The Criminal Diaries

      “Hey, why are you silent?” Daniel breaks the silence settled in the air with a slight smile, clapping Peter on the shoulder. “Say just something!”       “Hey, just don’t forget to breathe, okay!” Terrence jabs. “Drink something from any glass if you need to water your throat.”       “It can’t be the truth…” Peter pronounces hesitantly in a low, little shaking voice. “No way!”       “Yeah, it sounds like bullshit, but it’s the truth,” Edward replies confidently. “It’s a miracle! A real miracle that none of us even tried to expect!”       “Come on?” Theodore pronounces surprisingly and starts walking around the while with his arms crossed over his chest, getting Peter’s attention for two moments. “But I think it seems like something like a prank! And it’s not a miracle, as you, puppy, say.”       “But how’s that possible?” Peter wonders. “Even if it’s the truth, how could this happen?”       “We said, Helene was saved by one of Marcus’s accomplices, who didn’t show up at his home after her alleged death,” Terrence recalls. “He got into the house, which was caught on fire secretly, and took Marshall away when she was unconscious. He drove her to the hospital, where your friend recovered for a whole week.”       “And then Elijah Hartley drove her to his apartment and hid her there for several days,” Daniel adds. “I mean, it was the apartment of his brother, who agreed to help him and gave him his place. Well, if Hartley had hidden Marshall and himself in his apartment, the police would’ve found them immediately. But nobody suspected anything in this case.”       “And two days ago, I was in the city and wanted to go to the hardware store to buy something,” Edward continues. “I was gonna cross the road at the crossroad. I started to wait for the green light, watching everything around. And then I saw the girl who looked like Helene standing in the crowd. At first, I thought it was a hallucination, and I went insane. But I decided to follow the girl and call her. And I understood that my mind was healthy.”       “These two went to the café, ordered something to eat, and talked about what happened to Helene. She explained everything to him in all details: about her salvation, about Elijah suddenly changing his mind, and about his wish to surrender to the police.”       “And when Raquelle and I walked in the city and wanted to go home, we received a voice message from Edward, who asked us to come together immediately,” Terrence confesses. “So, we did it. And when my bro came to us with Helene, we were fucking overwhelmed.”       “Uh-huh, the men and I had our jaws on the floor, but the girls were crying and fainting. We talked to Helene, hugged her, and saw her, but we don’t believe it was really her. We thought we went crazy all together due to our stress and tiredness. It all just seemed to us. But no, it didn’t.”       “Here’s the story, dude!” Edward exclaims with a wide smile. “So, Marcus screwed it as fuck. His plans weren’t destined to come true. You’re alive, Helene’s alive, we’re okay, and he and his buddies are now in prison and waiting for a final sentence. However, we don’t doubt that he’s gonna get a life sentence or actually be executed.”       “Besides, we found out that Elijah Hartley, who saved Helene, went to the police station and surrendered at his will,” Terrence confesses. “And he told them many interesting things about Marcus, who can be blamed for more things. Of course, we will contact Mr. Johnson later and find out everything, but we know for sure that the man knows many secrets that may destroy your father as hell.”       “In short, life is getting better!” Daniel pronounces happily. “Everything is coming back to its place! And the MacClifes and the girls don’t have to cancel the wedding and reschedule it. Everything’s still up. And soon, we’re gonna have a cool time on the bachelor with the men.”       A short silence settles in the air, during which Peter keeps looking at the three men with mistrust, not rushing to be happy with this piece of news, along with them, with the thought that these people are lying to him and wishing to hurt him a lot.       “M-m-m, what an interesting and breathtaking story,” Theodore shakes his head, walking next to the table. “The story of the wonderful salvation of the girl who burned alive in the fire and was exploded.”       “Aren’t ya happy?” Terrence wonders. “Why do ya have such a gloomy face?”       “Hey, your girlfriend is alive and healthy!” Edward recalls. “You didn’t lose her. She was saved and came back home already.”       “C’mon, guys, he’s just shocked,” Daniel excuses. “As if we weren’t overwhelmed when we saw Marshall in front of us. Our tongues were numb, and our hands were shaking.”       “Nice try, men, but it doesn’t count,” Theodore says confidently. “Because you should’ve come up with something better. Something more realistic. But all of this is just a lie. Nothing more.”       “That’s right!” Edward exclaims. “I almost started to call myself crazy! I thought I was going a little crazy.”       “No wonder, since we saw her alleged death from start to end?” Terrence throws his hands up. “So, we believed that nothing would help her.”       “No, guys, of course, they kicked our asses and fucked our brains hard, but we managed to hold on,” Daniel says with his head proudly raised. “We survived the fight with the most dangerous criminal of the past century.”       “We can call ourselves heroes, huh!”       “We’re actually awesome boys!” Edward adds cheerfully.       While Daniel, Edward, and Terrence thrill with a laugher, Peter watches them frowningly with his arms crossed over his chest, feeling that he is getting a new wave of anger after it weakened a little. His nostrils are inflated, and his muscles are tense as he sees his friends look too happy and thinks that they must mourn for Helene, in whose magical survival he is not going to believe.       “Don’t even dare to believe these bastards,” Theodore insists. “They wanna hurt you a lot. They use your feelings and don’t miss such a wonderful chance to mock you. And you know it well. Because you saw everything. You saw your girlfriend dying without a chance to survive. Think about how she would’ve gotten out of the fire. It would’ve been possible in one case only. If she hadn’t been there. But she was there. So, forget it. The gal is dead.”       “Hey, are ya gonna say just something or keep sitting here dumbfounded and staring into the distance?” Daniel wonders.       “Indeed, Rose, are ya stuck?” Terrence agrees and waves his hand in front of Peter’s face. “Hello, the Earth is calling Peter. Hello, hello! Answer!”       “Are ya with us?” Edward specifies. “I know it’s impossible not to get overwhelmed after finding out that your beloved girl is alive. But hold on, hear me. We have nothing with us to help you wake up in case you wanna pass out.”       But several seconds later, Peter moves his cold eyes full of anger slowly to Edward, Terrence, and Daniel by one and gets sharply straight before he breaks the pause in a low, rude voice:       “Are you fucking kidding me?”       Edward, Daniel, and Terrence stop smiling widely and look at each other questioningly.       “Erm, what do you mean?” Terrence asks hesitantly. “We don’t…”       “So, did you think I would believe in this bullshit?” Peter smirks evilly. “Did you think you would fool me like a naive idiot?”       “But it’s the truth, Peter,” Edward pronounces hesitantly. “WE aren’t lying to you…”       “It will not work, bastards! I am not as stupid and naive as you think! And you cannot fool me!”       “Listen, Peter, we…” Daniel tries to take a word.       “Are you fucking insane? Did you lose your fucking brains? How did you actually dare to say something like this? Every one of you… Everyone of you saw everything with your eyes!”       “We understand that it sounds like a delirium, but we don’t have a reason to lie to you,” Terrence says quietly.       “Lying!” Theodore smiles slyly. “You and your company are lying insolently!”       “But you are lying!” Peter throws rudely. “You decided to play with my fucking feelings and make me feel much fucking worse.”       “We would never come up with this,” Daniel protests. “None of us would say Helene is alive when she is actually a victim.”       “As I see, you did! Since you could not miss a chance to do such a mean thing to me!”       “We’re your friends, Peter,” Edward recalls. “The friends who would never lie to you and wouldn’t hurt you. But if we did something wrong, we’d always be ready to talk about it.”       “Why?” Peter wonders and shakes his head. “Why do you want to hurt me? Why aren’t you ashamed of playing with my feelings? Using my grief!”       “We don’t talk to the wind, buddy,” Daniel says. “And we’re ready to prove that we’re right. We’re ready to prove that our words are not a lie.”       “Yeah, we can call Helene right now and ask her to come here,” Terrence adds. “So, you can see everything personally. One call before she comes here shortly.”       “Yeah?” Peter surprises loudly. “How would you call her? Call the heavenly office? Ask them to call the girl named Helene Marshall?”       “Okay, if you want, let’s ask her to go to your home,” Edward suggests. “She would be waiting for you near your home.”       “Stop washing my fucking brain!”       “If you don’t believe us, ask your neighbors!” Daniel exclaims. “They can tell you about Helene’s visit yesterday to your home. They can tell you how overwhelmed they were when they saw her alive.”       “Oh, yeah, ask these old bitches that want to get rid of me!” Peter rolls his eyes. “Fucking wonderful proof to your insolent lie.”       “Wouldn’t you believe the girls, either?” Terrence asks. “If they told you, would you believe? Or did you decide to take it out on us by blaming us for the seven sins again?”       “You know well that you’ve never been holy. You’ve got a lot of sins committed.”       “Yeah, here’s another excellent proof of the fact that they want to hurt you a lot and erase you from this world,” Theodore laughs evilly. “And you missed these bastards and wanted to reunite with them. Ha! They must be killed to the fuck!”       “You’re the same as everyone,” Peter throws in a low, rude voice. “The same as those who have ever given me unbearable pain and played with my feelings.”       “Don’t say it, buddy,” Daniel shakes his head. “We’ve always wished you the best. No matter what.”       “What are you talking about? Now you all wish me all the ‘best’ by trying to make me believe in the insolent lie. The fact that the fucking dead person is walking on the ground again.”       “You just need to see everything personally,” Edward says quietly. “You need to see Helene and hear her voice.”       “Stop it!” Peter raises his voice, hitting his hand sharply against the table. “Enough! I am done with this fucking lie!”       “Peter…” Terrence tries to take a word.       “Kill them, Peter, kill,” Theodore encourages with a sly smile, putting his hands on Peter’s shoulder and bending to his ear. “Bring what you started the last time to an end.”       “Shut up, bastard!” Peter breaks into a cry.       “Helene was saved, she’s safe and sound,” Daniel repeats. “We saw her with our own eyes. The girls did. Sammy did. Mrs. Marshall did. Jessica did. As well as Marta and Hillary. As well as Mrs. Larson.”       “It means you are all agreed! You all want to drive me crazy! You want me to be out of my mind.”       “You know, Rose, we have reasons to think you’ve been out of your mind for ages,” Edward crosses his arms over his chest. “While we were trying to reach out to you, we managed to learn many interesting things about you.”       “Ha, do you want to say that I am sick?” Peter opens his eyes widely. “That I am out of my mind? That I need to be put in a clinic?”       “I guess you have to. Knowing that you almost killed us three. And called yourself Theodore.”       “And we know you tried to kill Daniel during your conflict that you didn’t tell me about until the very end,” Terrence states.       “It’s a lie,” Peter states coldly, without emotions, not blinking his eyes. “Insolent lie.”       “Don’t dare to deny it, Rose,” Daniel says determinedly. “I told the guys how you got a knife from the pillow and attacked me, cutting my vein in the end. I was silent out of pity and reluctance to make it worse for me with a threat to be a slanderer for people. But after all your fucking tricks, because of which we almost died, I am no longer going to hide and deny it.”       “I did not do this! You dreamed it up! You are trying to turn everyone against me.”       “Even if I wanted, I wouldn’t have to. Because you did it very well.”       “You’re out of your mind, Perkins,” Peter protests. “You definitely have mental issues. You’re starting to go crazy.”       “No, brother, my mental health is all right. My nerves are healthy and tough. I think I have the toughest nerves in our company. Unlike someone.”       “You are all sick here!”       Peter looks at Daniel, Edward, and Terrence with eyes full of hatred and evil.       “You are all crazy! You all must be put in a mental hospital since you started to see dead people.”       “No, Rose, you must be put in a mental hospital,” Terrence states. “Because you’ve never been healthy. Though we must admit that you hid it skillfully to pretend to be a normal man.”       “I am not crazy!” Peter protests determinedly. “Not sick! I am alright!”       “Sorry, but we’ve got a lot of doubts about it,” Edward replies confidently.       “So, did you all go crazy but decide to make me sick? You all are good, but I am fucking bad!”       “After everything we’ve learned about you, we do not dare to call you holy.”       “If I hear something like this again, I swear I shall break your necks,” Peter threatens rudely, looking at Edward, Daniel, and Terrence in an icy look. “I shall do something much crueler than the last time. And I shall do my best for any bastard not to stop me by hitting me with an electric gun.”       “You change your personalities so fast!” Daniel exclaims. “You came to us being so shy, quiet, and good, but now you turned into a heartless bastard who threatens to kill everyone.”       “Not everyone, Perkins, but those who think they can remain unpunished by hurting me again and again. Though these words can be said about all the people in this world.”       “Yeah, we started to talk to Peter, but now we have to deal with Theodore,” Terrence crosses his arms over his chest.       “C’mon, guys, it’s not surprising!” Edward exclaims. “Remember who his father is. Remember the stories about his relatives with mental issues. Sick people can never make a healthy child.”       “I wasn’t born like this,” Peter protests. “You made me the one. You all. This whole fucking world. That is really trying to get rid of me and hurt me as much as possible.”       “What if people aren’t guilty of you being always alone?” Terrence assumes. “What if it’s all your work? Maybe you turned your ass on everyone, and you’re sitting so proudly and waiting for someone to run after you and wipe your saliva?”       “I don’t need anyone! Since everyone can only harm me, I prefer to spend my whole life alone. Since I have lost the last reason to be happy with just something in my fucking life.”       “If you keep doing the same, you’re gonna be alone, for sure,” Daniel replies quietly. “The guys and I won’t tolerate your tricks and run after you forever!”       “Don’t do this then! It would be even better for me! I do not the fuck need those who want to watch me suffer and try to make me look like a psycho!”       “You are a psycho. A psycho who took all the possible illnesses from his relatives.”       “I am not sick, I repeat! Not sick!”       “You are, Rose, you really are.”       “Hey, tough guy, are you asking for trouble now? You want problems? Huh! I can give them to you! Here and now!”       “If you’re not a coward, you can even kill us. I guess that’s what your hallucination tells you about. You probably talk to the one all the time, while nobody can see it.”       “I shall show no mercy if one of you dares to attack me. I swear, bastards, I shall crush you all like pearls against the wall.”       “Even if you’re asking for trouble, we won't attack you first,” Terrence says.       “Yo, cowards, ya peed your pants?” Peter sneers evilly. “Peeed your pants after what happened the last time?”       “We will explain it later,” Edward throws coldly. “When you get therapy for your mental health.”       “I said I did not have mental issues. I said I was not fucking SICK!”       With these words, Peter hits his hands sharply against the table. So strongly that the plastic glasses placed on it fall on the side, but the liquid does not spill, thanks to the trustworthy cover. Also, his shout immediately gets the attention of almost all the people in the café, who turn to the man, while he is pretending that he does not care about it at all.       “Stop shouting, moron!” Daniel demands. “People are watching you already!”       “Oh, yeah, everyone’s watching…” Theodore agrees. “And everyone’s thinking, ‘What a fucking psycho?’ And they all have just one thought – calling the police or the mental hospital.”       “They can call even Pope himself!” Peter snaps. “I don’t fucking care!”       “I didn’t say anything about calls!”       “His imaginary friend is probably trying hard,” Terrence assumes. “The one that says we’re evil incarnate, who wanna harm Rose so badly.”       “Dude, just several words before I do my best for nothing to be left of them,” Theodore smiles mysteriously. “Wouldn’t ya be happy to kill those who dare to doubt you’re normal? And dare to harm you…”       “Don’t dare to say I am sick, do not dare!” Peter hisses through his teeth. “I am healthy! Healthy! You all are sick! You all!”       “C’mon, buddy, kick their asses. Show them where they belong. So they keep their dirty mouths shut or shut the fuck up once and forever.”       “I wish I never had you all in my life. I wish I'd never known you all! Never knew those who spit in my soul much more than anyone else. At first, you got my fucking trust and became my friends, but then you showered my face in the mud.”       “Okay, let’s talk about every case in detail,” Terrence suggests quietly. “C’mon, Rose, call all the cases in order. C’mon! C’mon! We’re listening!”       “Assholes…” Peter growls quietly. “Nasty bastards… I hate you all! You ruined my whole life full of fucking shit. You stole everything from me! EVERYTHING!”       “Yes, yes, don’t pity these killers, don’t pity,” Theodore provokes. “At first, they murdered your girlfriend, but now they are not ashamed to use your condition.”       “You, bastards, murdered Helene and now dare to tell me bullshit, saying she is allegedly alive. You all saw her! Isn’t this an attempt to take revenge on me and erase me from this world?”       “And why do you think we are taking revenge on you?” Edward wonders.       “I don’t know what my fault for you is! What did I the fuck do to you? Why do you hate me so badly? Why do you make me a psycho? And why did you just stand like columns and watch my girlfriend die instead of doing your best to save her? And now you dare to tell me that she is alive? After we saw everything!”       “Stop pretending to be deaf and stupid, Rose!” Daniel demands. “We’ve explained everything to you one hundred times.”       “You are murderers! The real murderers who took the most valuable thing I had! You did know well that Helene was the meaning of my life, but you dared to take her from me. You dared to steal the holiest thing! The most important thing to me!”       “Your father and his accomplices wanted to kill Helene,” Terrence recalls. “We don’t have to do with it. And we would have saved her immediately if we had had a chance.”       “I’ve already said it, but I can repeat that I wish you three were instead of her!” Peter says out of anger. “I wish you died there! Choked and burned in the fire! I swear I would not have moved my eyebrow! I would have done nothing to help you.”       “Ah, so, did you forget that you told us we meant a lot to you?” Edward surprises. “Did you forget how you called us your second family?”       “Fuck the family that wants to betray me!”       “Does it mean our friendship isn’t important to you anymore?” Daniel concludes. “You want to ruin it? You want to spend the rest of your life all alone? I mean, with your imaginary friend!”       “You’ve never been my friends! I just let you befriend me. And all the time, I never stopped watching you. I was sure you’d love to fuck me off and do me a dirty thing one beautiful day.”       “Do you understand what you’re saying now?” Terrence asks. “Do you understand what you are doing? Who you are talking to? Do you see those who really are?”       “I completely understand it,” Peter pronounces without emotions. “I understand that I must break all the contacts with you once and forever so you don’t harm me anymore.”       “Would it make you happy? Would you be happy if you stayed all alone?”       “This is the only way to stop running into some people who want to harm me somehow.”       “Oh, shit, guys, I’m speechless,” Edward shakes his head and runs his hands through his hair. “I am fucking speechless. This man surprises me more and more.”       “It’s okay, when he sees Helene, he’s gonna get his brains back,” Daniel assures with his arms crosses over his chest. “That girl is the only one who can keep his condition more or less stable.”       “Ar-r-r, fuck…” Peter growls irritably, inclining his head and running his fingers through his hair, which he starts pulling strongly.       “There is just one way to strike this trio out of your life,” Theodore assures. “Killing them. Killing all these bastards. Starting with Perkins. Who told everyone about how you tried the fuck to kill him. You must kill him. Just like a girl who goes against her rapper’s will and tells everyone about what he does to her.”       “Now we have to think about whether we should keep doing something for this psycho,” Terrence says gloomily. “I want this less and less, watching all his tricks and hearing all his charges.”       “If you don’t kill them, they won’t get rid of you. They will keep running after you and mocking you by saying your girlfriend is alive and healthy.” Theodore hugs Peter around the shoulders. “Or maybe they will come up with more bullshit. Another lie. Or actually plan to kill you. Do what the whole world dreams about. It hasn’t been able to do this for twenty-seven years of your fucking life, but these three can do this. Do you understand me, buddy?”       “Oh, in short, I understood it all,” Peter exhales sharply. “I came to you for nothing. I shouldn't have counted on a good talk. I lost hope after your claims about Helene being alive.”       “Our coincidence is clean because we aren’t lying to you,” Daniel says determinedly. “And we aren’t those who joke about something like a person’s death.”       “Enough! I am done with your lie. Done with all the shit that you are trying to tell me now.”       “We aren’t unsubstantiated and can prove our words,” Edward raises his head proudly. “We can agree with Helene on the meeting right now and drive you to her.”       “Stop, bastards, shut up! I no longer want to hear this verbal diarrhea.”       “Someday you’ll understand we don’t lie to you,” Terrence says confidently. “And you will regret a lot about treating us like this.”       “I regret just one thing: about getting in touch with you. If not for you three, my life would be much better.”       “Okay, Rose, say what you want now,” Daniel raises his hands. “But later, don’t complain after you turn on your brain and recall everything you have done.”       “I hate you, bastards,” Peter throws rudely, clenching his hands lying on the table into fists. “I do not want to see you! Do not care to chase me anymore! Delete my numbers to the fuck and forget my home address. Now!”       “Yes, yes, we got it,” Edward rolls his eyes.       “I am serious! If you keep running after me, you will regret it a lot. I shall no longer pity you. You will be buried in the fucking ground if you dare to tell me something.”       “We advise you to go to the doctor before it’s too late,” Daniel throws coldly. “Before you walk on the way of your sick father and start to kill everyone you see.”       “Fuck you all, fucking bastards,” Peter throws in a much lower voice with a heavy breath. “You are really lucky that there are people around. In the opposite case, your gals would be drowning in tears if the murderers of my girlfriend went to the afterlife after her.”       “You know, Rose, you are right,” Terrence says rudely. “Get out of here while we are nice. While we remember that your girlfriend is gonna suffer if something happens to you.”       “I shall do! I shall not spend any more seconds with you! Keep drowning in your lie. Keep planning something against me with the help of those I know. Keep doing this! But remember that I shall lie you on the ground and bury you immediately if it ever happens again. Do this if you do not care about your life. That’s all, I said everything! Auf Wiedersehen”       Peter gets up sharply from the table and goes to the exit from the café and leaves shortly in a sharp, quick step, slamming the door after himself. Upset and discouraged, Daniel, Terrence, and Edward do not even think of following him, keep sitting in their places and watch the guy leave with widely open eyes.       “Yea-a-a-ah…” Edward exhales sharply, leaning on the table with his elbow and running his fingers through his hair. “We made our friend happy…”       “It seems that nothing has changed over this whole time,” Daniel assumes. “He was a psycho on that day, and he’s still a psycho now.”       “It’s amazing how quickly Rose changes his personalities,” Terrence notices. “He’s really got more than one. He can be a cute sweetie, but he can be a nasty bastard.”       “Of course, I was ready that he wouldn’t believe in Helene’s return. But I didn’t think his reaction would be like this.”       “Oh, if we could prove our honesty, everything would be otherwise,” Edward replies thoughtfully. “If we told him to go with us and ask Helene to go somewhere.”       “It seems like we’re powerless in this situation, guys,” Terrence throws his hands up. “We can’t wash his brains. No words, no hits. He doesn’t hear words and gets much more aggressive after the punching.”       “Fuck, it’s so good that we’re in public!” Daniel exhales with relief. “In the opposite case, we would’ve had to deal with him again. And this idiot would’ve broken my tooth that I recently restored.”       “Here’s the proof of having just one hope,” Edward notices. “Hope on Helene. She’s our last chance to bring Peter back.”       “Do we need it now?” Terrence asks without emotions. “Should we deal with this man? He’s going crazy! And he’s rejecting any help categorically! Does it make sense to deal with him? It’s like we’re hitting the wall, behind which there is nothing and nobody.”       “Even if this man leans a lot to me, I can’t close my eyes to his actions anymore,” Daniel confesses. “Peter has gotten away from many things over all this time. I tolerated a lot and closed my eyes to many things silently. But everything has its limit.”       “But now I understand your behavior much better when he was going crazy. Yes, of course, you weren’t right, but Peter surprised me much more. With the attempt at the murder.”       “Do you think he’s lying that he doesn’t remember or really forgot it all?” Edward frowns slightly.       “He’s lying, likely. He tensed, and his eyes started to run. He didn’t expect that we’d know it.”       “Hey, Dan, didn’t Peter ban you from saying something about it?”       “Nope, he didn’t give any bans,” Daniel shakes his head. “He didn’t threaten me after that. He didn’t tell me to keep my mouth shut. He didn’t threaten to bury me in the ground.”       “It’s weird…” Terrence pronounces thoughtfully. “If Rose didn’t want everyone to know about his action, he’d threaten you. But now everything looks like… He gives a fuck.”       “I dunno, Terrence. But Peter didn’t really threaten me after that. I could tell everything, but I could be silent.”       “Anyway, his mental issues are not a secret anymore,” Edward replies. “And Peter suffers from more than one illness. He may have many ones.”       “That’s why we’ve gotta think better about whether we should try to deal with it all. Friendship is a friendship, but that man may kill us someday. And deal with the girls if it’s not enough for him.”       “It’s clear that we’ve got a real candidate to be titled the second most bloodthirsty criminal of the country,” Daniel replies confidently. “His father got famous in the 90s, but his son can become famous in the 10s.”       “Peter looks like himself less and less,” Edward notices. It’s like Theodore suppresses him more and more. Wouldn’t be surprised if someday he said something like, ‘I’m not Peter anymore, call me Theodore!’”       “That guy is gonna regret everything one hundred percent if he sees Helene. That girl can wash his brain and make him understand that he’s about to lose us.”       “What if she can’t do this?” Terrence gets suspicious. “What if he takes it out on Marshall, too?”       “We’ll accept the final loss of our friend,” Edward shrugs. “It’s sad, but we can do nothing.”       “Helene’s help is our only chance,” Daniel notices. “The last chance for hope.”       “Yeah, but what do we do now? How do we arrange their meeting? We can hardly do this!”       “Agree…” Terrence pronounces thoughtfully. “Well, we can only try to catch him at home or somewhere in the city.”       “Something tells me that he’s gonna rarely be at home,” Daniel assumes. “He may understand that we can catch him there. Rose is gonna likely spend nights in a different place.”       “By the way, hasn’t he finished buying the new house?” Edward frowns slightly. “Hasn’t he gotten the documents and keys?”       “Not yet. And as far as I know, my neighbor, the current owner of the house, is out of the city now. Though they kinda solved all the bank issues. We only have to deal with the documents and wait for some time.”       “If the deal was finished already, we could try to find him there.”       “I’m afraid that Rose is gonna strike us down the stairs if he sees us on the doorstep of his home,” Daniel assumes. “He wouldn’t even listen to us.”       “Anyway, we’ve gotta take the last step,” Terrence assures. “If we can’t do this, we’ll have to accept it and keep moving on. Think about how to solve the band issue.”       “Since Helene made a miracle once and brought Peter back to us, I’m sure she can do this again,” Edward says confidently. “That girl can do much more than you and me.”       “We need to call her and talk about the plan,” Daniel replies. “Agree on the meeting and tell her that we just talked to the blond.”       “Why would we waste time?” Terrence surprises and takes his smartphone from the inside pocket of his denim jacket. “Let’s call her right now and ask her to meet us.”       “Since we have some variants, we must use them. We can’t give up, no matter how hurt we are.”       Terrence quickly finds Helene’s mobile number in his smartphone, types it, and puts his phone to his ear, waiting for the answer. Which he does not have to wait for too long, luckily.       “Hello,” Helene’s quiet voice pronounces.       “Hi, Helene, it’s Terrence,” Terrence says amicably. “You have a minute? You can talk?”       “Oh, hi, Terrence. Yeah, sure, I can. What happened?”       “Listen, friend, I’m now with Edward and Daniel. Something just happened, and we need to talk with you about it.”       “It’s about Peter?”       “Yes, it’s about him.”       “Did you find out something about him? You have some news?”       “I’d say it,” Terrence replies thoughtfully. “And the guys and I really need your help.”       “And what should I do?”       “Let’s talk about the situation when we meet? Could you come somewhere right now? Or are you busy now?”       “No, no, it’s okay, I’m free now. I can meet you at any time.”       “Great! The guys and I are sitting at the café, but we can come to any place you call.”       “Which café are you in now?”       “Erm… Which café?” Terrence biting his lip slightly glances at Edward and Daniel, “What’s the name of the café?”       “Sweet Jasmine,” Daniel replies.       “Oh, ‘Sweet Jasmine!’”       “Hey, I’m not far from the one now!” Helene says happily. “I just went by the one!”       “Really?” Terrence smiles slightly.       “I can come to you in a couple of minutes if you’re there.”       “Listen, it’s great! Could you come here, please?”       “Okay, I’m turning around and coming to you.”       “Great! The guys and I are waiting for you.”       “I’ll try to come as soon as possible.”       “Just in case, we’re sitting on the table not far from a big palm in the pot.”       “Got it. I’ll come soon.”       “Thanks, Helene, we’re waiting for ya.”       Terrence finishes the call and puts his smartphone in his pocket after he locks the screen.       “We’re lucky, guys!” Terrence exclaims happily. “She’s not far from here and will come to us now.”       “Oh, cool!” Edward exclaims. “We don’t have to go anywhere.”       “We definitely need a certain plan,” Daniel says thoughtfully. “But I have no idea what it could be.”       “The only thing I can come up with is attempts to catch Peter at home. And Helene should do this. Something may happen in this case only.”       “Yeah, but she can’t spend nights and days there!” Terrence throws his hands up. “She needs to do her business. Work, walk with Sammy, hang out with her friends, watch her grandmother…”       “Remembering all her sacrifices when he was in the hospital after his suicide attempt, I am more than sure that she’d fuck everything off easily and sacrifice anything to bring back her sweetheart and breathe into him,” Daniel says confidently.       “Oh, but would all these efforts be worth just something?” Edward runs his hands over his face with a tired sigh. “What if we’re just wasting time?”       “I know, I don’t want to deal with this man who rejects any help, considers us liars, and even threatens to kill us,” Terrence runs his fingers through his hair. “But on the other hand, Peter is our friend. How could we be called good friends if we give up on everything and fuck him off so easily?”       “But let’s not forget that he hasn’t always been like this.”       “Because Helene was next to him. But when he thought he lost her, he went out of his mind.”       “At these moments, we aren’t dealing with Peter, we’re dealing with Theodore,” Daniel notices. “The personality that is kinda trying to suppress him. If we could defeat it, our friend would come back to us.”       “But how?” Edward throws his hands up. “I’m not sure if this shit can be cured! What if he’s gonna be like this for the rest of his life! Change his personality and talk to the imaginary person.”       “Agree…” Terrence nods. “So, even if we decide to fight for our friend, we should think about something better. Whether we can befriend the mentally unstable man.”       “We don’t know so much about him yet. We don’t know how he got this mistrust of people. Why he began to expect a hit from everyone. Why he doesn’t trust even his friends and blames everyone for his sins.”       “It sounds like an excuse, but what if this is his protection?” Daniel frowns slightly. “The dude is just afraid to seem weak – that’s why he’s rude to everyone.”       “It’s possible,” Edward agrees. “But we can’t deny that he’s got illnesses. We can’t deny that anyone who talks to him is in danger. Because his hallucinations may encourage him to do something criminal.”       “Yeah, hard case…” Terrence sighs tiredly, putting his hand on his forehead.       “Sometimes people really surprise me,” Daniel confesses. “I am surprised by how different they can be. The fact that they aren’t always what they seem.”       A short silence settles, during which Edward, Daniel, and Terrence just sit silently and think about something, setting their dead eyes into the distance and putting aside their glasses and packs of food with a lost appetite after what happened. And some time later, the door of the café opens with a quiet sound of the ring, and Helene enters it, squeezing the handle of the bag she has placed over her shoulder. The girl goes a little further and starts looking around to find her friends, whom she does not notice yet. But while she walks in circles, Edward notices her appearance first and lets the men know it, clapping Terrence sitting next to him on the shoulder and waving his hand in front of Daniel’s face.       “Hey, guys, look, she’s come!” Edward announces, pointing at the side where Helene is.       “Wow, it was quick!” Terrence notices.       “Hey, Helene!” Daniel pronounces loudly, raising his hand, and calls Helene to himself with a gesture after she turns on him. “Here!”       When Helene comes quickly to the table that she needs, Daniel, Edward, and Terrence get up shortly to greet her.       “Hey, guys,” Helene greets, breathing a little heavily. “I came here as soon as I could.”       “Hey, Helene,” Daniel, Edward, and Terrence pronounce, hug Helene, and share an amicable kiss on the cheek with her.       “Sit down, please!” Daniel invites, pointing at the chair near him.       While Helene sits on the free table and puts her bag on the back of it, Daniel, Terrence, and Edward come back to their places.       “Sorry about distracting you from your business,” Edward apologizes. “But it’s really important.”       “Nah, it’s okay,” Helene smiles shyly. “I just recently went to my workplace to explain everything to my boss and calm my colleagues down.”       “And how did they react to your appearance?” Terrence asks.       “Everyone was deeply shocked. They looked at me closely and couldn’t believe it was me. Someone even thought they started to hallucinate after breathing in too much chemistry.”       “I ain’t surprised,” Daniel confesses.       “In short, I talked to my boss, and he allowed me to start working the next week. He gave me some time to have a rest and get ready.”       “I guess it was a hard talk?”       “Nope, everything was great! I was worried that they’d fire me, but they didn’t. I didn’t even have to beg him to deprive me of the job.” Helene shrugs with a slight smile. “So, I don’t have to look for a new job.”       “Great, we’re glad everything ended well,” Edward smiles shyly.       “Hey, would you like to order something?” Terrence asks.       “No, no, thanks, I’ll order nothing.”       “If you want, you can eat something from our food,” Daniel suggests. “We lost our appetite after what recently happened.”       “You said the problem was about Peter.”       “Yes,” Terrence nods. “And after that, we made absolutely sure that we couldn’t do without you in this situation.”       “You know something about him? We have a chance to talk to him? There’s a chance to tell him I’m alright?”       “We would’ve had if you’d come here several minutes earlier,” Edward replies quietly.       “Erm, what do you mean?” Helene frowns slightly.       “Peter was here,” Daniel says. “We just talked to him.”       “Come on? Peter was here? With you?”       “But our talk wasn’t successful at all.”       “My gosh, why didn’t you call me earlier? I would’ve come here shortly!”       “Sorry, Helene, but we didn’t have time,” Edward shakes his head with sadness in his eyes. “Peter ran away from the café too quickly.”       “But did you tell him about me? Did you say that I didn’t die?”       “We said, but he didn’t believe us,” Terrence confesses. “He thought we were mocking me.”       “Yeah, at first, Peter was kinda normal,” Edward adds. “He came to us, asked for permission to sit down, and looked insecure and tense. But we didn’t understand what he wanted from us.”       “Uh-huh, we asked him some questions, but he mumbled something unclear,” Daniel says. “We didn’t know if he wanted to befriend us or wanted to reject us.”       “But what happened to him next?” Helene specifies. “Why do you say he was normal ‘at first’?”       “He didn’t like that we were so funny and laughed a lot,” Terrence replies. “And he was like, ‘Why the hell are you laughing here when you must mourn my girlfriend?’ So, we told him that you were alive. We explained how it happened. Told him everything we heard from you personally.”       “Uh-huh, and he was like, ‘Are you freaking kidding me? Do you think I will believe in this delirium?” Edward adds. “Like, it cannot be the truth because we saw you dying in the fire with our own eyes.”       “And then Rose went on the wrong side,” Daniel continues. “We kinda want to hurt him as much as possible, and we’re happy with his grief and dare to play with his feelings. We even got threats of murder. Real threats. For which we could report him to the police.”       “What, serious?” Helene opens her eyes widely.       “The man acted like he didn’t need us anymore. Like, we’re not his friends anymore. Like he never said that we were like his brother, we meant a lot to him, and he loved us. And he wanna stop any relationship with us once and forever.”       “Did he go wrong like this after you said I was alive and healthy?”       “Exactly!” Terrence exclaims. “We tried to change his mind. We said we could prove that we were right and bring him to you. But alas, Rose stopped us sharply and refused to listen to anything.”       “Oh, my gosh…” Helene closes her mouth with a hand.       “And we’ve personally seen that his neighbors told us the truth: Peter really suffers from some mental illnesses,” Edward confirms. “Two personalities live in him, and he sees some imaginary people that obviously tell him to kill us.”       “Don’t scare me, guys, for God’s sake.”       “We’re telling the truth, Helene,” Daniel replies with sadness in his eyes. “Rose looked aside weirdly several times and said what we didn’t even mention. For example, I told him not to shout because the entire café stared at him, but he started to say something about calls.”       “And he always repeated that he wasn’t sick, he was healthy every time we gave him arguments about his health,” Terrence says confidently. “And we allegedly killed you because we wanted to take revenge on him for something.”       “And he started to deny everything when Daniel mentioned the case when Peter attacked him with a knife and cut his vein,” Edward confesses. “Like, it was a lie and slander, and it’s never happened.”       “It’s really insane…” Helene shakes her head and grabs her head. “Peter… That sweet and kind guy acting like this…”       “There were prerequisites before, but we didn’t notice them because Peter was hiding them skillfully,” Terrence notices.       “Yeah, okay… Of course, he’s got a tough character. If he wants, he can shout and smash a hit strongly. But threatening with murder…”       “He’s sick, friend,” Edward replies. “He suffers from a split personality and hallucinations. And most likely, it can’t be cured.”       “As far as I know, a split personality can be successfully treated. And mental issues aren’t always the reason for hallucinations. It may be caused by stress and a lack of sleep.”       “Yeah, but Peter rejects any kind of help categorically,” Daniel throws his hands. “He doesn’t want to visit psychologists and take cures. He truly believes that he is alright. Though he is destroying himself more and more.”       “Maybe hallucinations pushed him to the suicide murder the last time,” Terrence assumes. “Whispered to him to kill himself, and he did it. And now something tells him to kill us. Take revenge for all the offences. Made him think we were guilty of your alleged death. Maybe he’s even still mad that we didn’t let him die and saved him.”       “Anyway, the reason for his problem can be found in his childhood,” Helene replies thoughtfully. “It’s all happening because of that. There’s a chance that it may hide the answer that can help him understand his condition and take control of it.”       “Rose doesn’t rush to find it out,” Edward shrugs. “He doesn’t care that he only remembers events starting in his teenage years. He’s supposed to keep some memories. But he’s got nothing!”       “Ah, I wish we knew what to cling to… If we had some hints on.”       “Sorry, friend, but we’re powerless in this situation,” Daniel shakes his head with sadness in his eyes. “And to be honest, we aren’t sure that we want to keep knocking at the closed door.”       “Do you mean you want to leave Peter? You want him to destroy him at all?”       “We don’t want, we can do nothing. Peter hates us. He hates us for nothing. He blames us for all the possible sins and threatens to kill us if we don’t leave him alone.”       “No, I’m sure it’s all otherwise. I’m sure he regrets what he says in anger.”       “If he regretted, he’d apologize,” Terrence replies without emotions. “Or actually didn’t do anything from what he did.”       “No, guys, I’m begging you, don’t leave Pete,” Helene begs with pity in her eyes. “He needs you. He can’t do this without you. You’re the only ones who can help him.”       “No, Helene, you are the only one to be able to help him,” Edward protests. “You’re the only one he can listen to. The only one to mean a lot to him.”       “He loves you, too. Please, don’t believe everything Pete says. I can understand his feelings. I know how you feel when you lose a close person. I was kinda outta my mind after the death of Grandfather Roger. And Rose was the one to help me get through.”       “We know, but all of this is not okay!” Terrence exclaims. “Though there’s nothing surprising, knowing who his father is. Knowing that their entire family is unhealthy.”       “Peter is not Marcus. He will never be like this. He doesn’t want to. He is even afraid to think about it.”       “Everything leads to this,” Daniel upsets. “Peter is confidently taking after his father and may become a new serial killer. A much more bloodthirsty and more heartless one. People are his enemies. Enemies who don’t wanna see him happy and are ready to hurt him again and again.”       “No, please, don’t say it,” Helene shakes her head with pity in her wet eyes.       “Anyway, the guys and I really need your help,” Terrence says quietly. “You’re our last chance to try to fix just something. Try to bring our friend back. Who… No matter what… Means a lot to us.”       “You can count on me, guys. I will do everything I can.”       “Try to catch him at home,” Edward advises. “Maybe you’re lucky, and he wanna talk to you.”       “Today I went there again, but his neighbors said Peter left somewhere in the early morning. And actually, he lately goes somewhere in the early time and comes back home literally at night. Or he doesn’t spend a night at home for several days.”       “Our guesses are correct: Peter is gonna spend a night anywhere ‘cause he knows he can catch him at home,” Daniel concludes. “It means the plan of catching Rose there is gonna be hard to fulfil.”       “Most likely. But I will keep coming there one or two times per day. I’m supposed to be lucky someday.”       “But we’ll probably no longer show up there,” Edward says. “He won’t really want to talk to us.”       “Do you really wanna leave him? Did you forget all the good moments you’d gotten through with him? Doesn’t it all mean anything to you?”       “Oh, Helene, do you think we really want it?” Terrence sighs tiredly. “Nobody wants it! But does it make sense to pull someone from the bottom when they don’t aim to help? When they consider you an evil incarnate and don’t believe you wish him the best! And we don’t know how to behave with a mentally ill man. You can expect anything from them. It’s like an alcoholic or a drug addict.”       “I’m all in doubt too, trust me. But I also know that he needs me. I know he can’t do without me.”       “Aren’t you afraid that he may piss you off, too?” Daniel asks. “Aren’t you afraid that this man may start to attack you with fists?”       “I am. But I will not give up until the very end. I’m gonna cling to any chance to save him.”       “Of course, your determinacy is obviously good, but on the contrary, you might waste your time and get nothing,” Edward notices. “Or get in trouble so that Marcus’s tricks seem nothing to you.”       “I get it all,” Helene nods with sadness in her eyes. “But I can’t leave him. Can’t reject Peter so easily. Yes, I look like I suffer from a certain savior syndrome, hoping to save the man who doesn’t want it. Yes, someone may say I need to let him go and find a better man. But I can’t. I love this man. He means a lot to me.”       “Even if we keep talking to him, we have to watch our mouths and actions not to make him mad,” Terrence says. “Or we can’t avoid something bad. He can easily take a knife or a gun.”       “And the question is whether we need it all?” Edward adds. “Whether we need to take such a great load?”       “Nevertheless, we’ve gotta try,” Helene replies and swallows nervously. “We must not give up and leave the man so easily.”       “If we aren’t able to do anything again, we’ll give up,” Daniel says quietly. “In all senses. If Rose doesn’t want it, it’s alright, we will do what he asks us about.”       “Please, guys, I’m asking you, don’t leave Peter. I completely understand that you’re hurt, but he needs you. He needs loyal friends. He can’t make it without you.”       “He can, don’t worry,” Terrence smiles falsely. “He only cares about you.”       “And the thing we can do for him for the last time is to bring you back to him,” Edward adds. “And then he can turn his back on us and call us what he wants. We won't care.”       “You’re the same part of his life as me,” Helene replies. “I’m not the only one to help him hold on. You’re a part of this, too. When I’m powerless, you can do a lot.”       “If we could do something, he wouldn’t turn his back on us,” Daniel replies. “He wouldn’t blame us for murdering you. For ruining his whole life and waiting for the moment to hurt him.”       “For example, I can’t put out the flame inside him if he gets enraged. But you can. You cool him down immediately. Peter listens to you and does what you say.”       “Trust me, Helene, if you saw everything he did after your alleged death, you would think differently,” Terrence says quietly. “Peter went so enraged that the guys and I weren’t the only ones to be scared. Marcus’s accomplices were scared, too. And Rose’s father himself shook, even if he didn’t show it.”       “I’ll surely talk to him about all of this. I’ll do my best to make him understand that he’s unfair to you. Count on me, guys! I won’t let you down.”       “We believe you, sweetie,” Daniel smiles slightly, putting his hand on Helene’s shoulder. “Do everything you think you need.”       “But I can’t do this all alone. I need you too. I need your help.”       “We said we’d try to change something for the last time,” Edward recalls. “As Dan said, if we aren’t able to do anything, we’ll give up.”       “We can do this, I’m sure,” Helene assures with a shy smile. “If we find a way to take Peter to the meeting with me, everything will be back to its place.”       “Even if it’s back, we’ll have to deal with his mental issues,” Terrence notices. “Persuade this princess to do just something: going to a doctor, a psychologist, taking cures, or recalling everything that impacted his whole life.”       “I’m ready for anything to help him. To bring him back to our company, to your band…”       “Us too, friend…” Daniel leans back in the chair. “But the effort of the guys and me wasn’t valued with even just a simple ‘thank you’, to our sadness. All the years of the friendship have been struck out heartlessly with a couple of actions, a couple of words.”       “Everything is going to change soon, just wait for a while. We can get what we want soon.”       “Do you think we can make a miracle for the second time?” Edward asks hesitantly.       “If we don’t give up, no matter how hard the situation is. Just remember that Peter doesn’t think so. His emotions speak for him. Emotions caused by his condition. His stress. His illnesses. At these moments, you don’t control yourself and can do who the hell knows what.”       Terrence, Daniel, and Edward say nothing and just look at each other, while Helene watches them with sadness in her eyes, fingering over nervously with her hands on the table. But at some moment, Perkins sitting next to her hugs his sad friend around the shoulder and presses her to himself, while the MacClife brothers try to cheer her up a little with a slight smile. The girl answers them back, but the men can see that drops of tears start showing up in the corners of her eyes, no matter how hard she tries to hold them down.       

***

      The friends’ words about Helene being alive and healthy and not dying on that fateful day became the reason for the rage of Peter, who just arrived at the desert beach. Breathing like a furious bull, the man sharply slams the door of the driver's seat, locks his car with a key, and starts walking in a sharp and wide step, coming to the sea that carries up and carries away the big waves due to the strong wind blowing here. And when he steps on the small rock, he throws it furiously in the water and clenches his hands tightly into fists with an irritated growl.       “Here’s what they came up with,” Peter says under his nose with anger. “How long did these bastards talk before telling me THAT? Telling me that Helene is alive! Fucking alive! Though we saw personally how she died! How she burned in the fire! Ha, that’s why they were sitting at the table so sunny! Talking about another plan of giving me pain and bringing me to the craziness!”       Peter sneers evilly and sits on the sand in front of the sea, bending his legs to his knees, while the strong wind blows up his clothes and hair.       “It’s alright, bastards, I’ve figured out all your plans. Now I know what bastards you really are. I know everything about you. I assured you that you were all the same as the others. You do not have the right to call yourself my friends and do not appreciate everything I have ever done for you out of my stupidity.”       “You could’ve just killed them there and made your life much better!” Theodore pronounces cheerfully, skipping in circles against the sea. “You could’ve killed those you shouldn't have trusted.”       “What did I do to them? Why do they treat me like this? Fuck… I’ve done everything for them! I’ve revealed my soul to them! I’ve told and shown them everything! But that’s what they did to me.”       “Well… I would bet on revealing your soul. And we both know that you haven’t told them everything. They don’t know even half of everything that has happened to you.”       “These bastards will never know anything anymore. Nobody will know anything about me. I swear I shall let nobody get into my soul and sort it out. I shall say nothing about what I feel and what I am worried about. Enough! I am done with all these confessions! That people need to harm me. To give me as much pain as possible.”       “Alas, buddy, frankness has never been a human’s friend in this world,” Theodore notices, comes to Peter and sits on the sand next to him, starting to watch the waves that come and leave. “You should keep everything inside and get through any difficulties by yourself.”       “Ha, they dare to say that I am sick. That I must get therapy!” Peter sneers evilly. “Seriously! They are all insane! Since they are sure that they see the dead Helene and believe truly that she is alive.”       “Yeah, in this case, they’ve gone too far. It’s really mean to play with the feelings of someone who lost a very close person.”       “That’s what I mean! How did they dare to do this? Did they go fucking crazy?”       “You must’ve killed them, Peter, you must have. If you’d done this, you would’ve lived a quiet life.”       “If they annoy me again and want to tell me another lie, they will not live until the next day,” Peter says in a low, rude voice. “I swear I shall destroy all of them. Bring this fucking case to an end and take revenge on them for all the pain they’ve given me.”       “You must take revenge on everyone who has ever hurt you and mocked you,” Theodore says confidently, twisting his arms behind his back and starting to keep his weight on them. “They should not think they can get away from all of this so easily.”       “They will not.” Peter clenches his hands tightly into fists. “I shall destroy them… All of them… I’ve been tolerating, forgetting about my offences, and closing my eyes to everything for too long. But that’s all… The last drop is that I lost my girlfriend. I am not going to forgive this world for her death. I am not going. Since they thought she deserved to suffer, they are going to pay a lot for this. I shall take their lives.”       “Yeah! We will find all of them! They’re gonna rot in the ground and burn in hell for all their tricks!”       “I’m starting to understand Marcus much better. Yes, his father was the only one to mock him. But it’s clear that the old man enraged my mother so fucking hard that he just got wild. Everything has a limit. Nothing lasts forever.”       “That’s right!” Theodore agrees and bends his legs to his knees. “But they say it makes you tougher, it makes you a much more decent man. Like, you’re gonna thank someone for this shit. Ha! This is how people can provoke the birth of another criminal. Another alcoholic, drug addict, or rapper.”       “I’m really surprised that Marcus didn’t kill his father, taking revenge on him for these methods of education,” Peter confesses. “That man was supposed to become the first one he should’ve killed.”       “Who knows, buddy… Your father didn’t say what happened to your grandfather: either he died of natural or forced causes. But actually, it would’ve really been weird if that man had pitied his father.”       “I’d be really grateful if someone from prison killed that bastard. If Marcus burned in hell along with those who have ever tried to ruin my life.”       “Don’t worry about him!” Theodore claps Peter on the shoulder and spits something, turning aside. “He’s no longer a young boy, he doesn’t have henchmen. And there are no mamma’s boys in prison. There are big closets that would be much more dangerous than those who studied at your school. They would cut your head off for one moment. Especially knowing that Marcus can’t fight and protect himself.”       “I hope it will happen. They will deal with Marcus, but I shall deal with this fucking trio and everyone who thought they could mock me and remain unpunished.”       “Oh, yeah, finally, we’re gonna have a lot of fun!” Theodore rubs his hands with a wide smile. “We won’t be boring at your hole, lying on the bed and drinking tons of vodka or whiskey.”       “Perkins and the MacClifes have the last chance to save their skin. Leave me alone once and forever. Forget me. Do their business. But if they do not use it, I shall have to take some cruel measures.”       “You can’t deal just with them.” Theodore puts his arm around Peter’s neck. “There are the girls. Who support them fully. And know all their dirtiest plans.”       “If they don’t meddle, I shall do nothing to them.”       “Why? They’re literally the accomplices of these three who say your girlfriend is alive!”       “The girls have done nothing bad to me over all this time and preferred not to fight with me. But I am not going to hurt those who don’t have anything to do with my ruined life.”       “That’s wrong! At least, you could fuck all of them one time after their protectors die.”       “No, I won’t fuck them.” Peter frowns strongly, bending his legs to his knees. “I wanna fuck nobody. I’m not interested in it now.”       “Oh, c’mon, not interested!” Theodore rolls his eyes. “It’s much better to put your dick in the lady’s tough ass or her wet puss and get an orgasm along with her loud moans than sit in the bathroom and please yourself.”       “I said I wanted to fuck nobody!”       “Okay then! If ya ain’t feel high now, you will later, when we take revenge on all your offenders. You’ll celebrate your victory with wild sex with a cutie. Or better several cuties.”       “Shut up, Theodore!”       “Hey, what? You can drink a little to get braver and then seduce two or three girls who wouldn’t mind a cool group sex. One would suck your dick, another would kiss your lips, the third would lick you everywhere, and you’d caress the fourth’s boobs. M-m-m… Pleasure…”       “What kind of fucking group sex?” Peter explodes. “What kind of fucking group sex! I do not have the wish and strength to do this!”       “Nobody makes you do this right now. But then you can think about it. Think about how to get rid of pressure and relax.”       “You’re literally obsessed with talking about sex! You can’t live without it!”       “It’s a fine thing for every healthy man.”       “You wanna say I’m crazy?”       “You know it well, Peter. Why would ya deny it? And everyone thinks so, even if they don’t say it. Though the trio began to drop hints at considering you crazy.”       “I am normal!” Peter says loudly. “Absolutely healthy!”       “Would a healthy man refuse to have sex at his will, talk to someone who doesn’t exist, and consider the entire world an enemy?” Theodore surprises.       “Isn’t it the truth? Doesn’t the world wanna get rid of me?”       “Sorry, it was you who thought that the whole world stood against you. However, all your problems have one explanation. That you don’t wanna know.”       “Stop!” Peter cuts off sharply. “Stop telling me I should remember something for the billionth time!”       “I’m ready to repeat it a trillion times so you finally start to do something.”       “How many times do I repeat that I don’t want to think about it? I do not want!”       “You want, but you’re scared,” Theodore smiles slyly. “You’re afraid to go crazy and break down after what you may find out. You feel that you ended up in a deep hole one day and got out of it thanks to a miracle only.”       “Shut up…” Peter demands in a low, little shaking voice with a heavy breath, clenching his hands tightly into fists. “Shut up, I said!”       “You tell everyone you don’t understand how you got this mistrust for people. I mean, you’re sure the problem is about the school bullying you were put under every fucking day. But actually, everything started much earlier.”       “I know! You’ve told me about it one million times!”       “Maybe your head is as empty as a beggar's wallet. But your body remembers everything perfectly. It has given you hints more than once. You could've figured out which direction you should've chosen. But you were blind and deaf – it was like you knew nothing, you heard nothing, and you stayed locked inside your thick cocoon where nobody could reach you.”       “Change the topic, Theodore! Don’t irritate me!”       “Okay, have you ever asked yourself why you have such great sex issues? Why can’t you fuck a girl when you’re sober and give her the role of the leader? Why are ya able to do something when you’re drunk only?”       “A-r-r-r-r, I’m fucking done with you, bastard…”       Peter gets up quickly on his feet and starts walking in circles on the large desert coast, taking several small rocks from the sand and squeezing them tightly in his hand.       “By the way, I just gave you a hint,” Theodore exclaims, following Peter. “I’m here next to you to help you restore the picture. Help you answer all the questions you care about and understand what everything started with.”       “If I decide to start killing people, I will start with you,” Peter says rudely. “The one who has been annoying me for more than twenty years.”       “I wonder how you’re gonna kill the one to live in your head only?”       “I shall find a way, don’t worry!”       “Since you refuse to solve this problem, it means you like my company. You like talking to yourself and hearing me speak. This is how it’s easier for you to get through what’s happening.”       “Oh, yeah, I dreamed of the imaginary friend all my life!”       “I’m still with you because you need it. The only person you completely trust is you. You expected a betrayal from your girlfriend until the last day of her life. And you can’t betray yourself at all.”       “Actually, all people can talk to themselves to calm down and encourage themselves.”       “Yeah, but not everyone dreams up an imaginary person. Who comes to them every time they’re needed. When they’re under a lot of stress and can’t fall asleep for a long time.”       “An imaginary friend equals a hallucination.”       “Think what you want. I’ve told you that I will leave only after you do what I said.”       “Never!”       “Okay then!” Theodore puts his arm around Peter’s neck on the go. “Then you and I will be together until the very end. Until death do us part. Since you love suffering and like the perspective of spending your whole life all alone, it’s fine. I’d actually be happy to tickle your nerves. I’ve been doing this for nobody the fuck knows how long, but I’m not tired at all.”       “Get off, idiot!” Peter throws coldly, pulling his shoulder sharply and stepping aside.       “But I can’t promise that your life is gonna be easy in this case. I’m gonna do my best to drive you crazy and make you much more irritated. If you don’t decide to stop it all and go too far, you’ll take after your daddy and really start to kill people.”       “It’s not people’s business!”       “Don’t forget that there’s no way back. If you do something now, you won’t be able to come back and fix everything. I don’t mind having fun, but I advise you to think about it all better.”       “You turn from my enemy to my friend fucking fast.”       “Because you are confused and don’t know what you need. The MacClifes and Perkins were right when they noticed it. You’re acting like a weak boy and don’t understand what you want and why you came to those assholes.”       “I want just one thing – to be next to Helene. I’d sacrifice everything and give anything for that. I’d give the most valuable thing I still have.”       “Do you mean your friends? Are you ready to sacrifice them?”       “They are not my friends! They’ve never been ones!”       “But what about the words about them being like your brothers?”       “A moment of unnecessary weakness. Moments when I was stupid and let myself be vulnerable, giving my enemies a chance to put a rope around my neck and tighten it tightly.”       “But you can’t deny that they’re important to you to some extent.”       “I don’t deny it,” Peter sighs tiredly. “That’s why I feel much more hurt. I’m hurt ‘cause my close people betrayed me. I really started to trust them. I think this is the first case in my life.”       “As they say, you learn from mistakes. It means you’re gonna be smarter next time.”       “You’re right. As I said, no bastard will dare to get into my soul anymore.”       Peter stops in front of the sea and throws one of the rocks in his hands as strongly as possible.       “I shall let nobody get into my head. No-bo-dy.” Peter sneers evilly and throws another rock. “Here’s what they came up with! To send me to the doctors! Psychologists! So they get into my fucking mind and give me pieces of advice I don’t need. Oh, no! You go to them! But I’m out!”       “Uh-huh, and they’re gonna drug you with tablets,” Theodore agrees and lifts sand in the air with one hit of his foot. “So, you lie on the bed like a vegetable and barely understand where you are, who you are, and what they’re doing to you.”       “That’s what they want. They wanna make me a psycho. All these people want to put me in a mental clinic where crazy assholes live. That’s why they insist that I go to the doctor. They’re gonna put a straitjacket on me immediately and lock me in the room all alone. So, I go fucking crazy there!”       “Yeah… Good memories are good memories, but bad memories will always dominate and overshadow everything and everyone. If someone does something good for you at least once but harms you most of the time, you can make a conclusion by yourself.”       “Exactly!” Peter exclaims and starts throwing rocks in the water one by one. “I used to live all alone somehow. Yes, I was upset that everyone gave a fuck about me at first. But then I got used to it. I understood that everything wasn’t so bad. That I could live on my own.”       “Uh-huh, but to satisfy your need for communication, you can just call your imaginary friend or come to the mirror.”       “That’s why I’d rather keep being all alone. Nobody hurts, nobody judges, nobody bothers me with pieces of advice I don’t ask about.”       “But you can choose a much easier way and just die,” Theodore suggests, splashing water with his feet. “Nobody’s gonna teach you. And I will disappear.”       “After I take revenge on my offenders,” Peter raises his head proudly with a sly smile. “After I find all of them.”       “By the way, it’s a really good place. You can just get into the sea and let it carry you far away from here to the unknown. Until you get totally weak and go down. Someone would hardly think of finding you at this place that a person visited for likely the first time.”       “You’re right. Nobody will find me here. I can spend days and nights here, but nobody would even think about coming here.”       “But you’ve lately spent hours at this place, hiding from everyone who tries to catch you at home.”       “That’s why I’m sitting here. I’m sure that these idiots are gonna try to catch me literally every day to tell me some bullshit again. I can come back home quietly at night to change my clothes and eat something. But I come here again in the early morning or drive somewhere else.”       “Anyway, I really like this place,” Theodore confesses with a slight smile. “I love playing with water. Love lying on the sand.”       “Agree, it’s really good to be here.”       Peter sits on the sand in front of the sea but then lies down, spreads his legs and hands aside, and closes his eyes, focusing silently on the notice of the tidal waves and the warm wind that caresses his skin nicely and breathing in the fresh air.       “There’s nobody, nobody annoys… The warm wind, the sea, the waves… If I want, I can turn on the music on my phone or in the car.”       “Huh, we can actually have such a cool party that you’ve never had with your pals,” Theodore notices cheerfully and falls to the sand, putting his hands under his head and massaging his feet a little. “And it would be great to bring a lot of drinks here, m-m-m…”       “Who said I don’t have drinks with me?” Peter smiles mysteriously.       “M-m-m, I like the way you think, dude!””       “And may someone dare to say I’m an alcoholic. I ain’t an alcoholic. I’m just relaxing. Drinking my grief down. I feel bad. I'm stressed. Nobody loves me. My girlfriend is dead. My friends betrayed me. In short, life is a fucking bullshit.”       “So, why are we pulling a cat’s tail? Let’s go! Grab the bottles! Let’s have fun!”       “We have time, don’t worry, I’m gonna stay here until the deep night. I shall go home after this.”       “Maybe you should find an abandoned house in the woods?” Theodore suggests. “Don’t ya wanna walk in the city tomorrow and look for some cool places?”       “M-m, cool idea, dude!” Peter smiles.       “Oh, yay, it’s gonna be awesome!”       “Sometimes you irritate me as fuck, but sometimes I wanna hug you tightly. Because you’re the only one who understands me so well.”       “I said nobody would understand your feelings and emotions better than you.”       Theodore gets up sharply on his feet, comes to the high stone and climbs up it, looking at the horizon with his head proudly raised.       “Woo-o-o-ohoo-o-o-o-o!” Theodore shouts happily at the top of his lungs. “We want enemies dea-a-a-a-ad!”       “I shall do this with great pleasure,” Peter smiles slyly, looking at the puffy clouds in the bright blue sky in different forms. “Stop being a victim. Another attempt to hurt me before I rise against everyone. IT’s their time to suffer and beg me for mercy.”       “I imagine them asking you to pity them and let them go after you press them to the wall tightly. Howling from fear of death that they will not avoid anyway.”       “It’s really gonna be fun. Remembering how cool I felt when I chased all these cowardly bastards and kicked their asses.” Peter sneers evilly. “They all peed their pants and shook like fucking bunnies. They tried to look sassy, but it was a pathetic thing. So pathetic that it made many have much more fun.”       “You’re walking confidently on the way your daddy went on somehow.”       Theodore jumps off the stone and starts skipping from side to side, raising the sand in the air with his foot at times.       “But you and I will do a different thing and kick the asses of bad men and women. We won’t hurt innocent people. They can live and enjoy their lives.”       “I give a fuck about others,” Peter throws gloomily and gets up tiredly on his feet, not being pleased to shake the sand off himself. “I only care about my offenders. And I shall not calm down until I take revenge on all of them.”       “The important thing is not to get caught.”       “I shall not be. I shall do everything quickly and quietly. Nobody will even make a sound. And Marcus’s methods are gonna be very nice for me in this case.”       “Cool! So, when do we start having fun? You should’ve tasted this dessert a long time ago! Why did ya waste time?”       “I shall wait for these three bastards to miss their last chance to stay alive.” Peter crosses his arms over his chest. “They will be the first ones I shall take it out on cruelly. Whom I shall kick for all the bad things. Who shall pay me a lot for the words about Helene, who died in the fire, being alive.”       “And something tells me that it will happen very soon,” Theodore says. “That company won’t leave you so easily.”       “That’s what I need. They can run. And when I see not far from myself and understand that they want to do a dirty trick, they will pay for it. No unity and thought that they’re stronger than me together will help them.”       “I can’t wait to watch them burn as fuck. Hear them lie to you insolently and say some bullshit. Hear them assure you that they’ve never betrayed and always wished you the best.”       “You’re gonna love this show. You’re gonna love the way I shall show them all my power. Show them who Theodore Longbottom is.”       “M-m-m, you wanna be Theodore?”       “I want to be strong, confident, and fearless. That’s what Theodore is. While everyone uses Peter as a doormat and makes him feel broken and unhappy.”       “By deciding to become Theodore, you’ll no longer be able to become Peter again.”       “I don’t want to be Peter. It’s not the one I really am. Not the one I was born. I lived in the skin of a stranger and didn’t live my life for twenty-seven years. But now it’s time to put everything in its place. It’s time to become myself and take revenge on those who used the weak version of me as a doormat.”       “Yea-a-a-a-ah!” Theodore whoops happily. “We can do this!”       “Yea-a-a-ah!” Peter repeats, raising his hands. “I shall do this!”       “Louder, man, louder!”       “Yea-a-a-a-a-ah!” Peter starts laughing evilly. “I shall crush everyone as fuck! I shall destroy everyone!”       “Louder! Much louder!”       “A-a-a-a-a, I can scream out here as much as I want!” Peter screams. “And nobody can stop me!”       “Not only scream but also run everywhere!”       Theodore moves off the place sharply and starts walking in circles on the whole beach, not stopping to scream at the top of his lungs. Not thinking a lot, Peter joins his hallucination, starting to run like crazy across the coast that stretches for many kilometers. It helps him release some of the anger and aggression that clouds his mind. And even two minutes after an intense run, he still cannot get rid of the negative emotions.       However, Peter does it just because he wants to. He wants to run where his eyes look as fast as possible. The heart works at maximum capacity, the breath is heavier, pictures change before the eyes for one or two moments, the sand rustles under his feet, and the noisy wind kind of aims to rush toward him. The man does not feel any tiredness or a lack of air – freedom only. The freedom from all the thoughts, doubts, fears, problems, and cares. No limits, no barriers, no walls – just the endless horizons that will probably never reach an end.       

***

      Closer to the evening, Raquelle and Terrence are accepting Natalia and Edward, who accepted the invitation to the dinner together with pleasure. Also, all their relatives joined them, even if they do not often visit this place: Rebecca and Jamie, Letitia and Anthony, Frederick, Adriana, and Alicia. All of them decided to put on something more beautiful than everyday clothes: shirts, jackets, suit pants, or beautiful dresses.       Time goes fast as the owners and the visitors of the house talk at ease all together, sitting comfortably in the large dining room. Enjoying light snacks that were given to them before they sat down, nobody notices how the servants bring them plates with the main course and put them carefully in front of all the guests, who already appreciate the smell and the look of the food. Someone working at the house is standing nearby in case someone needs something, while the others leave to prepare the delicious desserts for serving.       “My God, it’s so delicious!” Frederick exclaims with enjoyment, eating what’s on his plate with a fork and a spoon, as the others do. “It’s the most tender meat I have ever eaten in my life.”       “If you cook it correctly, you can eat all of this,” Alicia notices cheerfully.       “By the way, I didn’t actually eat meat for several years,” Rebecca confesses. “I didn’t like it at all, and it seemed too tough.”       “Oh, so, were you a vegan?” Letitia specifies.       “I would say so. But one day, Jamie wanted me to cook him steaks and add a lot of spices. There was such an amazing smell in the kitchen that resisting was impossible. So, I tasted one little piece and… Ate a whole piece of a steak at dinner. And my negative opinion suddenly changed.”       “I hope she didn’t make you eat only salads, Mr. MacClife?” Anthony asks funnily.       “No, she didn’t manage to make me a vegan!” Jamie laughs. “I can’t live without meat. I need to eat a couple of pieces of spiced steaks at least once a week.”       “All men love meat,” Frederick notices. “With a crust, a little bit of spices…”       “But I was a vegan against my will,” Terrence confesses, sitting proudly in the center of the table as the head of the home. “Because my mother didn’t have the money to buy a big piece of meat and cook it. And I never caught her loving it back then.”       “But you ate all the cutlets at the school cafeteria when the guys wanted to throw them off,” Edward laughs, sitting on the left of Terrence next to Natalia. “So, you had enough of meat in your life.”       “Those cutlets were pretty good. Though they always were greedy for salt and spices. If they’d added a little more, they would’ve been really amazing.”       “Now I see what you had such big cheeks in all the movies you filmed.”       “As if you didn’t rush to the cafeteria during every break and beg them to give you not one but two cutlets,” Raquelle says funnily, sitting in front of Edward on the right of Terrence.       “Oh, the guys from my school were fed like kings and gods,” Edward smiles happily. “That incredible food was the reason to get up in the early morning and go to study.”       “Oh, yeah, you two love eating something delicious, no less than sorting out your relationship,” Natalia notices shyly.       “All men love this thing, my birdie,” Adriana laughs. “They don’t care about calories, and they do enjoy tasty home food.”       “Oh, while we talk about food, my appetite gets wilder,” Jamie confesses.       “My gosh, don’t rush like this, Mr. MacClife!” Frederick exclaims. “Why would you rush as if someone’s about to take your plate away?”       “But you just look at his sons, folks,” Alicia adds funnily, glancing briefly at Edward and Terrence. “When the food was barely put on the table, these two started to eat it really fast.”       “Not at all!” Edward protests. “I enjoy every little piece! Even under the threat of having the nose of one glutton in my plate.”       “Huh, I ain’t gonna have my nose in your plate!” Terrence chuckles. “Though I’ve gotta notice that food seems thousands of times more delicious on someone’s plate. Especially on the pale of my little brother.”       Everyone in the dining room laughs shyly.       “Don’t worry, everyone!” Raquelle exclaims. “There’s enough food for everyone. If someone wants, they can get more. As much as they want.”       “Thanks, granddaughter,” Frederick thanks with a slight smile. “I will surely ask more because it’s really amazing.”       “My God, I’m so happy that we’ve finally come all together,” Letitia notices with a slight smile.       “Yeah, can’t remember if we’ve ever gone to someone’s home for dinner or at restaurants,” Alicia agrees.       “Since you all got a free evening, why wouldn’t we spend it with your close people?” Natalia shrugs.       “Listen, we need to come together often,” Rebecca says confidently. “We’re almost a family.”       “That’s right!” Anthony exclaims. “A little time before our family grows. Before we all finally become relatives.”       “Yeah, youth, we hope your plans are still up?” Adriana asks. “You rescheduled nothing?”       “No, Mr. Lascano, everything is up,” Terrence smiles slyly. “The wedding day is August 30th. No changes.”       “That’s good everything’s been solved a long time before that day,” Jamie notices. “I’m really glad Helene was found alive and healthy, but that cad Marcus is now in prison.”       “And today, the last accomplice of his has been arrested,” Rebecca says. “Mr. Johnson called in the morning and said Elijah went to the police station and surrendered at his will.”       “Whoa, I didn't know it,” Anthony pronounces surprisingly.       “Me too,” Frederick, Alicia, and Adriana repeat.       “Edward said about it when we met Daniel,” Terrence confesses.       “Blake was with us too, but he went quickly for his business,” Edward adds and rolls his eyes for a second. “Well… That’s what he said. Actually, Connor was jealous of us ‘cause we ate delicious food, but he had to keep a diet after food poisoning.”       “Thank God!” Letitia exclaims happily. “I am really happy everything ended well.”       “Yeah, finally Longbottom is going to pay for everything,” Frederick agrees. “How much pain he gave to everyone. How many innocent people died because of him.”       “And how many people were saved!” Alicia exclaims. “If they hadn’t gotten away from Marcus, there would’ve been many more victims.”       “Knowing he had mentally unstable relatives, I’m not surprised by his behavior,” Adriana confesses. “His mother, his brother…”       “And this is what we know from him personally,” Edward notices. “His whole family could probably be mentally ill.”       “Having a father, who was a really cruel man, it was impossible not to have any illnesses,” Raquelle adds. “He was beating his son, he could raise a hand on his second wife… The first one probably suffered a lot, too. And Marcus’s brother.”       “Oh, it doesn’t make sense to talk about it!” Jamie waves his hand. “Enough, that man has been arrested and is going to hear his sentence soon. And we shouldn’t care about what’s going to happen next.”       “He is supposed to get several life sentences for all the tricks he has done!” Terrence says confidently. “Or actually be executed.”       “Do not doubt, if someone like Mr. Johnson works on any case, all criminals get what they deserve,” Anthony smiles shyly.       “You noticed it right, Mr. Rochester,” Alicia nods. “Absolutely right.”       “But still, the fact that Helene managed to stay alive under such terrible circumstances is a real miracle,” Rebecca notices.       “The miracle is that she was saved by one of the accomplices of the criminal,” Frederick replies. “We didn’t expect this turn of events at all.”       “Helene said she was sure he was different from the others from the beginning,” Natalia confesses. “Yes, Elijah was cold and distanced, but meanwhile, he…Took care of her. He was worried. And he didn’t let himself do what the others did with no shame.”       “I wish she recovered quickly after everything she got through,” Letitia expresses hope with sadness in her eyes.       “By the way, if you need it, I have the number of a very good psychologist who can help Helene come back to a normal life after what those bastards did to her,” Frederick says confidently. “If she wants to visit the one, let me know it.”       “Thank you so much, Mr. Cameron,” Terrence thanks with a slight smile. “We will mean it.”       “But how does the girl feel?” Adriana expresses anxiety.       “She’s kinda fine at first sight,” Raquelle replies. “She came back to her usual business. Today, she went to her workplace to talk to her colleagues. She got some time to rest and can start working next week.”       “And she talks about what happened absolutely quietly,” Edward adds. “No hysterics, no tears. No emotions.”       “I think it’s the consequence of the shock she feels,” Jamie assumes. “And she needs to work on this thing somehow with a psychologist. Just because she’s quiet now doesn’t mean she’s alright. This is the protective reaction of her psyche. Someday, she will fall into hysteria that only the doctors will be able to do something.”       “We told her about it, but she doesn’t want to go to them,” Terrence confesses. “She thinks she can get through it.”       “She needs to visit them one or two times,” Alicia says confidently. “When I was released from the prison and the hospital, I was in shock. I felt nothing, I wanted nothing. But seeing this, Sebastian, my lawyer, who helped me come back to normal life, insisted that I go to the psychologist. He personally found someone for me, made an appointment, and drove me there.”       “And they helped you?” Raquelle asks.       “I can’t say I came to myself shortly and started to live as if nothing happened. But after two or three sessions, I felt much better. Though I came to myself after I got married to Dominick. He was the only one to bring me to life.”       “Helene knows we’ll always be with her,” Edward replies confidently. “She knows we’ll always support her, listen, and do anything she asks about. She won't have to struggle with all of this alone. She’s got us.”       “Anyway, let the girl take her time,” Letitia advises. “She needs to realize and accept everything.”       “And that’s good you’re all with her,” Anthony adds. “When you’re supposed by many people, it’s easier for you to get through all of this.”       “At least, Helene doesn’t deny her problem and doesn’t hide her feelings,” Natalia notices. “She doesn’t withdraw into herself and doesn’t aim to run from us.”       “Yeah, unlike Peter…” Terrence adds thoughtfully, leaning on the palm with his chin. “Who withdrew into himself and went out of his mind because of this.”       “So, is everything bad about him?” Rebecca asks with sadness in her eyes.       “Worse than ever,” Edward confirms.       “By the way, does he know Helene is alive?” Anthony asks. “You told him?”       “The guys told him about it today when they met him at the café,” Raquelle confirms. “He came to them some time later, after Blake left.”       “And how did he react?” Frederick asks.       “He said we were lying,” Terrence replies. “We were mocking him and wanted to hurt him.”       “And he thinks we’re allegedly happy with his grief because we were sitting at the table and laughing before he came,” Edward adds. “Peter was terribly mad because of that and showered us with mud, blaming us for all the sins and saying we were guilty of Helene’s death again.”       “Yeah, in Peter’s opinion, we allegedly killed his girlfriend. We three are allegedly nasty murderers. Who did nothing to help her.”       “Jesus Christ…” Adriana pronounces with horror in her eyes. “It’s awful…”       “The guys were ready to prove that they told him the truth, but Peter wanted to hear nothing,” Raquelle confesses. “He told them many bad things, threatened to kill them if they bothered him again, turned around, and left.”       “And he confirmed that he really saw someone nobody saw,” Natalia adds. “Someone who convinced Peter to put Terrence, Daniel, and Edward in the grave.”       “Does it mean he really suffers from hallucinations?” Letitia concludes.       “It seems like,” Raquelle shrugs.       “Yeah…” Rebecca exhales sharply. “At first sight, he’s such a good, sweet, and kind boy. But this is how it turned out…”       “He just hid it very well,” Edward replies with sadness in his eyes. “And he let us befriend him like a lord, as Rose himself said.”       “And what are you gonna do?” Jamie asks.       “I dunno, Father…” Terrence shakes his head. “But we’re getting closer to ending this game.”       “Do you mean you want to leave the boy?” Alicia rounds his eyes.       “What do we do, Alicia?” Edward throws his hands up. “Peter doesn’t wanna hear us. He doesn’t wanna see us. He thinks Daniel, Terrence, and I are enemies. We’re murderers to him. Those who want to ruin his life.”       “Maybe you should think better?” Adriana suggests. “Yes, I understand that you’re scared to talk to a mentally unstable man. But the boy is not guilty of becoming like this.”       “We understand it all, Grandma,” Natalia replies with sadness in his eyes. “But we have no choice. The case is about fear of his instability. The case is about his reluctance to hear us. His reluctance to hear us. We’re telling him the truth, but Peter thinks it’s a lie. And we can’t give him any proof because he wanna hear nothing.”       “Nevertheless, you cannot leave it all like this,” Letitia says determinedly. “You must do your best to tell Peter the truth. Tell him that Helene is really alive. You must bring her to him.”       “We’d be happy to, Mrs. Rochester, but everything is not so easy,” Edward replies. “Peter even stopped spending nights at home because he is sure that we’re gonna try to catch him there. We went to his home several times, but we never caught that guy.”       “And where does he spend nights?” Rebecca surprises.       “Who the hell knows!” Terrence exclaims. “Maybe he walks somewhere in the city… Maybe he rents a room in a hotel… Maybe he actually goes to bars and drinks a glass or two.”       “He started to drink one hundred percent again!” Edward assumes. “Just like he did after his conflict with Daniel. And Peter looked terrible today. Bruises under his eyes, a real mess on the head, an unshaved face… Puffy and red eyes. He’s become as slim as a sausage…”       “I imagine how many penalties he’s gotten if he drives when he is drunk,” Alicia says thoughtfully. “And if he does it often, I’m surprised that he hasn’t been deprived of his driver’s license.”       “Pray to God that he doesn’t hit someone when he is drunk!” Rebecca exclaims. “In this case, that guy will not get away from it easily. And no money will help him if his victim dies.”       “Trust me, Mother, he is going to get in some trouble for sure,” Terrence replies confidently. “Since he doesn’t get along with his brain and considers the whole world his enemy.”       “If only that guy didn’t take after his father and become Marcus's number two,” Frederick expresses anxiety. “Otherwise, the entire city is going to be restless and afraid to stand in his way.”       “That’s what we’re afraid of,” Natalia replies. “I’d even say, we’re sure it's gonna happen.”       “Yeah, but how do we do this?” Raquelle throws her hands up. “Peter wanna hear and know nothing!”       “There are many ways to lure him to the meeting,” Anthony replies. “If the guy doesn’t want to do what you want at his will, you can do some tricks or even lie a little.”       “We know Helene is our last chance,” Edward replies. “We need to use it currently.”       “Besides, Peter is by far not a stupid guy,” Terrence adds. “He can bite through any plans of ours. Even if we, let’s assume, ask someone he doesn’t know to help us. Rose is gonna realize that we came up with something.”       “Yeah, the blond may be two or three steps ahead of us. I think if he wants to become a killer, he’s gonna do his best for the most experienced investigators not to catch him.”       “But it doesn’t mean you’re stupid and not sly guys,” Rebecca notices. “You, guys, just need to work your brains a little.”       “Sorry, Mom, but we’ve racked our brains so hard, trying to find a way to have Helene close to Peter. She’s tried to catch him at his home, called him, and sent messages several times, but there's been no reaction.”       “Be slyer, then,” Frederick advises. “Since the man doesn’t want, don’t make him. But think about how to make everything happen against his will. So, he’s in a situation where he can do nothing and run nowhere.”       “Yeah, for example, some of your familiars can pretend to be, like, a staff member of a certain organization and say they have a problem they need to talk about face to face,” Alicia suggests. “I don’t know… Tax issues, bank issues, housing, and communal services. You can come up with many things!”       “Or play kidnappers and drive your friend out of the city by force,” Jamie suggests suddenly. “Hit him once, put his body in the car, drive him somewhere, tie him to something, and make a surprise.”       Everyone instantly moves their surprised eyes to Jamie, who acts as if nothing happened.       “Jamie!” Rebecca pronounces surprisingly, clapping Jamie on his hand.       “Mr. MacClife!” Anthony rounds his eyes.       “What?” Jamie smiles innocently. “But it’s gonna work at one hundred percent! The guy wouldn’t run anywhere if he were tied up tightly.”       “What you’re talking about!” Alicia wonders. “How do you dare? Fear God! How could the guys do that to the boy? They aren’t criminals!”       “Agree, Mr. MacClife, your suggestion really surprised us,” Natalia confesses thoughtfully.       “I dunno, I do love Dad’s idea!” Edward smiles slyly. “I really love it.”       “And I love it, too,” Terrence agrees.       “No, Edward, Terrence, don’t even dare!” Adriana orders determinedly. “No kidnapping!”       “It’s for the best, Mrs. Lascano!” Edward exclaims. “Since Rose doesn’t want to be treated well, we will do something crueler. Use the same methods as him.”       “No, boys, don’t listen to your father!” Rebecca demands. “I am banning you from just thinking about it!”       “Mr. MacClife just told us a bad joke,” Frederick adds. “Don’t take his words seriously.       “I didn’t joke!” Jamie protests. “If you do everything right, without noise and rush, you’re gonna reach your goal.”       “You know your sons well,” Alicia meddles. “They can’t sit quietly in the same place.”       “Uh-huh, you just look at how brightly the eyes of these two shine,” Letitia adds. “They definitely came up with something.”       “Especially, Edward’s eyes,” Anthony agrees. “He’d be happy to get into some trouble.”       “And the girls have to worry and get nervous and call the police so they find these fools,” Rebecca adds.       “You don’t understand!” Edward and Terrence pronounce at the same time.       “Hey, what did the older people tell you?” Raquelle asks harshly. “Don’t even dare to do anything like this! Otherwise, you’re gonna stay home!”       “Yeah!” Natalia meddles. “You’re doing tricks, but the girls and I try to save you! We’ve got gray hair because of you!”       “Right, beauties, keep doing this!” Adriana nods in approval. “No more trouble for them!”       “We’ll talk to Daniel about this idea,” Terrence whispers in Edward’s ear.       “Undoubtedly, bro,” Edward smiles slyly.       “Okay, okay, bandits, your dad joked!” Jamie gives up under the pressure, raising his hands in front of himself. “Don’t think about it.”       “Do what you want, but no crimes,” Rebecca demands determinedly. “Otherwise, I will kick your ass hard! You got it?”       “Yes, Mom…” Terrence and Edward sigh tiredly and share a secret, brief, purposeful glance.       “I hope!”       “The best idea is the one that Mrs. Middleton suggested,” Anthony says confidently. “Meeting with an alleged presentiment of a state organization.”       “We can try, but the idea is kind of doubtful,” Raquelle replies thoughtfully. “Peter probably pays all the taxes, is never late with utility bills, and doesn’t have any problems with a bank.”       “There’s an idea of telling him something that’s allegedly connected with his home,” Adriana suggests. “I dunno… Repair, for example… Or general meetings…”       “Or we can talk to your manager team and agree with them on lying to him about some debts for the agency or something like this,” Letitia adds. “By the way, the situation with debts may be a very powerful psychological thing. If you threaten someone to get their property arrested or put them on trial, they’re gonna be scared, do anything you say, and give any money.”       “Good idea, but it doesn’t mean Peter would guess nothing,” Edward replies. “Besides, he doesn’t react to messages and declines calls. It’s impossible to reach him.”       “But you can try!” Frederick exclaims. “If you find someone, find the correct words, and press on him strongly, you can do this.”       “Peter is really too smart and insightful, Grandpa,” Raquelle spreads her hands. “He probably knows all these things well.”       “Anyway, don’t give up, guys,” Adriana says confidently. “The boy must know the truth. Know that his girlfriend is alive.”       “We’re trying hard for this,” Terrence confesses. “To let him meet Helene. And we don’t care about how he wants to behave toward them.”       “Do you mean you want to end your friendship with him anyway: even if you do this or even if you do not do this?” Jamie specifies.       “Most likely,” Natalia nods. “Use the last chance, and then Peter can do anything he wants. We will not be running after him and proving something.”       “Do you understand it’s kinda bad to some extent?” Rebecca specifies.       “We do,” Terrence pronounces. “But we’ve said, we have no choice.”       “We don’t want this, but we can’t spend all the time having our fists bleeding as we hit the same place on the wall,” Edward adds. “We can’t try to get to the one to be blind and dead and obey everything he is told by his imaginary friends.”       “We understand it, guys,” Frederick says quietly. “And we don’t protect Peter, who has done many terrible things. For example, he’s attacked someone with a gun many times. But still, it’s kinda bad to leave a sick guy like this.”       “Agree, the boy’s life has always been bad, but he’s literally betrayed by his friends,” Alicia adds.       “We know, Aunt Alicia,” Raquelle replies with sadness in her eyes. “And it’s hurt to know that we have to do this. But you see everything clearly.”       “Anyway, Peter is guilty of everything,” Natalia adds. “We were always near and wanted to befriend him. We were ready to do anything for him. But he didn’t appreciate it and turned his back on us. He blamed the men for betraying him and called them killers.”       “Yeah, but I’m kind of sorry for the boy anyway,” Adriana sighs heavily. “Maybe he’s not happy to behave like this. Sick people don’t understand what they do and say. What if Peter regrets everything he has done when his mind gets clear, and he calms down.”       “Maybe, but we’re not ready,” Terrence shakes his head. “We’re not ready to take his mood changes and talk with the kind and sweet Peter at first, but say goodbye to the heartless and mean Theodore. We aren’t ready to be forced to protect ourselves if he attacks us with a knife or a gun. If he attacks us several more times like this, he’s gonna kill one of us or us three.”       “Alright, guys, you decide in this case,” Anthony replies quietly. “Peter is your friend, not ours. If you’re really not ready, we will not insist.”       “You’re adults and can take responsibility for your actions,” Jamie adds. “We can only give you a couple of pieces of advice and support you.”       “Since Peter doesn’t wanna talk to us anymore, we can’t force him to,” Edward shrugs. “We’ve already promised that we’ll take the last attempt to help Helene meet him and assure him that we’re right. But if we don’t do this, he can live all alone, knowing nothing.”       “We’re gonna feel sad, of course, but we will get through it somehow,” Raquelle adds thoughtfully.       “But he was supposed to be one of the best men at your wedding,” Alicia recalls.       “It’s gonna be easy to find someone to replace him,” Edward smiles slightly. “Luckily, we were destined to have many friends. We can ask anyone for help.”       “We’re all really sorry about what happened,” Rebecca expresses sympathy.       “It’s okay, don’t worry,” Natalia replies thoughtfully. “The important thing is that you don’t have to do the funeral instead of the wedding.”       “Oh, folks, why did we start talking about bad things?” Frederick wonders. “We finally came together to have dinner and talk as a big family, but we eventually came to what we ran from.”       “Oh, Mr. Cameron, you just said the amazing thing!” Alicia puts her hand on her heart.       “Indeed, ladies and gentlemen, we organized this dinner to relax and forget about our trouble at least for this evening,” Terrence agrees cheerfully. “All of this got us really exhausted.”       “You said it right, sonny!” Jamie nods confidently. “Trouble is trouble, but family is a holy thing.”       “By the way, the guys and I want to thank you a lot again for all your help,” Raquelle thanks with a slight smile. “Thank you for helping us watch Mrs. Marshall and supporting her somehow.”       “We did everything we could do,” Anthony replies amicably. “It would’ve been a sin not to use a chance to help you a little.”       “Yeah, you, guys, have lately been so pale and exhausted that we’re really sorry for you,” Letitia adds. “You’ve had to overcome so much.”       “Especially, the men,” Adriana agrees. “They had a greater responsibility than the girls.”       “You noticed it right,” Edward nods slightly.       “But we weren’t worried less,” Natalia adds. “Even if we felt bad, we did our best to support the men.”       “Good job, guys, we’re all really proud of you,” Rebecca says with her head proudly raised. “We’re proud to know you’re so tough, determined, and mentally strong.”       “Friendship and love do real miracles,” Terrence smiles slyly. “When it seems like you’re about to fall into the abyss or want to scream in despair and pull out your hair, they come to us like certain saviors and take us into their strong hugs. As if they say, ‘Don’t worry, it’s gonna get better, you’ll make it through, you’re strong.’”       “M-m-m, but someone says I love philosophizing,” Edward smiles slyly, clenching the leg of the glass with clean water.       “Likely, someone finally met such a wonderful thing as a hairbrush and put his haystack in order for a grandiose family dinner.”       “By the way, bro, is your crown still sitting tight as you’re sitting in the center of the table?”       “You’re not allowed to, don’t hope! I close my eyes to the fact that you took my jacket two hours ago to show off for your soon-to-be mother-in-law and father-in-law.”       “I just must look good next to my blonde-haired beauty.”       “Edward fixes the collar of the white shirt and the sleeves of the dark blue jacket slightly, which he is wearing now. And then he shares a tender smile with Natalia sitting next to him and notices silently that she looks awesome with her wavy hair gathered open at the top with two strands on the sides and a silver top with sequins and a V-neck.       “And I really like your clothes! They’re all really cool and fit me so well.”       “Well, I wouldn’t say it…” Terrence pronounces thoughtfully, leaning back on the chair.       “Yeah, these two will never stop messing with each other,” Alicia laughs shyly.       “Sometimes their tricks are the only thing that cheers us up,” Raquelle notices, fixing slightly the only sleeve of her light blue silky dress and her hair brushed in a ponytail.       “Not just you, girls,” Adriana replies.       “For such an important event, we all dressed up today,” Jamie notices and looks at everyone. “We, men, are wearing suit pants, shirts, and jackets, but the ladies found beautiful dresses or wonderful shirts in their closets.”       “Since we went to the gorgeous and rich house for dinner, we must not look like homeless people,” Edward says confidently. “Moreover, we’re fed here like at restaurants.”       “Uh-huh, but someone loves eating really, really much,” Natalia laughs, glancing at Terrence and Edward meaningfully.       “You know, sweetie, we all love eating well,” Frederick notices cheerfully. “Even our beautiful ladies, who say they’re happy to live, eating salads only.”       “Not all the ladies here eat only salads, my dear Mr. Cameron,” Rebecca replies. “There are those who eat anything they want and worry about nothing.”       “I don’t even know what kind of power of will a person is supposed to have to be able to resist these delicious things,” Letitia says.       “Don’t try to resist,” Adriana says with a wide smile. “Don’t limit yourself to anything, and don’t ban yourself from everything. We’ve got just one life to live, and life is really short. While God gives you, you need to accept it.”       “Wise words, dear mother-in-law!” Anthony exclaims. “If we live, we must use the moment.”       After laughing together, the owners and the guests of the house keep enjoying the delicious and tender meat that the servants cooked for tonight’s dinner, smiling a lot, talking about everything in the world, and joking kindly at Edward and Terrence. Who do not miss a chance to mess up with each other, even at the table with the pretense of so many people, even if they try not to cross the line and behave much shyer than they do when they are with friends. And before everyone starts eating the dessert, they decide to drink a little bit of champagne, saying several toasts and wishing that all the things they started to do are finished successfully, and that any problems never come into their lives.       

***

      Daniel and Anna are also having dinner with the parents of the girl, Maximilian and Lilian, and the younger sister of the man, Cassidy, who was allowed to leave the clinic for one day to spend it with her close people. Also, George Smith joined their little company, not rejecting the invitation from one of his wards. And while Anna cuts carefully the lasagna she just cooked with an incredible smell that makes everyone drool and have their mouths dry and puts little pieces on the plates, George is having great pleasure in talking to his new familiars, getting along with them quickly enough.       “How long will you have to stay in the clinic?” George asks, addressing Cassidy sitting next to him.       “Nope, the doctor says I need a little before I can come back home,” Cassidy replies shyly. “But sometimes I will need to go there to get a regular examination.”       “Anyway, you did a good job, Cassidy. You wanted to wean yourself from this dependence, you put yourself together, and you got what you wanted.”       “Yeah, I realized that I wasted several years of my life. Though if I’d been smarter, I would’ve lived differently now.”       “Anyway, we can understand you,” Maximilian notices softly, smiling shyly at Cassidy sitting in front of him. “It was hard for you to accept the death of your mother and father, and you thought they’d live a long life, but the reality turned out to be different.”       “I still miss them so much. But sadly, I can do nothing. I’ve gotta move on somehow.”       “At least, you have an amazing older brother who will always be with you,” Lilian notices, sitting next to Maximilian. “Who has made so much effort to cure you.”       “You’re right, my bro is really wonderful,” Cassidy smiles widely. “Mom and Dad would be really proud of what he’s become. They didn’t expect any grandiose success from him because Daniel was a real fool who cared about nothing. But for the years of our separation, he got through a serious transformation.”       “People can actually change, sister,” Daniel replies confidently, sitting on one hand of Lilian and on the other hand of Cassidy. “A thirty-year-old person doesn’t have the brain they had at the age of twenty.”       “I don’t know what you were like when you were twenty, but I’m sure that your parents would be really proud of you if they were alive,” George assumes.       “Trust me, George, if we’d met much earlier, you would’ve hardly agreed to work with me. Because I wanted to get everything at once without making any effort.”       “But love for music was much stronger and got the victory over your laziness,” Cassidy laughs. “And now you’ve become our talented musician who is about to release the album with his own songs.”       “And you, Cassidy?” Lillian asks. “What are you going to do after you finish your therapy? Did you decide who you wanted to become?”       “Anna somehow gave me an idea of becoming a psychologist,” Cassidy recalls thoughtfully.       “Psychologist?”       “Yes. I’m happy to help people get used to it when they end up in the clinic for therapy. I talk to them a lot, try to find out what made them start to take drugs…”       “And you’re good at this?” Maximilian surprises.       “I would say so. Almost everyone who was brought there literally by force changed their mind later and understood that it would be better for them.”       “Wow…”       “Yes, Mr. Seymour, my sister doesn’t feel bored at the clinic and has gotten used to that place,” Daniel laughs. “I think she doesn’t even rush to come back home. Everyone loves her there and considers her a very close person.”       “Danny’s right,” Cassidy confirms. “At first, I thought I’d feel bored there, but it actually turned out to be really funny and interesting. And I have met many friends over all this time. They gave their numbers, but I promised to give them mine after getting my own cell phone.”       “Well, since you get along with people, God Himself told you to help people,” George says confidently. “Your brother can find a college for you or something like this. You’d study for several years and get a job. So, you get experience and build your audience.”       “I think I will do this,” Cassidy shrugs. “Because I don’t have any other ideas for my profession.”       “You said you loved painting and taking photos,” Maximilian recalls. “You can earn money on it, too.”       “Yeah, but I consider it a hobby more.”       “By the way, photographs are always needed everywhere,” Lilian notices. “Weddings, sports games, politics’ meetings…”       “I know, Mrs. Seymour. But I liked your daughter’s idea much more. I thought it was hard for me to talk to people, but it actually gives me pleasure. I’m happy to be able to help someone and give a good piece of advice.”       “I personally appreciated all the pieces of advice you somehow gave me,” Anna confesses with a slight smile, walking around the table and filling clean glasses with orange juice from a jug.”       “I think helping people is my destiny. Yes, I don’t have experience, of course, but it doesn’t stop me from listening to someone and hugging them tightly. Sometimes we don’t need words. Sometimes we just need to press ourselves on someone and cry or scream enough.”       “Anyway, listen to your heart,” George advises with a slight smile. “Do what you like.”       “Thanks, Mr. Smith, I will remember this.”       “Daughter, why are you still walking there?” Lilian wonders. “Sit at the table!”       “Yes, sweetie, we will not start it without you,” Daniel agrees. “Though we want to taste this delicious food so badly.”       “Okay, okay, I’m coming!” Anna exclaims and fills the last glass with juice placed in front of the free place. “The last thing and…”       Anna puts the jug in the center of the table carefully and sits on the free place on one side of Maximilian and the other side of George.       “Finally, the lady of the house has sat down!” Lilian exclaims happily.       “Let’s see how our girl is gonna make us happy with this time,” Maximilian looks forward with a slight smile.       “Bon appetite, everyone!” Anna pronounces shyly. “I hope you all are gonna love my lasagna.”       “My nose twirls, and my stomach grumbles at these smells,” Cassidy states.       Everyone laughs shyly, takes forks and knives, and starts tasting the recently cooked, hot lasagna, cutting little pieces, cooling it slightly, and putting it carefully in the mouth.       “M-m-m, my God, it’s so delicious!” Lilian pronounces with enjoyment.       “I’m delighted!” Maximilian exclaims, closing his eyes from pleasure.       “Even Mom didn’t cook as cool as you do, sis,” Cassidy adds.       “If my wife knew I praised someone’s food, she would kill me,” George confesses funnily.       Everyone laughs all together, and Anna shyly looks down at her plate with a slight blush on her face.       “Our friends eat everything when Anna cooks something,” Daniel says. “And the men actually ask for more all the time.”       “If you’re wondering, there’s much lasagna yet,” Anna adds. “So, if you want more, let me know.”       “Make an appointment for me!” Cassidy exclaims.       “I’ll eat everything that will remain after this dinner,” Daniel states. “Because I am so delighted!”       “Listen, Mr. Seymour, Mrs. Seymour, if it’s not a secret, how did your daughter learn to look so well?” George asks with a sly smile. “You taught her?”       “No, Mr. Smith, we didn’t teach her!” Lilian waves her hand. “Anna cooked something by herself. We had a long cooking book at home with many recipes.”       “Yeah, so, my daughter took it, chose a recipe, and cooked it if we had everything she needed at home,” Maximilian adds.       “And since when has she cooked?” George specifies.       “Since the early age! When she learned to walk, she always went to the kitchen and could spend hours watching Lilian or her grandmothers cook something.”       “But before a certain moment, we didn’t let her come to the cooker,” Lilian confesses. “We were afraid that she’d burn or cut her finger. But we were happy to let her mix something in a bowl. We said something like, ‘Anna, please, add two spoons of sugar, two spoons of flour, and mix them with the eggs that I cracked.’ She had a lot of pleasure to help us and even pursed her lips when we didn’t let her do this.”       “And did she learn to use all the kitchen stuff?” George surprises.       “Oh, when she was like seven, she knew how to use all of them,” Maximilian says. “But when Anna used potentially dangerous gadgets, we watched her for some time. So, she didn’t cut herself with a knife or put her fingers in a meat grinder.”       “Yeah, and then she got a love for cosmetics,” Lilian laughs shyly. “My daughter started to take her mother’s cosmetics all the time. Lipstick, eyeshadows, mascara… And how much she loved all my creams, oh! But she used cosmetics at home only. We didn’t let her get out with makeup for the time being. Anna persuaded us to let her do this in high school. Like, all girls did makeup, but she was the only one to be like a white sheep.”       “Yeah, her grandparents minded it categorically. But our daughter is stubborn and determined. She was never afraid to go against us. Especially at her teenage age.”       “Anyway, you raised a wonderful girl,” George says with his head proudly raised. “I take off my hat for you, folks, because you worked really hard.”       “I knew who I chose,” Daniel smiles slyly.       “Oh, you must’ve seen Danny’s exes, who hurt my eyes so badly!” Cassidy exclaims. “I always asked myself, ‘Hey, bro, did ya lose your eyes, huh?’”       “You know, sweetie, some of Anna’s friends surprised us, too,” Lilian confesses. “At least, they weren’t those we wanted to see next to her at first sight.”       “You just should’ve known them closer,” Anna replies. “You’ve seen clearly that even if I talk to someone, I like them for the reason.”       “We know, sunshine, we do,” Maximilian replies softly.       “You can have no doubt about Daniel, beauty,” George says confidently. “The guy is a gem!”       “Oh, we so agree with you!” Lilian puts her hand on her heart. “Max and I couldn’t imagine a better boyfriend for our Anna.”       “If his parents were alive, we’d be happy to thank them for raising such a wonderful son,” Maximilian adds.       “By the way, Daniel, you promised us to show their graves, but you haven’t done this.”       “I remember, Mrs. Seymour,” Daniel smiles shyly. “And I will drive you there whenever you want.”       “But if you want, I can do this,” Anna says. “Daniel showed me where they were a long time ago.”       “And he’s got photos of Mom and Dad,” Cassidy adds. “You can view them and see how beautiful they were.”       “We will obviously buy some flowers when we go to see their graves,” Lilian promises.       “I will drive you there,” Daniel nods. “So, I can feel quiet. Knowing Anna is really nervous when she’s at the cemetery.”       “Are you still afraid, daughter?” Maximilian asks with anxiety.       “Yeah, I shake…” Anna confesses hesitantly. “And I panic… That’s why I prefer not to stay here for too long.”       “Don’t worry, Anna, I also feel tense when I walk by graves,” Cassidy waves her hand. “And when I view photos of people, knowing that they’re dead.”       “Glad you understand me.”       “I remember we somehow buried a relative of ours and took Anna with us,” Lilian recalls. “Maximilian and I didn’t want it, but our parents told us to shut up and do what they said. So, when that person was buried, our daughter suddenly felt worse and lost consciousness.”       “Yeah, we tried to wake her up for a long time,” Maximilian confesses. “Lilian and I were scared to death. And our parents were really horrified. Thank God, everything ended well. But after that case, we never took Anna with us to funerals if some of our close people died.”       “Anna told me about that case,” Daniel confirms, remembering his girlfriend’s plea not to tell what had happened before that day. “She thought about it when we talked about having to go to Helene’s funeral. Thinking she was dead.”       “My knees were shaking when I thought I’d have to do this,” Anna confesses hesitantly. “I had a lump in my throat.”       “But luckily, you don’t have to go to her funeral!” Cassidy notices happily.       “Yeah, I’m so happy that girl was found alive and healthy,” George smiles shyly. “Now the men will stop blaming themselves for her death, the girls will be happy, and her grandmother will get better.”       “You’re right, Mr. Smith,” Anna replies. “We’re madly happy everything ended so well.”       “Too bad she couldn’t join us,” Daniel adds with sadness in her eyes. “She decided to spend this evening with her grandmother. And the doggy missed her a lot.”       “Oh, let the girl spend time with her grandmother,” Lilian says confidently. “The poor woman couldn’t calm down and didn’t literally want to live when she thought Helene was dead.”       “I’m still shocked by this story,” Cassidy confesses. “She’s such a good girl, but she suffered so much.”       “And it’s amazing that she got help from the one, from whom she hardly expected it less than anyone,” George adds.       “Yeah, this is the first time I hear a criminal pitying their victim at the last moment.”       “Yeah, the man did a good thing, of course, praise and applaud,” Daniel replies thoughtfully. “But it will hardly help Elijah avoid the punishment.”       “He can expect a reduced sentence due to some events in the best case,” Maximilian says. “For example, the voluntary surrender to the police, Helene’s salvation, a story about some crimes Marcus committed… The cooperation with the police.”       “The important thing is that Marcus isn’t released,” Anna notices. “Or he will continue to do evil tricks and won’t calm down until he gets what he wants.”       “Oh, yeah, having so many crimes committed, he is obviously going to get a life sentence,” George says confidently. “Or he will actually be executed.”       “It would be fair,” Cassidy throws gloomily. “He’s harmed so many people! And how many people stayed alive magically!”       “Don’t worry, people, Mr. Johnson will take care of this,” Daniel assures. “Marcus Longbottom will no longer avoid the punishment for his tricks.”       “I wish, Daniel, I wish!” Maximilian exclaims.       “Hey, what about Peter?” George asks. “Does he know already that Helene is alright?”       “The guys and I told him about it today when we met him,” Daniel replies with sadness in his eyes. “But he didn’t believe us and showered us with another piece of mud for nothing.”       “My God…”       “Peter didn’t believe us and kept insisting that Edward, Terrence, and I killed his girlfriend. And he’s really acting like a man with mental illness that got much worse after Helene’s alleged death.”       “And what does it mean?” Lilian asks hesitantly. “Peter will… No longer talk to you?”       “Most likely.”       “Too bad!” Cassidy sighs heavily. “Peter seemed such a cool guy to me.”       “Yeah, a cool guy, who is behaving non-adequately. Who seems to have some hallucinations and shows up like a two-person version. A good man with whom you can talk about something. And a nasty bastard, who made the whole world guilty of his problems and swore to take revenge for the pain he had suffered throughout his life.”       “Hard case…” Maximilian notices thoughtfully. “A good psychologist and therapy at the clinic are the only things that can help.”       “It won’t work, Mr. Seymour. Peter rejects categorically any kind of help and believes truly that he’s absolutely healthy. Not sick, not out of his mind.”       “Do you understand well that you should solve this problem as soon as possible?” George asks carefully. “Your band is going to start an active work due to the album release.”       “There will probably be one way to solve it, George: we will keep working without Peter. As a trio: Terrence, Edward, and me. Well, or we will find someone to replace Rose.”       “Does it mean you want to kick Peter out?”       “We will not have to. He will want to leave. He will not want to work with those who allegedly betrayed him. Those whom that man almost killed on the day Marcus was arrested. And he’s tried to kill me more than one time.”       “What do you mean he tried to kill you more than one time?” Maximilian opens his eyes widely.       “You remember me telling you about my conflict with him? So, you don’t know everything about it! We didn’t just fight and fight over all my jokes. Peter tried to stab me with a knife and cut my hand in the end.”       “Jesus Christ…” Lilian closes her mouth with a hand, getting sharply pale from horror.       “What are you talking about, bro?” Cassidy wonders in a shaking voice with half-wet eyes.       “I know I should’ve told you everything before, but I…” Daniel says hesitantly. “I decided to be silent. Moreover, everyone blamed me for Rose’s problems. So, if I’d told that, I would’ve made my situation much worse. Nobody would’ve believed me. And Peter wouldn’t have confirmed my words. Just like today. He started to deny everything when I talked about it.”       “I can confirm it,” Anna adds quietly. “I didn’t know about Peter’s act, but I saw Daniel’s hand was bandaged. And he didn’t tell me what happened to it. Though I had a bad presentiment about it.”       “It’s awful…” Maximilian shakes his head, barely swallows the piece of lasagna, and puts his fork and knife on the plate. “Awful! I don’t know what to say!”       “Yeah, I didn’t think that guy would go so far…” George horrifies. “But he seemed so decent and good to me… It’s amazing how suddenly the man has changed in just several months.”       “As you’ve probably understood, he had waves of aggression before,” Daniel says thoughtfully. “But Peter is the sweetest and the prettiest in a quiet time. A wise and caring man who can help with a piece of good advice, nice words, and a strong hug.”       “Does it mean that guy is still not okay?” Lilian concludes. “Does it mean he’s got some unsolved problems that don’t let him live a normal life?”       “He really has problems. There’s something that happened in his childhood and gave Peter a serious trauma. Such a strong one that he preferred to forget everything, and he doesn’t want to come back to this.”       “Hm, a psychological trauma that impacted his whole life negatively..." George says thoughtfully, stroking his chin.       “We got this thought thanks to Mr. Johnson, who started to investigate Marcus’s case. He somehow assumed that the blocked memories could be the reason for his problems. But until Peter wants, we will not know what’s wrong.”       “And he doesn’t want, as I see?” Cassidy specifies.       “He doesn’t. But he somehow confessed that he was kind of missing something. And all his memories start with his teenage years. I mean, he doesn’t kind of have any memories of his childhood at all!”       “So, don’t you have any assumptions about what it could be connected with?”       “Probably, the problem is about a man,” Anna replies thoughtfully. “Peter confessed that he feared men much more than girls, even if he didn’t trust them, either. But in this case, we know that the problem is about the girl whom he was in love with, but who humiliated him before everyone’s eyes.”       “Wow… It’s like a man tried to kill him in childhood, but he barely got out. And he was so little that he was scared of the criminal and the gun in case that man had it.”       “Hm, interesting version, sis,” Daniel frowns slightly, leaning back in the chair. “An adult would be shocked, but if someone tries to scare or kill a child…”       “But who needed it?” George wonders. “Who wanted to kill the child?”       “Marcus probably has to do with it,” Anna assumes. “Who met Peter somewhere and tried to kill him.”       “Maybe. But could that man know that it was his own son?”       “I don’t think so. Marcus said he learned about Peter from Cornelia, the woman who raised him and thanks to the band that started to gain popularity. Then he understood that Peter Rose was actually Theodore Longbottom.”       “Right,” Daniel nods. “It could be just a hunt of Marcus on people. We do know that he killed people of any age, any race, and any nationality. He didn’t pity children and adults. So, Peter could stand in his way and… Be scared to death.”       “What if it was something more serious? Helene ran into Marcus when she was a child. But she clearly remembers that, even if she was scared too.”       “Oh, yeah, do you wanna say that a sick man decided to take pants off for the child and show him his genitals?” Cassidy wonders.       “Cassidy!” Daniel pulls down sharply.       “What? I just assumed!”       “But knowing that Peter lived in a disadvantaged neighborhood, I could expect anything, even something like this,” George assumes, rubbing his hands. “Alcoholics, drug addicts, and other bad people hang out there all the time.”       “Ugh, it sounds creepy!” Maximilian winces slightly.       “Anyway, you shouldn't be worried about it,” Daniel says quietly. “As for Peter, the men and I will solve it by ourselves. I don’t know who, but we will come up with something.”       “I think it’s more important to let him know that you didn’t lie to him,” Lilian says thoughtfully. “Helene is alive and healthy. So that Peter stops running after you and blaming you for agreeing against him with the whole world.”       “Helene is our last hope. If she isn’t able to change anything, then… We will give up then.”       “Do you think you can’t do this?” George asks with sadness in his eyes.       “Anything’s possible, George. It might happen that nothing will help Peter. Maybe everything has gone too far, but his illness is going to progress, making Rose a danger to everyone.”       “And are you really gonna give up so easily?” Cassidy wonders. “Are you gonna leave the sick man on his own?”       “Nobody wants it! But we can’t help the one who rejects help. If you hadn’t agreed to wean yourself away from a drug dependence at your will, I would’ve been able to do nothing. All my effort and money would’ve been wasted.”       “I get it, but… It’s kinda bad to leave the man. Even if he’s sick. Peter is a friend of the guys and you. He’s always been by your side during hard times.”       “We have no choice, Cassidy. We will try to do something for the last time, but we will give up if we fail.”       “But that’s wrong, Daniel! You can’t leave him like this! Especially, you! Peter has been your friend for many years and means a lot to you.”       “Do you think I like this situation? No, vice versa! It’s like cats scratch my soul because I almost lost a close person. Because my best friend forgot everything we’d come through and started to blame me openly for what I didn’t do. Yes, I’ve never been such a perfect friend, I don’t deny it. But still…”       Daniel exhales sharply.       “And I’m gonna be honest, I’m still anxious because of his attempt to kill me. I didn’t expect anything like this from him at all. I honestly tried to forget everything, but I can’t. Though I don’t also wanna attack him with charges. I understand I’m guilty to some extent. I got the man tired of it. I did it.”       “I get it, bro,” Cassidy pronounces softly, stroking Daniel’s forearm.       “If Peter is really able to harm and kill a person, you should really keep yourself far from him,” Maximilian says thoughtfully. “At least, until he agrees to get therapy.”       “My God, we’re getting close to the new wave of mass murders!” Lilian horrifies. “Peter may repeat the fate of his father and take revenge on everyone who has ever hurt him. He may think that murdering is the best decision.”       “We will break any relationship with him for our own safety,” Daniel says with sadness. “IT’s madly hurt, but if we don’t take any measures, Peter will kill the men and me and deal with our girls.”       “Yeah, here’s what some scums did to the poor boy…” George throws gloomily. “He’s kept all of this inside for ages, and you see what it led to.”       “The case is not only about it. The case is about the genes. Almost everyone from Peter’s family had some mental issues, starting with a congenital depression and ending with schizophrenia.”       “Anyway, you will decide on it, guys. I will accept anything and help you solve the consequences of all of that.”       “I’m really sorry about what happened.”       “It’s not your fault, Daniel. Not Edward’s fault, not Terrence’s fault. Even Peter is not guilty.”       “Nevertheless, this world really did a cruel thing to him to some extent,” Cassidy notices. “Peter did nothing to the one, but it rejects him again and again.”       “Peter is not holy, we can’t deny it,” Anna sighs heavily. “I would even say, he outdid all of us.”       “However…” Daniel throws gloomily. “The guys and I acted like psyches somehow, but we recognized our mistakes and regretted them. I personally still regret the way I acted when I had amnesia. I still wanna be swallowed by the ground…”       “We will not judge Peter or support him,” Lilian promises. “We don’t befriend him, but you do, guys. Do what you think is right. If you’re sure you can keep talking to him, it’s all up to you. If you can’t, we will support you anyway.”       “Thank you so much, Mrs. Seymour.”       “If you’re destined, you’ll keep working as a trio,” George says quietly. “If you want it, we will officially announce that your band becomes a trio. In the opposite case, we will find someone to replace Peter. We will host a casting, listen to everyone, look at them… But you will decide who you like more.”       “Of course, it’s gonna be different, but if it happens like this, we will have to adapt somehow.”       “We often have to do what we don’t want to.”       “I know.”       “Alright, folks, let’s not talk about bad things,” Maximilian suggests cheerfully. “Of course, the situation is hard, but even in this case, you need to believe that it’s going to be alright.”       “I think Peter will wish to fix everything someday if he understands you mean a lot to him,” Lilian adds. “Will decide to talk to you about everything, apologize truly, and ask for professional help.”       “There’s a little hope for this turn of events in case we successfully arrange the meeting of Peter and Helene. But we will have to try hard to lure him to the place we need without arousing any suspicions. To catch that man who doesn’t even spend nights at home, so we don’t catch him there.”       “I hope you can do this,” George expresses hope with a slight smile. “Let’s be ready for the worst but hope for the best.”       “We will.”       Silence settles in the air for some time, during which everyone eats a little piece of lasagna and drinks some juice to water the throat.       “Alright, Dad’s right, let’s not talk about bad things,” Anna exhales sharply. We didn’t come together for this dinner to talk about it. Let’s get rid of all the bad things at least for a while and just spend time like close people.”       “Yeah, let’s really change the topic,” Daniel suggests thoughtfully. “It all got me really exhausted… First, the problems with Helene, but now the problems with Peter. I am so sick of all of this…”       “Oh, we’ve been too busy with work, too…” Maximilian sighs heavily. “One of our partners let us down, and now we have to fix the situation urgently.”       “Yeah, we’ve lost so much money because of those people,” Lilian agrees. “Too bad they don’t appreciate our time and strength and don’t think they should follow all the conditions from the contract.”       “By the way, you said you owned your own restaurant,” George recalls thoughtfully.       “Yeah, with five stars of Micheline,” Lilian confirms. “We opened it when we were married. But we continued to run it even after our divorce.”       “And we almost shut it down because of the tricks of one revengeful and jealous scum, who pitted all the impossible instantons on us,” Maximilian adds. “And some staff members literally framed us by not doing their duty well.”       “But what is the name of it, could you tell me?” George specifies.       “Platinum Palace.”       “Oh, my wife and I have been there several times! And the last time, we were served by a very sweet girl, who answered all our questions gently.”       “Thanks, Mr. Smith,” Maximilian replies with a slight smile. “We’re really happy to hear it.”       “And your chef cooked such a wonderful fish that we couldn’t hold ourselves down from thanking him personally.”       “We got it,” Lilian nods. “That cooker is our expensive diamond. Maximilian and I were honored by him when he decided to leave the restaurant of our greatest rival and work with us.”       “We will come back to you when we have some free time. We will try to persuade our daughter to go with us and introduce her to the haute cuisine.”       “Come back, of course! Our chefs would be happy to cook the best dishes for you.”       “By the way, you could think about giving a job to Anna,” George suggests. “She cooks amazingly and could build a brilliant career as a chef.”       “If our daughter wants, Lilian and I will think about it with pleasure,” Maximilian promises.       “She has too much to do,” Cassidy laughs. “Anna has one glutton, who can’t cook at all. The last time he ate good home food was when our mom was alive.”       “And Anna is gonna teach you this skill,” Daniel replies. “She will show you everything and tell you so you can repeat after her.”       “Uh-huh, so, you don’t get through the double door?”       “I actually do sports.”       “Oh, yeah, I believe you.”       “I’ll later show you the tough muscles on my arms. So, you can see them and get overwhelmed.”       “I doubt you can surprise me.”       “You can’t even imagine how wrong you are.”       “Anyway, I don’t doubt that Daniel is gonna be in the trustworthy hands of such a wonderful girl,” George says confidently. “Your girl is very economical, caring… Look at how clean it is in the house! And how she cooks! Finger-licking good!”       “It’s her choice that Lilian and I respect,” Maximilian replies. “Anna chose a man personally and is ready to take care of him.”       “The only wish of ours is to watch them get married,” Lilian confesses. “We don’t mind them just living together, but we would like them to become a husband and a wife. So, their children are born in the marriage.”       “Don’t worry, Mrs. Seymour!” Cassidy smiles slyly. “One beautiful day, they will surely make you happy with some wonderful news. And Anna is gonna show her gorgeous ring with a diamond to all her friends and call herself a fiancée proudly.”       “We have two weddings coming soon already,” George notices cheerfully. “Let’s celebrate them first and then think about the others.”       “I wish we got some good news very soon,” Maximilian expresses hope. “I dream of seeing Anna in a beautiful wedding dress and bringing her to the altar.”       “And I can’t wait to call your daughter my sister-in-law!” Cassidy confesses happily. “Can’t wait to call her a relative of the family of Dan and me.”       “And we can’t wait to call you and your brother the members of our family,” Lilian replies softly.       While Lilian, Maximilian, Cassidy, and George share slight smiles, Daniel and Anna look at each other. The girl glances down at her plate shyly with little blushed cheeks and wipes her mouth carefully with a handkerchief. The man looks aside and thinks about something, just realizing that he has not received any calls related to the work on the engagement ring. But since he does everything secretly from everyone, Perkins does not show it at all and decides to solve this thing at a much better moment when nobody is around. Cassidy, the only one to be well aware of her brother’s plan, keeps silent too, throwing a meaningful look at Daniel at some moment. Even though the girl is literally dying of the wish to tell everyone that they can really expect the news about the engagement that they have been waiting for, literally since the day the lovers pronounced themselves a couple and decided to live together.