It was already after three am when lack of any evidence against the two of them, other than witness statements, strange as they were, forced the police to remand Sky and Star back into their parents’ custody. None of the four said much of anything on the trip from the station to the school to allow Sky to reclaim the car they had left in the lot before the more than tragic school trip that day.

Brie and Connor grudgingly let Star ride home with Sky, as neither of them knew what to say to their children just then anyway. Once Sky sighed heavily as he started the car and pulled it toward the lot entrance, he had to speak up as he looked across the seat at Star, “erased memories all around then? That what we’re thinking?”

Star just scoffed and sniffled slightly, “where would we even begin?”

Another sigh from Sky as he waited at the red light where no cars were even passing by at that hour on a Monday night/Tuesday morning anyway, “we could try making Alana forget what Curt even did to her. That would be a good deed, right?” he stated, voice breaking.

“And then he’d never be punished for finally getting caught being the rapist prick he is” Star whispered softly.

“He still might not. How often does the rapist actually pay for the crime, really? And it’s not like the cops are thinking of us as much as reliable witnesses, than as suspects for some other really unexplainable shit” Sky added in the same sad tone as the light turned green, though he failed to even pull out of the lot as he just continued staring blankly at the light.

Finally forcing himself to pull out onto the street again, there were several more moments of that silent car ride before Star spoke again, “and how guilty should we be feeling right now?”

Sky shook his head again, as he tried to keep his concentration on the road, hard as that was, “for which thing exactly?”

“Cops said Alana was in the shack cause Curt threatened her again that day and she didn’t wanna risk being cornered by him. Then we came in cause we just couldn’t wait to fuck each other, and scared her back out of her hiding place. Then Curt definitely found her” Star sniffled again.

“And we didn’t even know she was in there at first, and why she was” Sky attempted that weak defense as they slowly made the turn that led to the streets of their home neighborhood.

“We should’ve known that was why she was in there. But we didn’t even think about it, or even ask. We just stayed there and kept fucking... while she was getting raped, barely thirty feet away” Star bit back another sob, more than aware of how easily that could have been her or Sky getting assaulted by Curt in that way, if only they hadn’t rescued each other in time, as they had failed to do with Alana.

“Again, I think we need to figure out how to erase our own memories, too” Sky whispered as they turned onto their street.

“Aren’t we already missing enough of those?” Star scoffed sadly as they saw their parents pulling into the garage just at the end of the street now.

“And how are we even gonna deal with them,” he nodded toward the house ahead of them, “and the cops, and Curt, and Cassie, and, whoever the fuck else is now gonna come outta the woodwork and probably wanna lock us up in some lab again?” Sky asked desperately as they neared the driveway.

“Guess we were right to be terrified this morning after all” Star sniffled again as they pulled the car into the garage, both cringing at the sound of that garage door closing loudly behind them.

When the two of them did make their feet carry them into the house, their equally exhausted looking parents were sliding off their shoes with expressions just as somber as their children. Brie sighed a bit as she looked up at them as they stepped through the door from the garage, “your father and I are gonna head to bed. School’s canceled tomorrow, and we’ll both probably end up taking the day off; considering, I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from the cops tomorrow, err today” she shook her head again, “you two should probably at least try to get some sleep too. We have a lot to discuss, but doing it on no sleep is not gonna help anyone” she sighed as Connor nodded his head in agreement, and both disappeared to their own bedroom.

With their own near hopeless sighs, the two slumped down onto the couch once more, both trying to keep themselves as composed as possible, despite the million fears in their brains about what the following day would bring. They looked back at each other once more, the tears obviously struggling to stay behind their dark eyes. They then just curled into each other’s arms, awaiting what fate this new world had in store, and hoping upon hope that it wouldn’t truly be as bleak as the one they had already suffered in their old world; and still suffered from internally, nearly every second.

Eventually the two did give into exhaustion and fell asleep curled into the corner of the couch together in one another’s arms sometime before sunrise. It was only a little past nine when their parents gave up on their own restless slumber and came back to the living room to sigh at the two of them wrapped up together, thankfully still clothed, though having still fallen asleep wrapped in each other’s arms to try to comfort one another. Brie and Connor looked from their children to each other, and allowed another soft sigh before Brie silently moved to drape a cover over the two now lovers who she had raised since they were each only babies.

Another silent look back at Connor to gesture for him to follow her into the kitchen and let the two sleep for whatever time they had before that next dreaded visit from the police was sure to come. Once in the kitchen, the two remained silent as they got themselves cups of coffee and took a few silent sips at stools near the counter island that separated the kitchen and dining room.

Connor spoke in a low whisper at last, “they tried to save that girl from being raped. This is a good thing, right?”

Brie took a breath and stirred her coffee once more, “but psychic abilities?” she just shook her head, “and the implication that the two of them used these supposed abilities to hurt, no, to very nearly kill that girl, all those years ago? I mean how are we supposed to deal with any of that accusation at all?”

“They’re cops, Brie. Not the most trustworthy souls on the planet, ironically enough” Connor scoffed, “plus that Cassie girl was drunk. That’s been the story for three years. These cops, they’re just grasping at straws at this point, trying to explain how the kids in eyeliner got one over on the good ol’ boy football player they probably all worship on the weekends.”

“But how did they? I mean, I love them, but I wouldn’t bet on either of our kids in any kind of actual real physical confrontation, honestly” Brie admitted in the same sad whisper. “And the cops did say the kids never touched this rapist asshole, didn’t they?”

“Which is the one thing we should be extremely thankful for” Connor reminded her, “if they had, chances are they’d be in cells right now instead of curled up on the couch.”

“But honestly, how did they stop him?” Brie just shook her head and stirred her coffee again, as though hoping the answer would appear there in the cup.

“I wasn’t there Brie. Only our kids, the prick, and the traumatized girl he was doing that to actually know” Connor replied with another sigh and another distracted sip of his own coffee.

Brie sighed once more as she took another sip, her eyes now staring blankly through the patio doors toward the pool then instead, “and are we really not gonna mention the other part of the story?”

“Which other part?” Connor asked with another deep breath.

“That they probably could have prevented the rape from even happening, if they hadn’t been busy having sex with each other, in a shack, in a public place, surrounded by hundreds of other people that could have caught them in there together at any moment” Brie answered with another shake of her head.

“Yeah well considering exactly how well our kids deal with guilt, I don’t think that we should bring that up in front of either of them right now” Connor stated under his breath.

“Too late” Sky interrupted from the doorway, as he looked down, biting back more emotions as he silently moved past his parents to retrieve two cans of soda from the refrigerator, and head back to the living room, once more not able to look either of them in the eye again.

Surprisingly, the four people who made up their little family unit did manage to get through most of the day without hearing anything else from the police; at least not yet, anyway. Brie and Connor each sat in one of the recliners that sat at either end of the couch, while Sky and Star were now curled up at opposite ends of the couch. None of them had much in the way of energy to even converse right then as they each looked between the TV or their phones in silence.

It was between noon and one when Star’s text message alert went off, causing all of them to startle slightly at the sound. Star swallowed as she looked down at the message. It was from Crista, and it read “cops were here all day talking to my sister about the two of you. What’s going on?” Star swallowed slightly as she forwarded the message to Sky, who sighed just as unhappily.

“Care to share?” Brie asked, obviously more than a little concerned about anything that pertained to the two of them in any way whatsoever at this point.

Star took another small breath, “Crista wants us to come over” she stated, which just caused Sky to narrow his eyes at what was not exactly an inference one could get from that particular message.

“Do you really think that’s wise?” Brie returned with a shake of her head.

“Well, we’ve already sat around here all day. If the cops wanna find us, I’m sure they can” Star shrugged sadly.

“Especially if you’re at the house of the girl making accusations against you” Connor returned pointedly.

“Cassie’s got physical therapy every afternoon” Star supplied what little knowledge she had about the girl, “she won’t even be there” she added for weight, though slightly bit her lip as she watched for her parents’ response.

Brie and Connor just looked at each other and sighed, “just make sure you aren’t there when Cassie does come back. I’m sure the cops would have a field day with that one” she added with another emotionally exhausted sigh.

When they made their way to the car, Sky gave Star a questioning look, “did I miss part of the text?”

“We’re looking at this wrong. We’re busy worrying about what to say to the cops. What we should be worried about is what Cassie says to them. Considering, that if she weren’t making these accusations, they wouldn’t be trying to pin what happened to her on us” Star explained softly.

“So how exactly are you thinking we should be stopping Cassie from making these accusations?” Sky asked, looking over at her with a bit of fear over what her plan actually was.

“We make it up to her. Earn her forgiveness” Star stated, trying to force confidence into her voice, “or at least try to.”

“Feel free to explain to me how the hell we’re gonna do that” Sky scoffed as he bit at a nail worriedly.

“We’ve already started, sort of. I think we just need to try to fast-track her recovery.”

Sky shook his head over at her again, “it’s amazing we could even do as much as we have done, and I’m still not positive that was even us for sure. And now you want to hit fast forward on our apparent, magic touch?” he stated wryly.

“We have to try, Sky. As long as she hates us and blames us for everything... We’ll never be safe. We need to take the blame for fixing her, not breaking her” Star told him desperately. “Then maybe she’d finally stop trying to destroy our lives.”

“You have a lot more faith in our abilities than I do” Sky returned with even more doubt.

“Look around. We have done amazing things. And mom... the other version of mom, thought that our powers would just keep growing, and Veda too. All we’ve done is been afraid to use them cause of the bad they can do. What we need to do is embrace them; for the good they can do.”