel that all of this is familiar to you.”       “Fuck, it’s some bullshit!” Peter cuts off sharply, grabbing his head. “My hallucination tells me some shit… And I, idiot, listen to all of this and answer you. Answer you to the shit you say.”       “I can repeat what you should do to get rid of me.”       “I wanna know and remember nothing! How many times should I say it? I. Don’t. Want.”       “You have to, Peter, you have to,” Theodore says determinedly. “If I have to make you do this for ten or twenty years, I shall do this. I shall do my best for you to finally hear the voice of your subconsciousness and release what you keep on your mind like some prisoners.”       “You’re one of the reasons why I wanna die so badly. Because I’m fucking done with your verbal diarrhea. You irritate me especially hard when something bad happens. When I want the fuck to hang myself from despair and hopelessness. And when you provoke me.”       “You got mad at everyone. I ain’t the one to blame!”       “Uh-huh, by the way, I was taken to the police station and got a great penalty for violating the order several days ago because of you. Because of you, they held me in jail all night and let me go in the early morning.”       “That bastard really wanted someone to beat his face! He got what he deserved!”       “I guess I need a little to go outside and start to kill and harm people for nothing. Just like my father did it back then.”       “Oh, yay, Daddy’s genes do really work!”       “I’m not sick!”       “Yeah? I exist in real life then!”       “If it were true, you’d be lying dead in the ground. I wouldn’t keep you alive.”       “Okay, man, but still… Did you really decide to die and give a fuck about those you owe to?”       “The guys can do this without me and will keep performing. And if they want to disband, it’s not my deal.”       “You say it because you’re in depression because of your girlfriend’s death, who your father killed. When she was alive and healthy. You were ready to work for the band for hours. And you kinda wanted to live. Even if you had a lot of unsolved problems that you preferred to ignore. But they impact your whole life nowadays.”       Peter says nothing and just sighs tiredly, closing his eyes for two seconds with a wish to stop hearing and seeing Theodore, who does not leave him alone at day and night and drives him crazy again. At some moment, he stops his eyes on the thick book lying on the edge of the writing table. The diary of his biological mother Julia that he took from the woman named Brittany when they talked. After looking at the one closely for two seconds, the man comes to the one slowly, takes the book, and looks at the dark brown cover, on which a thick tree with sweeping sticks is painted with a little lighter paint.       “M-m-m, do ya wanna know which secrets your mommy trusted with her diary?” Theodore smiles slyly, walking around Peter.       “I wonder what her life was like,” Peter shrugs. “Maybe I can find out something interesting and understand Marcus and her better thanks to this diary.”       “This is the case when nobody’s gonna kick your ass for reading someone’s personal diary.”       “Shut up and get out somewhere.”       Still looking at the cover, Peter comes to his bed, sits on the edge of it, opens the first page of the thick diary, and starts checking the notes that Julia took with small, careful, and straight print, writing every single letter clearly and not letting herself make a mistake in words. Not paying attention to Theodore singing an annoying song under his nose and walking in circles in the whole room, Rose reads closely everything the woman wrote.       He notices that she had a diary since an early age because she mentioned the wedding ceremony of her mother and Marcus’s father. She wrote that her relationship with her stepfather was wonderful, and she quietly accepted him and her new brother, who treated her warmly, too. But sometimes she complained that her mother literally choked her with her orders, even though the girl could not find the courage to protest because she was afraid and shy. There are many mentions about Marcus becoming her best protector, who did not pity anyone to dare to hurt her somehow. Though Julia had a lot of offenders back then…       “Dear diary, these bullies annoyed me again today. I don’t know where to hide from them and what to do. One of the boys starts it all – he’s a so-called leader. He hates me to death, even if I’ve done nothing bad to him. I never do anything bad. I don’t argue with anyone, I do everything I’m told, and I don’t have conflicts or start fights. But someone doesn’t like it anyway. For example, today they pulled me painfully by the hair, tripped me, and hid my bag with my stuff somewhere. They started to call me bad words and laughed at my shyness and silence again. My God, how many tears I’ve cried because of these people. I don’t count on my mother because she ignores my claims about these bullies. In her opinion, they just like me but don’t know how to show their sympathy and behave like this. Is it funny, huh? I do see that they talk well to other girls and don’t bully them, but they use me like a punching bag. Oh, thank God, they don’t beat me at least. Though it’s really hard for me to get it through morally.       But now I have hope for protection. Because I was protected by my stepbrother, Marcus. He noticed that something bothered me a long time ago, but I told him nothing. And I had to say nothing because he witnessed those bullies mocking me. Marcus came to them determinedly and told them to leave me alone. And when they refused and began to insult him, he started a fight without hesitation and beat the leader of the gang so strongly that he was shocked. Of course, they were broken up quickly and taken to the head teacher to sort it out. Marcus has been suspended from school for one week. But at this moment, I started to admire my brother much more and consider him my closest person. A much closer one than my own mother and Ronald, my stepfather. Marcus is the only one I can always count on. Probably, the only one in this world who really loves me with all his heart.”       Among the notes in the diary, Peter also finds the confirmation of Marcus’s words about him and Julia really confessing their love for each other and starting to date secretly from their parents, who were determined to mind this affair. About them making a decision to run away from home and get married after getting a chance. About this woman protesting against her mother for the first time in her life and speaking loudly about her wishes that were accepted as an insult and an attempt to start a riot.       “Yeah…” Peter pronounces thoughtfully. “Julia’s mother was obviously an authoritarian woman. She literally controlled every single step of her daughter and overloaded her as fuck. It’s amazing that Julia herself didn’t start to rebel much earlier. She started to realize that she must’ve had her wishes and emotions too late.”       Since Peter knows something about Julia and Marcus’s childhood and the beginning of their relationship, he expresses an interest in the notes that are about his biological parents' marriage. He gets the confirmation of his guess about everything not being so sweet and nice, as Mr. Longbottom himself said.       “Marcus told everyone our relationship was perfect, and we’ve never had problems. But actually, it’s a little different. I can’t say it’s true now. Yes, at first, everything was really fine: he worked, I studied, and worked too. We spend evenings together, cooked food together, watched TV… We went to the city on weekends… We could argue about something, but we solved everything quickly and could agree. But two days ago, we had the first serious scandal. My husband didn’t like that I was talking to the boy, whom he thought I flirted with. Though it was just my classmate, with whom I have a warm relationship.       I said it honestly, but Marcus didn’t hear me and said I didn’t love him, didn’t value him, and didn’t respect him. Like, I wanted to play the fool with him. Oh… In short, it was terrible. I never heard so many insults from him. And we haven’t talked for two days. I cry so often that my classmates and colleagues are starting to worry about me. And Marcus is silent and refuses to eat the food that I cook for him for breakfast and dinner. Oh… Honestly, I’m starting to regret deciding to leave home and getting married to him. Was it the right decision? Maybe my mother was right when she protested our affair?       Marcus has lately changed a lot. He’s no longer the decent man I met for the first time at Roland’s home. However… He’s never been too sweet and fluffy. There was a bad gloss in his eyes… And I should’ve thought about the cruelty he dealt with my offenders. I was blinded and stupid and didn't notice it, but… Marcus didn’t control himself at these moments. And when he dealt with that bully again, my husband beat him so strongly that the boy was lying on the floor unconscious for five minutes. In the end, he was rushed to the hospital with brain damage. I recently decided to analyze everything and asked myself if it wasn’t dangerous to be with that man?”       Peter swallows nervously and turns the page to read what’s written next.       “However, I couldn’t expect anything else since he got such a cruel father who used a belt in any case and punished his son all the time. He even punished me somehow. Especially after Mother and he found out that we were in a relationship. At these moments, Marcus wasn’t afraid to attack him with fists and almost killed him. I should’ve thought about it and broken up with him out of harm’s way, but… No matter what, I loved that man. He means a lot to me. Or… Does it seem to me?       Can I call what I feel for him love? I’ve lately started to ask this question more and more. What do I like about Marcus? The fact that he always stands up for me? The fact that he became my brick wall, behind which I felt safe? The one to be able to solve the problems I couldn’t solve ‘cause I wasn’t determined and didn’t have a loud voice? And… That’s all… I can’t call any more reasons. And I don’t have the tremble my familiar girls tell me about. Something like… Butterflies in the stomach… I don’t feel anything like this. I’m indifferent to Marcus’s kisses, his hugs don’t make me tremble… And there are no sparks of emotions in the bed for me. I can say I simulate not to hurt Marcus, who tries so hard. It’s seen that he loves me so much, but this man scares me at times… I mean, he’s lately been scaring me. And I don’t know how to get out of this situation.”       “It means Julia let him love her,” Peter concludes. “She didn’t have any kind of love. Marcus’s attempts to stand by her were the only thing she liked about him. But he didn’t know it because she was afraid to hurt him… Or even… Make him mad…”       Frowning slightly, Peter keeps reading the notes from Julia’s diary:       “Dear diary, Marcus and I had another fight over his jealousy yesterday. My husband has been blaming me for cheating for a long time, even though it’s never happened. He came up with something and started to say that I hung out with men and slept with them. Just because I began to come back home too late. What can I do if I need to solve my studies issues, and they ask me to stay longer at work for additional money? We always need more money! But my husband doesn’t like it all! Marcus wants me to literally give him a detailed report about my actions: where I go, with whom, what I do, who I talk to, and when I come back home. He wanna know everything! Alright, I told him an approximate plan for yesterday. But something went wrong, and I came back home later than usual. That’s why my husband started a scandal, calling me a sluttish bitch, a bastard, a whore, a cheater…       Marcus didn’t wanna hear any of my excuses. He insisted on his point of view. Like, he spent a lot of time thinking about the situation and finally realized that he was fooled. That I was a fucking bitch had him wrapped around my finger, and he didn’t want to do any wife’s duty. He blamed me for not pleasing him, not taking care, and preferring to shake my ass for other men. It all made me hysterical. I cried and couldn’t stop. I was madly hurt that my husband dared to blame me for all of that and didn’t believe my truth. He thought he was the only one to be right, but I was a false scum. I tried so hard to make my husband sure that I love him and was loyal to him, but he was kinda deaf and told me to confess all my betrayers. To confess that I spent days with some boys and fuck with anyone who wants it instead of going to study and work.       Marcus told me to stay home all day long and not to dare to leave home. He said that a girl didn’t need to study because her only duty was to take care of her husband and home, and he was able to earn money for us. But I refused categorically because I loved studying where I wanted and working. Yes, it wasn’t always easy, but I was happy to talk to people. Besides, my classmates and colleagues treated me warmly and supported me in hard moments. They always told me that Marcus wasn’t the best partner, even though I didn’t care about it and said I loved him. Though after all his charges, I started to doubt it. I doubt that I want to keep living with this man and hearing all these stupid charges.”       “To blame someone after coming up with something?” Peter asks surprisingly. “Without proof? Yeah, the man went really insane…”       “It’s the early morning now. Marcus threw the breakfast I cooked in the trash can, not eating even a piece, making himself coffee, drinking it, and going to work silently. But I’m writing all of this with tears and thinking seriously of the divorce for the first time. Yes, I want to end it and live a normal life. Maybe I will even have to go to a different city for my safety, so Marcus doesn’t kill me in anger. He can do this. Moreover, I’ve got some bad suspicion after my husband started to come back home with ripped clothes and blood on them and his hands. It would be okay if it happened once or twice – I would think he just fought with someone. But it has lately happened literally every day. And Marcus’s eyes are now kinda wild, hungry… As if he wanna kill someone…       Oh… I don’t wanna dream up, but… So many reports have been translated on TV, talking about the mass murders of the inhabitants of the city. About the corpses that the police find every day. The way someone mocks them is shocking because of the cruelty. Luckily, someone remains alive and gives an interview to the reporters and collaborates with the police, who can’t establish the identity of the killer, thinking it may be the same person.       And I’m starting to suspect that… Marcus could be the one. My husband. Maybe that’s why he comes back home so wild and all in blood? I could tell someone about my suspicions, but I’m afraid that Marcus may deal with me. So, I have to keep my mouth shut. Though I get more and more suspicious every day: blood on clothes, little things I’ve never seen before, and knives in my husband’s pockets… Yes, I’ve found several of them, and one of them was all in blood. That’s why I’m really scared. Is my husband the killer that has been terrifying people and killing those who are not connected at all for nobody the hell knows how long?       Divorce is the only thing that can save me. If I stay with Marcus, he may kill me. Moreover, when he blamed me for cheating and told me to confess to the truth, Marcus raised his hand at me twice. He threw something from my stuff out of the window. He even took my documents away several days ago, but I magically managed to get them back. Yesterday, he wanted to take my money. He even threatened to lock me at home under lock and key if I keep lying to him. In short, my husband wants to take everything from me. He wants me just to sit at home, look through the window, wait for him to come back from work, and cook him tasty dinners. Living in a permanent state of anxiety for my life and praying so hard that I fall asleep quietly and wake up the next day.”       But the next notes say that the divorce did not happen because Marcus realized it and convinced Julia not to do this. As she said, there were no hints at the man regretting all his charges and admitting that he was not right. But she decides to believe him and gave him a chance. But she did not do this for love. She did this because she was worried about herself, thinking her attempt to leave her husband could be fatal to her and put an end to her life that was short back then.       “Dear diary, I decided to take a risk and ask Marcus about the blood on his clothes and things I found in his pockets. I was motivated by another report about several corpses in different parts of the city. And the fact that my husband stays somewhere for much longer and comes back home literally at the dead of night, He was always late, but now I have to go to sleep without him. And one day, I woke up because of the noise in the hall, checked the watch, saw it was almost six o’clock, and was surprised when Marcus went to the room in street clothes and started to apologize for coming back late. My suspicion got stronger every day, and I started to guess that my husband had something to do with all those murders.       At first, Marcus excused himself in all possible ways, but then he admitted that he did it, making me deeply shocked. Of course, I knew my husband wasn’t perfect, but I never thought he’d kill people for nothing. Just because he liked it. He says he just released the anger he kept inside for years because of his father’s terrible attitude. Marcus admitted that there were moments when he wanted to kill Roland. He dreamed of his long, tormenting death. My husband said that when he strangled a cat in his childhood, he liked these feelings that became like a drug to him that he wanted to taste again and again.       I quickly understood that Marcus didn’t regret any of the murders at all. But my husband tried to make me sure it wasn’t true. Like, he understands it all but can’t stop. He knows he’s doing a bad thing and swears to wean himself away from this habit. At least for me. I allegedly encourage him to get better and realize his mistakes. But after all these confessions that I am afraid to write here about, I don’t believe any of his words and regret getting in touch with this man. The bloodthirsty murderer who has killed so many people. As he confessed personally, there are more than one hundred victims he has been killing since his teenage years. Someone was found and recognized, but someone is still missing. And the worst thing is that there are a couple of my colleagues who weren’t lucky enough to stand in his way.”       “I can’t accept the fact that one person has killed so many people,” Peter shakes his head. “Judging by the official information. There may be a much higher real number. As many victims as there are after a certain terrorist attack.”       “Although Marcus swore that he wouldn’t kill me, I’ve been living like in hell since then. Every day, I wake up and thank God for keeping me alive. I ask Him to help me find a solution to this problem. Give me the determination to do something. I’m worried about my life so badly that I say nothing to my colleagues and get horrified at all the news about new victims and my familiars’ stories about losing someone. It may sound weird, but Marcus has never told me to keep my mouth shut and threatened to kill me. I decided to be silent. I’m covering him and… I am literally an accomplice to justice. The police can technically get me arrested and give me a sentence. But nothing happens because nobody can prove Marcus’ fault. Hm… He was probably sure that I’d be afraid to open my mouth, and that’s why he was so quiet.       He stopped blaming me for cheating and controlling what I do and when I come back home. Because Marcus keeps killing people. He is too busy with it. So busy that we started to spend time together much more rarely. We get out somewhere much more rarely. I suggested, but my husband said he had something to do. And I understood it all. I understood what he was doing. The case isn’t about an affair with someone. It’s a wish to kill and ruin innocent people's lives. A wish to take revenge on them for the methods of education that Roland chose. I don’t make him change his mind, and I just accepted my fate. I thought that since I decided to go against my mother’s will and run away from Marcus, I had to pay for this. I’m at least happy that my husband doesn’t watch me and keeps working and earning money, pretending to be a decent person at day but going to a so-called hunt for those who weren’t born under a lucky star at night.”       “This woman is right…” Peter pronounces thoughtfully. “If Julia knew about all his crimes, she was literally an accomplice and could’ve been sentenced. She should’ve reported Marcus, but she decided to cover him out of fear for her life.”       Peter barely runs his eyes over some notes about all the same murders, noticing that Julia knew about them, but Marcus never told her all the details: whom he killed, how, when, and where. She just knew the fact and would not have been able to help the police find the dead people, and any proof of her husband’s fault for the cruel crimes that can make anyone shocked.       “I’ve lost any hope that Marcus would get better. He swore to end all of this verbally, but nothing changes, and the number of murdered people grows exponentially. My husband keeps ruining the lives of innocent people and hurting those who suffer from losing their close people. Ah, I’d be happy to leave this man, whose cruelty scares me a lot every day. But I’m worried about my life so much. I’m afraid that Marcus will not forgive me for that and will kill me. I don’t want to die. I want to live. Live for as long as possible.       Besides, dear diary, I got a real reason for it. I recently went to the doctor because I started to feel bad, and I was told some happy news. I’m expecting a child. A new life is growing in me. A life of a little person I can’t wait to meet. Giving birth to a baby has always been my great dream, and I’m so happy it came true. I will give the little baby that I already love in several months.”       Peter unconsciously flashes a slight smile as he reads the last words.       “But I wasn’t happy with Marcus’ reaction to my pregnancy. When I told him about it, he didn’t smile, he wasn’t happy, and he didn’t say it was his dream too. My husband reacted indifferently to the news about it. I didn’t see any gloss in his eyes, I didn’t see any interest in that man. At some moment, Marcus locked himself in the room, saying he needed to be alone. I didn’t bother him and spent the night crying in the bathroom. I felt madly hurt. Hurt that the father of my child is the one I actually never loved. However, the next morning, Marcus came to me, apologized, and said he was just shocked and didn’t know how to react. Though my pregnancy wasn’t unexpected, in my opinion. We’ve been married for several years, and people started to ask us about children more and more. Why didn’t it happen before? It just happened! These problems are the reason we didn't have intimacy, but everything happened recently. I mean, I just let Marcus make love with me. The result of which is the news about the birth of the child.       Nevertheless, my husband promised that we’d raise the child together, and we’d provide him with everything. And since then, Marcus started to take care of me. He makes sure that I eat well, don’t overload, get a lot of rest, and do everything the doctors said. Everything is kinda good, but I don’t like the fact that he never talks about the child… He doesn’t care about the baby’s health, growing, he doesn’t rush to caress my belly and talk to it. He only cares about my condition. Some words said by the doctors about our child have fallen on his deaf ear. That’s what makes me think he doesn’t need the baby.”       “Yeah, but Marcus said she didn’t know anything,” Peter throws gloomily. “She didn’t know that he gave a fuck about the child. Either the female intuition worked, or that man couldn’t pretend that he was waiting for the birth of the child and ready to raise the one.”       “Dear diary, I just came back from the hospital, where I had a planned examination. Nothing special, in general. But the most interesting things happened during my ultrasound. The doctor made Marcus and me happy with the news about the baby growing well, having no abnormalities, and all the tests are excellent. He also said he could call us the gender. I agreed and found out that it was a boy. A  boy… I’m gonna have a beautiful son. Oh… I have tears in my eyes when I imagine him being an adult. I don’t doubt that he’d grow into a really handsome man who would steal many ladies’ hearts. Despite his character and habits, my husband is a pretty sympathetic man. I wouldn’t dare to call him ugly. If not for his character, he’d have more girlfriends than he had when we lived like brother and sister.       Marcus went to the hospital with me and was on the ultrasound. While I had tears in my eyes, he remained indifferent and didn’t ask any questions about the baby, asking about me only. He wasn’t impressed by the news about the birth of the son. My husband kept being absolutely quiet. As if he is not the father of my child. As if he is a stranger. Oh… I wanna believe that something will change when the baby is born. When Marcus takes him in his arms and sees himself in him.       However, I wasn’t upset for too long and was too busy with what the doctor showed me on the screen of the monitor. I saw my son growing in my belly. I saw his little hands, legs, and head… My God, I still cry as I think about it and view the photos we were given. Can’t even believe that the little creature is growing inside me. I can’t believe it… Despite a mild malaise, this time is truly magical to me.”       Peter smiles shyly again as he reads the last lines on the page that he turns to read the next note that was taken much later.       “Time flies fast. I’m getting closer to meeting my baby. I’m counting down the minutes and seconds to this moment. Someone once said that childbirth was a very painful thing that might last long and exhaust you, but I’m not afraid at all. I’m ready to endure any pain to give life to my son. And I’ve decided on the name already. He is gonna be Theodore. And I wanna call him nicely, Theo. My little Theo… Oh, while I’m writing it, this little hooligan kicks his mother with his feet in my belly. He is usually so quiet, but he decided to play today. Ah… I guess he likes this name. And he wanna be born soon. But it’s okay, sonny, we will meet soon. And I believe your dad will love you someday.       Moreover, Marcus has lately been more interested in the child. I don’t know if he loved him or just accepted it all. But now my husband listens to my stories about our baby and has even caressed my belly a couple of times. He smiled when he felt slight pushes. It was really emotional. I cried again… Oh, gosh, I’ve been so sensitive… My hormones are wild… I always cry over something and dream of herring in chocolate. That’s why Marcus looks at me surprisingly and doesn’t understand how I can eat something incomparable. Hey, what can I do if I want something sweet and salty at the same time?       But you know, dear diary, I think I know why Marcus is now much more tender. He already knows that my childbirth may be a mortal threat to me. When I was on the first stage, the doctor warned me that I needed much more attention. Due to the weak health that I’ve had since childhood. Because I suffer from an aortic aneurysm, which may be the reason why giving birth may be mortally dangerous to me. I may not survive it. Something may go wrong. So, now I have to take care of myself a lot, even if I feel good. However, I’m not afraid at all. Yes, I am not afraid at all! I’ve always wanted to become a mother and give life to at least one baby. And I’m ready to get through any difficulties to fulfil this dream and do anything they say. I’m ready to risk giving life to the creature that is growing inside me.”       “Interesting woman…” Peter surprises. “And very stubborn. She wasn’t allowed, but she insisted. Oh… It’s a shame that she paid such a high cost for that…”       “Marcus was unhappy when he found out that the childbirth could be fatal to me due to my aneurysm. Of course, we didn’t have a scandal, but he blamed himself for knowing nothing until the very end. It seems that my husband wouldn’t have let my pregnancy and the birth of my child happen in the opposite case. And if it had happened, he would’ve told me to get an abortion. Though I would’ve minded categorically. I swore to myself that I would never do that.       Anyway, I keep getting ready for the birth of my little Theo. A little time before the childbirth, and I try to imagine what our meeting would be like. Hoping truly that Marcus’s heart melts, and he regrets rejecting our sonny all this time and not showing any interest in him. And I hope… My husband will take care of our child if something happens to me. Honestly, I’ve been kinda restless. My heart squeezes painfully, and I feel more anxious every day. It doesn’t have to do with my birth. The case is only about my husband. The way he treats Theodore. I’m afraid to think that my baby might stay alone if his father doesn’t love his son.       This bad presentiment makes me live every day like it may be the last one for me. I wanna live as much as possible and talk about everything with everyone, apologize to everyone, and pay my debts. For example, I’ve been thinking of talking to my mother for a long time. I haven’t talked to her since I left home with Marcus. I wanna apologize to her for everything that happened and make her happy with the news about becoming a grandmother. I’m planning to go visit her today or tomorrow and try to talk. I don’t know how it’s gonna end, but I really wanna believe we can be united at least by the birth of my little Theo. Anyway, wish me luck, dear diary.”       The next notes help Peter find out that Julia’s talk with her mother was successful enough, and the news about the birth of the child made the woman happy, but it made her worried, and she asked herself if her granddaughter could survive the childbirth. He finds out that his biological grandmother was really anxious about it, but Julia believed that she kind of foresaw trouble and spent much time with her daughter. And Marcus was happy his wife managed to get along with her mother and followed her example, finding his father and talking to him about what happened. But their talk ended in a worse way. To be clear, it was a failure. That’s why they distanced themselves from each other and met only for some important business.       “It’s time, dear diary… Today. Today I need to go to the hospital and give birth to the baby. I felt the first contractions in the early morning. I felt that Theo was ready to be born. But it’s just the beginning. We’re gonna have to take a long way. While I’m writing it, my stomach hurts again. But the pain is bearable so far, and I can take it quietly. They say it’s gonna be a long process. But I am ready for it. Anyway, Marcus is helping me take a bag with everything I need to the hospital. Although he is not so categorical about the child, my husband still keeps worrying about me more. And it’s true, I must confess. I feel that I am loved. That I am needed. And it warms up my soul.       And I feel good because Marcus doesn’t go anywhere in the late evening and doesn’t come back home in the early morning after depriving innocent people of life. Maybe the birth of the baby changed something about him? Maybe Theodore can make him change his mind and end what he is doing? My God, I want it so badly. I want us to finally live like a real family. Or at least my husband to go to the police and recognize all his crimes. Tell them honestly everything and get a sentence. And my son and I would be waiting for him… I don’t start this talk by myself, and I’m just enjoying what’s happening to me. I am delighted to get closer to giving life to my little creature.       I try not to think about anything bad, as my doctor insisted. He actually calms me down a lot. If I do everything I am told, the baby will be born quickly and easily, and I’ll be alright. Ah, God, bless that man, without whom I wouldn’t get through all of this. Bless those who are going to help me give birth. No matter what, I am ready. Ready to do my female duty. I’ve read tons of pregnancy books and childbirth, and I am sure that I can do everything I’ve learned from them and give birth to my son without problems.       Alright, dear diary, I need to go. Marcus is calling me. It’s time to go to the hospital. I will be back soon to tell you how things went. Your meeting with your mother and father is gonna happen soon, my little Theo. We can’t wait for you to be born. I’m dreaming of the moment when the doctor puts you on my chest so I can look at you. Such a little and tiny creature… Oh, God, I’m so excited… My hands are shaking at the thought that I’m gonna hold my child in my arms. The child that I’ve been carrying for almost nine months… Gosh…”       But after this note, Peter does not find anything else, even if it has many empty pages. He makes a conclusion that Julia gave birth to a child and then fought for her life for several hours with no success. At some moment, the man recalls that he saw a little envelope pinned to one of the first pages and turns the pages back until he finds it. Rose takes the piece of paper unfolded several times, unwraps it, and rounds his eyes when he quickly runs his eyes over the text and understands that this is Julia’s letter for her son that she wrote some time before giving birth.       “Theodore… My sweet little Theo… My gorgeous sonny… I’m writing this letter to you because I’ve lately been more obsessed with a bad presentiment. As if something is going to happen to me, and you’re about to lose your mother. My heart breaks at the thought that I might not survive childbirth and die. I hoped that your father would love you and would be waiting for your birth until the very end, but it did not happen. And it will hardly happen. He cares about me much more. It’s really hurtful for me to write it, but we must call a spade a spade. We need to face the truth and not to comfort ourselves with illusions.       Anyway, if something happens to me, please, remember, your mother loves you so much and will always be near. Even if you’re all alone in this world, I will not leave you. I will be your shadow that you will not see but will probably feel. I will pray that you’re always surrounded by love and care and don’t run into stinkers that would love to hurt you. Sadly, I can’t make your father love you. But I will not stop believing that he will get a love for you and will not leave you if something happens to me.”       “Oh, yeah, Daddy did…” Peter throws gloomily. “He did it so that he wanted to kill me. Thinking I’m guilty of your death.”       “I really hope you’ll grow up into a handsome boy who will steal many ladies’ hearts. Become a kind, educated, loyal, and caring man. Your heart will not be poisoned with hatred and a wish to harm. Revenge and anger are not your allies, Theo. Whatever happens, you must remain you. Nothing can make you stand on the dark side and harm people. Please, take care of everything you get someday: your relatives, your familiars, your friends, your girlfriends… It’s madly hard to conquer love, but you can lose anyone’s trust for milliseconds. You need just one thing to become a stinker for everyone. But I don’t want you to be all alone.       Your father is still mad at the whole world just because your grandfather Roland treated him cruelly enough. He harms people again and again as if he takes revenge on them for all the humiliations and hits he’s gotten. But you must not be the one, hear me! Be a good and kind boy. Even if people shame you for that and kill your kindness weakness. Kindness is not a shame. Kindness is not a weakness. If one or two people didn’t appreciate it, it doesn’t mean anyone else wouldn't. People are different: one thing may be good for one but bad for another. Find those who respect your choice and love you for what you are. Don’t try to bend under someone. Don’t change to please someone. Be yourself. Be the one you feel you should be.       Since I’m not able to count on your father, I’m going to give this letter to my best friend, whom I completely trust. She knows everything that’s happening between Marcus and me. And if something happens to me, Tara will take care of you. She’s able to tell you the truth and show you this letter. Let you read my diary, which can help you learn more about my life. Help you know my version of events. At first, I had a diary just because I had nobody to talk to express my feelings and weaken my pain, and not to feel lonely. But now I do this to let you know me better. With the thought that my future children should know the truth about the relationship of their parents. You deserve to know the truth. I don’t know when and how you’ll know it, but I hope it will happen early or late.       Well, even if some warm feelings wake up in Marcus someday, and he doesn’t leave you, it’s gonna be good for you to know more about our life. That hasn’t always been carefree. Even if your father tells everyone that we’ve never had conflicts. We’ve never thought of a breakup. I mean, he’s never done. I’ve done. If you want to know why, just read my notes. I explained everything in all the details. I hope it will help you make things clear and encourage you to do something. If you, let’s say, can’t make an important decision. You can read my notes when you feel you’re about to be obsessed with anger and a wish to take revenge.       Anyway, don’t forget me. Remember that you have a mother. You will always have. I will never leave you, sonny. I will help you at any moment when you ever need it. I will bring you to people you can trust. I will show you a girl I like. I will give you a sign that it’s yours. I hope you will understand it and will not ruin your happiness with your own hands. However… If you’re destined to spend your life with some people, they don’t leave your life so easily. They will keep coming back again and again. Even if you hurt them. Because you’re destined to be together. They won’t be able to leave you when you need some of them. And I hope you will understand you can’t do without them.       I love you so, so much, Theodore. You’re the best thing I have in my life. And I am already proud of you. Proud of everything you want and can achieve in the future. I say it in advance in case I die and can’t say something that may be really important to you. And I will not stop believing you will remember my advice and go on the right way, not succumbing to the temptation to turn on the wrong one and let yourself go too far, so that you don’t have any chance to come back.       Be happy, my little Theo. Fulfill all your dreams and live your life the way you want, with those you want. Listen to your heart and do what it tells you.       With a great love, your mother.”       It’s impossible to say that this letter does not touch anything inside Peter and does not make him think about anything. Even if he has never known his own mother, the man thinks the woman he lived with since his birth addresses him. It’s like she is really his flesh and blood. As if his biological mother has always been near. The man assumes that Julia is the reason why he is still living in this world. She saves him again and again, giving some signs to those who can do something.       “So, buddy, did your mommy’s letter leave you emotional?” Theodore smiles slyly, putting his hands on his hips.       “It’s like it was written by the woman I’ve known all my life,” Peter replies thoughtfully. “After reading all of this, I can’t say she’s a stranger to me.”       “Unlike Cornelia. Who you’ve never felt these warm feelings for.”       “Right. Cornelia always seemed strange and cold to me. But I wouldn't have thought that woman was nobody to me. I thought the problem was about her alcohol dependence. Like, it’s the reason the one I called my mother all my life didn’t love me.”       “But to be honest, I don’t understand why your father didn’t give you to your grandmother since she reconciled with her daughter and was happy with the news about her pregnancy.”       “I don’t understand it, either. Why didn’t Marcus give me to her? Why didn’t that woman take me away? Or did she fight with Julia again after their reconciliation? The diary doesn’t mention anything about it.”       “I can assume that Ellen didn’t know about Julia’s death, but I don’t think Marcus didn’t really inform the grandmother of his son about it.”       “Who the fuck knows! Maybe she really knew nothing! I think Marcus didn’t actually let her know that Julia went into labor. Judging by his stories, he was waiting for the news alone, as I understand.”       “Hm, it’s possible… But everything would’ve been otherwise if you’d lived with your grandmother. If she’d known she lost her daughter and taken her grandson with her. Far from the mentally unstable father.”       “He wouldn’t have gotten off the wish to defeat me. Marcus wouldn’t have forgotten me. He would’ve killed me. Early or late.”       “Yeah, I could say you literally were deeply in the ass.”       “Oh, no need to guess now!” Peter sighs tiredly. “Julia is dead, Ellen probably died a long time ago, as well as Roland…”       “Well… At least many things are now in their places! You got the answer to most of your questions.”       “I wish it happened earlier.”       “You know, better late than never,” Theodore notices cheerfully. “And actually, does it really make sense? Your mom is already dead! You can’t hug her, kiss her, and ask her about something.”       “I know… But I think her spirit has always been next to me.”       Peter moves his eyes to Theodore.       “Even if my mother is dead, she’s never left me. Just like she promised in this letter. It’s like she’s the reason why nothing and nobody can erase me from this world. It’s like her invisible hand holds me from killing myself.”       “Oh, do ya mean your mother is now guilty, not the world?”       “But c’mon! Every time something happens to me, something else saves me. Doesn’t let me kill myself, doesn’t let anyone kill me, sends someone to help me, or something else…”       “Okay, if you wanna believe in these miracles, it’s fine! A belief in any kind of magic always warms up the soul and becomes the reason why we keep living and waiting for something special.”       “Anyway, her words made me think. Think about whether I’m doing everything right. Whether I’m doing the right thing for the guys by ignoring them so hard. The men whom I blame for what they’re actually not guilty of. Maybe I’m an idiot? An absolute idiot that messes up everything and rejects everyone? And then complains that nobody loves him and values him. Maybe the problem is not about this cruel world? Maybe the problem is with me? My demons?”       “M-m-m, wow, look…” Theodore crosses his arms over his chest with his head proudly raised. “It seems like someone’s starting to realize something… The cold-hearted princess woke up after winter sleep! It hasn’t even been one eternality!”       “I must confess that I miss them. And now the thing I want more than anything is to have them by my side. I understand I can’t get through this shit without them. Not only did Helene help me hold on. The guys are also the reason for that. Daniel, Terrence, Edward… Anna, Raquelle, Natalia… I love all of them. They’re like my brothers and sisters. All of them mean a lot to me. I can’t lose them.”       “It’s all in your hands, Peter,” Theodore replies with approval. “Your mother’s letter says that those you’re destined to spend your life with won’t leave your life so easily. But it seems like these guys aren’t gonna leave ya. Even despite all the demons in your head. See how hard they send you hundreds of messages every day. Even your neighbors said they’d come here, looking for you, several times.”       “Do you think it’s not too late to fix something? It’s not too late to try to whitewash myself for them after I almost killed them?”       “Do you really regret what you did?”       “I wanna strangle myself from shame for them.”       “I know it’s hard to trust someone after some bastards have kicked your ass and dirtied your face in the mud so many times. But you’re not the only one to get through it. You think nobody runs into betrayers and bastards? You think everyone is loved so much? Not the fuck at all! Your friends’ lives were also madly hard! But they didn’t get mad at the whole world and didn’t turn their backs on it. So, the boys are living in love and care.”       “I fear their betrayal to death, you see. I’m afraid to trust them completely. I’m afraid to feel the disappointment after getting too close to them.”       “If you want to fight this thing, you need to go back to the origins. To the root of the problem. The one that's locked deep inside you.”       “Ar-r-r, here you go again…” Peter sighs resignedly.       “Sorry, but this is the only way to get healed,” Theodore throws his hands up. “Your consciousness has literally been screaming about it for ages, but you ignore it and think you can live well. Though it’s getting worse for you.”       “But would I get better immediately if I let myself remember everything?”       “It’s easier to solve your problem when you know where it comes from. If you wanna get rid of it, you must find out how it was born. Before then, your attempts to live a normal life won’t lead to anything good. As you get older, you won’t get trust from people, it will fade away slowly. Thus, you’ll withdraw into yourself forever and build the cocoon that nobody will be able to break: neither you nor anyone else.”       Peter says nothing and sighs tiredly, glancing at the window barely covered with a tulle. Then he runs his eyes over Julia’s letter and diary that is still lying open on his laps. The man reads some notes that he missed with the hope that he can find out something else. Leaning on the pillow with his back and putting his legs on the bed, he turns page by page and gets surprised by how easily insecure women can attract insolent and heartless stinkers in their life, and how some of them are happy to use it and subdue those, next to whom they feel like lords and certain heroes. After running her eyes over some lines from Julia’s letter to her son, Peter seriously starts to think about what has lately happened. And he understands that he needs to put himself together somehow and stop doing stupid things before it’s too late to change something. That he must forget all his doubts and fears and come to those who are the only people who are able to help him survive the loss of his beloved girl, get some meaning of life, and find the answer to the mysteries that remain unsolved.