Chris looks up at the sky as he puts on his green parka. The sun is setting but it’s slowly being covered up by the incoming rain clouds. He looks down to meet eyes with Marina. She signs, “Thank you, I'll finally be free.”

“No problem,” Chris signs back. He watches Marina open the taxi door but stops her from entering by saying, “Are you actually a mute or do you just refuse to talk?

Marina smiles and looks back. “What do you think?” She signs.

Chris gets it and lets her go. Marina leaves Darkwood, she leaves Seattle. Chris knows she’ll never break free from her chain but at least she can extend them. She looks back one last time and wonders if everything will be okay.

Chris knows it won’t. For far too long he’s been inactive. See the problem with being an observer is that sometimes there are things that Chris could have stopped but never did. He thinks back at the moment where he could have changed the world. Chris was outside with me when I pulled out my bag where I held the gun. He watched me pull it out and admire it. I looked at him expecting him to say something but never did.

Chris could have stopped me, he wanted to but felt that it wasn’t his business. It’s the one thing that keeps him up at night. It’s why he’s helping out Marina. He should take action than taking no action.

But life isn't black and white like that. Even if Chris took action here, he had no idea it was the wrong one to take. Chris looks over the shining and blinking lights of the distance. Emily and Cody invited him over to hang out at the state fair and that’s where he starts to walk over.

-

Lyle finishes a call from one of his men. Acid and half his crew have been arrested. He has his men in prison and has enough money to keep everyone quiet. They’ll all pin everything on Sessions, wherever she is. So Lyle isn’t worried. It’ll take a few years to get everything up and running again, but his operation will run.

Even if he has to leave town.

He’s been trying to find Chris but can’t find where the kid is. Chris was the last person to see Sessions, so Lyle will torture him until he gives her up. Then he’ll kill him. That was Session’s job, just another loose end needed to be tied up. He thinks about the possibility of Sessions doing her job but quickly realizes that’s not possible. Chris is smart enough to be able to do whatever he wants, even to make someone disappear.

He checks the forest, then his house. No one’s home. Lyle checks everywhere were Elizabeth told him where they hung out. The only other place is fair. He thinks if it would be a good idea to be exposed in public. No, he’ll manage. Lyle always does.

Lyle gets in his black SUV and starts to drive towards the fair.

-

Grace enters the empty bedroom of the house party she’s at. She sits next to her friend Liz on the bed. The two girls that invited them, Ren and Ayana pull out a baggie containing white powder. Grace already knows what it is, Liz doesn’t. “What are we doing here?” Grace asks, “We should be drinking downstairs.

“Not tonight,” Ren smirks. “We finally got that Andrew kid to sell us an eight ball. We’re all going to get turnt.”

“I’m down,” Liz says but only because she wants to seem cool. See Ren and Ayana are the popular girls in their class. Liz wants nothing more but to be in.

I remember when girls tried to be my friends by doing things like this.

Grace just says, “Okay.” She’s already done ecstasy, she loved it. She’s been drugged by Chris, that was fun too until it was not. She smokes weed with her friends, but they all shield her from the snow-white. She’s never even been offered.

Of course, she’s seen Andrew do it. She’s seen Sara do it. They’re pros at it and even though Grace has never done it, she knows what to do when it’s her turn. Everyone else is using just their nose and small lines that aren’t strong. Grace preps the proper amount, the type Sara does and pulls out a dollar and wraps it into a tube. She uses that to do her line.

Everyone in the room is impressed.

“What, that’s like, so smooth. Have you done this before, it’s our first time, actually,” Ren comments.

Grace looks up and smirks.

-

“Cody, I have to tell you something,” Emily says while the two are getting snacks from the town’s fair. Cody looks at her with the same eyes he always looked at me with. They’re calm and caring; protective. He doesn’t say anything and just let her talk. “I have a boyfriend,” she says, weakly.

“That’s okay,” he shrugs. “What’s his name?”

Emily’s in disbelief. She’s nervous or scared but those feelings don't matter because they’re both equally as bad. “Soran. I really, really, like him.”

Despite looking like he doesn’t care, Cody is troubled. He realizes that this is what’s been troubling Emily two days ago. “You said that about the other dudes you dated before.”

“No, this is different,” her voice shakes.

They move out of the way of a couple of kids running through them. Cody takes a quick look around and wonders if the lights were always so bright. Everything is getting louder to him. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying-” Emily pauses. She almost stutters and can’t bring the words to say it. “I can’t marry you in three years. I don’t want you to come to New York so we can be together.”

Cody feels a ball of anger building inside of him. The kind of anger he gets when he loses control and starts to destroy everything around him. “Are-are you serious?”

“Yeah,” she whimpers.

“Well, what the fuck?” Cody’s eyes change. Emily notices and takes a step back. “Then what the fuck is this bullshit, acting like we’re still best friends while you’re back in town?”

“You are! You’re just-not what I want. It’s a promise we made as kids. What if you met some girl and started to fall in love, you would do the same thing.”

But Cody doesn’t. He tried, the only one who ever came close was me, but well, I’m dead. “So what the fuck are we doing going on rides in this stupid ass fair, together?!”

“Because we’re friends! We always were, always will be!”

“No! Fuck that! It’s always been you, Ems! You don’t get to go to New York and forget everything about us!”

“You. Don’t. Own. Me!” Emily speaks up.

Cody’s arms go limp. He can feel his eyes start to swell.

-

Sara wraps herself around her brother. They’re in the living room finishing a movie starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Sara doesn’t recognize the movie, but Andrew does. It’s been so long since he’s seen one. It’s peaceful for him. Sara is just glad Andrew has come to his senses and chose to stay. Things couldn’t get better for her. Her mind is finally at ease.

She breathes out.

Andrew’s phone buzzes and he checks it. “Who’s that?” Sara asks, unable to see the name.

“No one,” Andrew chuckles at the joke Jerrica sent him.

When the movie ends, it’s a little past nine. Andrew knows that he’ll have to sleep on the couch for tonight so he doesn’t want the night to end. He wants to see Jerrica, maybe take her to the fair, but she’s out with her Dad in the city.

Sara lets go of her brother to stretch, “Man, I’m bored.”

“Want to go to the fair?”

“It’s gonna close.”

“At midnight, fireworks aren’t until 10. C’mon, it’ll be dope.”

Sara smiles, “Fine, let's go.”

At the fair, Andrew uses his money to buy Sara whatever she wants. She mostly uses it to play games so she could win something. Sara fails miserably and even Andrew takes a few tries. It takes him fifty dollars just so they could win a stuffed bear. It doesn’t matter though, Sara’s smiles make it worth it for Andrew.

“C’mon, come on this ride with me!” Sara complains. Andrew doesn’t want to. He gets sick during amusement rides, but he won’t tell Sara that. “It looks sick, I always wanted to go.”

Andrew looks at the pendulum ride, “Uh, no. I’ll watch though.”

“Oh, you baby,” she laughs. “Fine, more fun for me.”

Andrew watches her get on along with everyone else in line. In his peripheral vision, he catches someone he knows. He turns his head to see who it is, but they’re walking towards the parking lot. Andrew looks back at the ride that’s about to start. He decides to go see who it is first.