Thursday morning found Star waking in her own bed for once. The night before, Sky had made his trip to the silver room with Crista at around eight. But when he returned, also around eight; he felt more like it was closer to midnight. Nevertheless, he did stay up with Star as she continued to write out the nightmares she had seen inside Curt’s head. Though, despite being there to provide Star with moral support, Sky was barely able to keep his eyes open much past eleven. So Star set aside her notebook and curled up next to him, letting him physically recover from his night, as she tried to mentally recover from hers.

That morning, she still woke before her alarm and rolled away from him long enough to turn it off before it let out its offending screech. She then rolled back toward him, wrapping him in her arms once more as she placed a few gentle kisses over his neck to begin the process of ever so gently returning him to consciousness as well.

“Is it morning already?” Sky mumbled as he squeezed her close as well, but still wasn’t quite ready to open his eyes just yet and make that return to consciousness official.

Star just smiled at his continued grogginess, “how long were you up there last night anyway?”

“Math? At this hour? There’s a reason I don’t have it til sixth” he complained, though without much weight behind the words, “I dunno. I took her there around eight, and came back to you... around eight. So you tell me” he smirked, eyes still closed as he held her against him.

Star just shook her head as she placed another gentle kiss over his lips below those still closed eyes of his, “you know, if we keep up these trips every night, we may be tempted to do that math after all and find out we’ve actually been mentally alive closer to forty years before our physical bodies even hit twenty” she returned wryly.

“What do you mean I can’t have a drink to get me through my school day? I’m forty I swear” Sky teased.

Star allowed a small laugh, “I don’t think we’ve spent twenty years up there yet, but it may add up now that we have two more reasons to spend our nights there.”

“Only two more?” Sky teased as he finally opened his eyes and returned her kiss.

“I’m rounding down” she defended as she smiled and kissed him back.

“Maybe we should have stayed there after that first time we went” he allowed, though more quietly.

“Then no Kole and Crista” Star reminded.

“I suppose that’s true, but you gotta admit, it’s hard not to be tempted by that idea; especially after living two more less than wonderful lives since then” Sky stated softly.

Though Star simply looked down. It was true that his suggestion of spending the rest of their lives in a world of stopped time, high above the much more painful one they physically inhabited was a better solution than killing himself was; it was still essentially him voicing that desire to end his earthly existence, in some manner. And that was the main reason they had decided to return at all. Neither of them were totally ready to give up life back then, not if there was a chance to try a better life instead. Though after two failed attempts at that, it was apparent that Sky was still, more often than not, consumed by the idea of making that choice in some way after all.

Seeing the way Star looked down at his suggestion, Sky sighed softly and moved on, “so, are we gonna be late for school two days in a row now? Got more mind games planned this morning do we?” he attempted a smile.

Star made herself return his smile as she finally looked back up, “I think that can wait til after school. Curt’s meeting that horrible lawyer of his this morning.”

“It’s scary that you know that” Sky returned with narrowed eyes.

“Amid all those disgusting and horrible things in his head, he did manage to have one passing thought about the consequences of his actions. Of course, that thought was annoyance at having to get up early to talk to the lawyer about ‘all the bullshit,’ I believe is how he’s mentally referring to the claims against him” she scoffed with a shake of her head at the complete lack of remorse she now knew was truly how Curt felt about all the things he had done; at least, for now.

Sky shook his head as well, “it’s too bad we can’t use all the stuff you saw in his head. Then there’d be no doubt in anyone else’s head about how guilty that prick really is.”

“I can imagine that testimony; and how did you come across all this evidence, Miss Vargas? Oh, I just psychically entered his mind and pulled all that bile out. That’s admissible, right?” she scoffed.

“If only” Sky sighed as they both then finally moved from the bed to try and force themselves to endure yet another school day once more.

Curt’s father scowled at his watch as they sat in Sullivan’s office at just past nine that morning. He then glared over at where Curt chuckled at something on his phone. Mr. Spencer then angrily spoke, “if I have to miss work for your shit, this asshole could at least be on time.”

“Why didn’t mom come, like usual?” Curt returned absently as he continued to pay more attention to his phone than his father’s permanent state of anger since even before all these claims had come to light.

“Her hairdresser couldn’t possibly fit her in any other time. Like I even look at her long enough to know if her roots are showing? We have been married almost twenty years for fuck’s sake” his father grumbled as he angrily looked at his watch.

“Besides, isn’t your secretary a natural blonde? It was on her resume, right?” Curt smirked.

“Don’t make me beat the shit out of you in public” his father bit out, which did cause Curt’s smile to finally waver, though he still didn’t look up from his phone.

That was when Sullivan finally appeared from the other room. “Sorry, last minute calls” he then took a seat, trying to ignore Curt’s apathy and his father’s anger, “so, I’ve got some good news today. And some news that I need more information about” he began.

“Good news?” Curt scoffed, “did these bitches finally stop their whining?”

“Let’s try to refrain from words like ‘bitches’ and ‘whining’” Sullivan gave him a cold look, “call it practice for the trial” he added.

“What good news?” Curt’s father, Mitchell, bit out impatiently. At least their matching temperaments gave no doubt that the two were father and son.

“Well, four of the witnesses for the prosecution have voiced their desire to not repeat their testimony at trial; which is very good for us” Sullivan answered.

That was when Curt finally looked up, “which four?”

“Well, Star Vargas doesn’t want to come in, but all she was going to do is repeat the claims her brother made against you, so that’s not really going to make too drastic a difference. Also, Crista Sampson has decided against testifying; but again, the assault on her is the most minor of the charges” Sullivan began.

“Two girls whose testimony barely changes anything?” Mitchell scoffed, “still waiting for this good news” he added sarcastically.

Sullivan bit back the urge to give the elder Spencer a cold look as he pressed on, “Kole Wagner has also decided he doesn’t want to appear on the stand either.”

“Isn’t that the—-” Mitchell caught himself, “the one who messed up your arm?” he asked his son.

“Fuckin freak” Curt mumbled his agreement.

“Let’s add both of those to the list of words to avoid, Curt” Sullivan scolded, “and yes, that would be the same young man. Though it would have been nice to corner him about your arm, and the fourteen year old girl he was with at the mall, considering his history with Samantha Charles; it still takes away his ability to pull at the heart strings of the jury with his woeful tale about his girlfriend’s and unborn child’s deaths. So, that’s a big win for us. Now, Miss Burke is still planning to testify about the charges pertaining to Miss Charles, but hopefully it won’t have quite the emotional impact as it would have coming from Mr. Wagner.”

Mitchell interrupted, “and the fourth one who backed out?”

Sullivan then allowed a smile, “one of the actual victims” he then caught himself, “alleged victims, has actually backed out.”

“Which bit---one?” Curt asked eagerly.

“Not only has Star Vargas backed out, but also her brother Sky no longer wants to testify either” Sullivan answered confidently.

“I was right when I was gonna say bitch; he’s the bitchiest one of them all” Curt scoffed.

“Again, words” Sullivan shook his head, then moved on, “but this limits the number of actual testimony from alleged victims to six of the eight. So only seventy-five percent of them are coming forward now. We just have to keep whittling away at that number. If we can get more of them to back down, they won’t have much of a case left at all.”

With his continued businesslike impatience, Mitchell spoke again, “and the news you needed more information about?”

“Well, to replace the four they lost, the prosecution has named another witness. And I haven’t heard her name before. Who is...” he looked at his notes, “Rosita Marques?”

“God, you didn’t have sex with her too, did you?” Mitchell asked his son accusingly.

“God, no. She’s like old. And fat!” Curt defended.

“Words again” Sullivan shook his head at both the men in his office then, “and who is she?”

“The housekeeper we just had to fire after nearly emptying one of our accounts to bail his ass out” Mitchell offered as he angrily gestured to Curt once more.

“Housekeeper?” Sullivan looked thrown by that, “and former housekeeper?” he asked before looking back between the two of them, “Is this just revenge for losing her job then? Or Curt, are you sure there’s nothing you could have done in her presence that Ms. Marques could misconstrue as inappropriate in some way?”

“Please, I tried to avoid her every time I saw her. All she ever did was bitch at me about stains and having to replace sheets or some shit. I could barely understand her” he scoffed as he looked back at his phone.

“What stains on what sheets?” Sullivan asked worriedly.

“You really think that Lewis chick is gonna question our maid about my laundry?” Curt scoffed again.

Sullivan looked further frustrated then, “how long was Ms. Marques employed as your housekeeper?”

Mitchell shook his head, “since Curt was a baby” he answered, though his tone was cool as he looked over at his son as well.

“So, she was working for you for the last three years then? During the time all of these incidents supposedly took place?” Sullivan questioned.

“So? She didn’t see anything. She was always gone for the day before any of my parties” Curt defended.

“But she did your laundry, including your bed sheets, on all the mornings following all of these parties?” Sullivan asked with further worry.

“Again, why are we even talking about laundry?” Curt scoffed.

Sullivan buried his face in his hands with obvious stress, as Mitchell just exploded with further anger, “god, how fucking stupid are you, Curt? When you rape girls in the ass, it tends to leave blood... and maybe even other shit, literally, all over your sheets! How could you possibly be this big of an idiot?” he exclaimed as he stormed out of the office, not able to listen to any of it any longer himself.