Right in the middle of the night I once again toss and turn around in my sleep. Before I know it, my eyes are already open and I'm awake. I tap my hand around in search of my phone and I quickly find it. "3? Again? Come on..." I exclaim fairly irritated. I'm tempted to lie back down but I get up to check if everything's okay, just in case. Just as I look around, I notice someone huddled in the corner of the room, with their set of blankets wrapped around them. After a quick glance at the others I can immediately tell who's missing. (She has some serious sleeping problems I swear...) I sigh as I grab my own blankets and walk up to her. Her eyes follow me as I come up and sit next to her. "Ever heard of sleep?" I tease her, trying to break the ice. "I have, we're just currently not on good terms..." She replies bringing her knees closer to her face. "So, what's up?" I come out and ask the real question. "I just keep thinking of Chloe... I barely ever talked to her but... whenever I think of her I feel... scared." She vaguely explains. "Scared you say?" I urge her to elaborate. "... Scared that someone else might be next... Scared that I might be next. I realized that I'm really scared of dying. But even if I survive, nothing will change. I'll just go back home and everything will be the same." She lays bare her feelings and for a moment I just stare out to nowhere. But I quickly come up with the right words. "You know, I may not have a clue of what's eating at you, but I know one thing. As long as you're alive, you'll sort it out. No matter the problem, no matter the odds. You just gotta keep living, and the answers will come to you. If you're not alive, you can't solve anything, all that you'll leave behind is unfinished business." I, in turn, give her a piece of my mind. "So you need to see this through, no matter what, okay?" I comfortingly say as I hold my pinky out to her. "We've already done that once, you sure you want another one?" She asks me, trying to keep a smug face but her blush gives it away. "Once is never enough, right?" I jokingly reply. "Right." She says as she links her own pinky with mine and starts the chant "Cross your heart and hope to die..." "...Stick a needle through your eye, Ha!" I finish the sentence for her, so she doesn't repeat what she said the last time. "Hey!" She says with a pout and I chuckle. "You're so childish I swear..." She says with a sigh and I relax my back against the wall. "Sorry to ask you out of the blue, but how come Max's your only friend? You don't seem that unable to socialize to me..." She asks as we both stare out into nothing. "It's not that I didn't know how to get involved with people, I just didn't want to. I thought I didn't need to..." I reply in the most honest way possible. "Why?" She asks and I remain silent. "Sorry, I guess you don't want to talk about it." April realizes and for some reason I'm having second thoughts. (Why do I feel the urge to tell her everything? Why does my chest feel so heavy?) I think and before I know it I start talking. "You know, before I came back here I was actually living in Brooklyn. I had to move there because of my parents' work. Initially I was born here, in Kirkwalle. So why did I move back here you may ask...." I say as my voice trails off. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." She reassures me and I shake my head. "No, I think I'm ready..." I say taking a deep breath. "Back in Brooklyn, I had a pretty normal high school life. Friends, Sports, Games all of the good stuff. Maybe a few crushes here and there. But nothing too extreme. My school wasn't all that bad either, if you exclude some guys that were into gangs and stuff. One day while I was walking back home from school, I saw a bunch of them ganging up on a girl my age. One of them hit her and I felt like I had to do something. So, I stepped between them and the girl, and told them to lay off. They were angry, but they didn't hit me. One of them whispered something and they all turned to leave. They left without making a fuss, but before leaving, the same guy, spit in my face and told me something. I remember his exact words even now. He told me "This is your last day, punk." And then left. The girl though, didn't thank me, she just up and left. At that time, I didn't think much of it. The next day, when I went to school, everybody was looking at me like there was something wrong with my face. None of my friends came up to me either before classes started, but I was actually right on time so... again, I didn't think much of it. Right before class was about to start though, the principal and that girl from the day before, came into the classroom. She was all bruised up for some reason. And actually, it appears she was a student from my school. The principal pointed at me, and asked the girl, "Is that him?". The girl nodded and he called out my name. At first I thought I was being congratulated but judging from her bruised face up close, I quickly changed my mind. I asked him what was wrong, and he shouted in front of everybody in the classroom "You are, mister Carter! Molestation and abuse is no light offense!". I immediately froze up, I didn't know what to say. Eventually, I was dragged into his office and I got more than an earful. I told him the truth, I told him everything but he just wouldn't believe me. He said there were four witnesses that supported her testament and that he couldn't deny it. The witnesses I assume were those bastards that hit her in the first place. But they got off the hook. Instead, I was expelled from the school found guilty of rape and abuse. As I got back to class to gather my things, I couldn't recognize a single face. All of my friends, the people I knew. They all looked at me as if I did it. They didn't even try to think otherwise. They didn't believe me when I told them the truth and they shut me out. The people I had trusted in, turns out they didn't trust me back. They told me, amongst other things, "How could you?" "I had you figured for a better person." "You're a monster" "a cold-hearted bastard etc. etc.". Right after I left school, I saw that same bastard laughing at me while I was walking away. Furious, I punched him in the face with all I had. Then his pals showed up and they gave me a run for my money. I walked back home battered and bruised. After that incident, I had to transfer schools of course. It was almost a year after I had lost my dad, and I was alone with my mum at the time. I never told her about what happened. I couldn't bring myself to, thinking that she wouldn't believe me, just like the others. She just asked me if it was true and I just shook my head. At that point, I had lost every ounce of trust on anybody. After searching for a school that would accept a student with a rape accusation, we found our way back to Kirkwalle. Thankfully, the school didn't go public about it. I don't even know if the teachers have heard of any of this. Ultimately, I shut myself off of everything. I never talked to my mother about it, despite her advances. I even stopped talking to her as much and just shut myself in my room. I just didn't want to deal with life. All that I had known came crushing down and the only one I could trust was myself. So, I avoided people thinking that eventually they would betray my trust as well. Just as all my "friends" did." I finally say everything that happened to me during my time at Brooklyn. I confess all of what I held inside for so long. Suddenly, April slides her hands next to mine, and grabs it, our fingers intertwined. "I'm sorry... It must have been painful." She lightly squeezes my hand and all of the memories I have of my time in Brooklyn come back, flooding my brain with painful yet happy moments. Suddenly I can feel my lips furrowing and a sudden urge to cry overwhelms me. "I didn't do it... I didn't do it I swear..." I repeat time after time as tears quickly roll down and off my cheeks. "I know you didn't Jack. I believe you." April says and that alone is exactly what I wanted to hear, from that day on. I just wanted someone to believe me. Her words are enough to break the dam holding my emotions back, and I burst out crying. As silently as possible so as to not wake up the others, I sob while April squeezes my hand. After a good 10 minutes, I wipe my eyes and take a deep breath, finally looking up. I turn to her and see her eyes glistening, more than they should be at least. She quietly sniffles and I'm left dumbfounded. "Hey, now why are crying?" I ask her in a worried tone as she realizes and wipes her eyes. "It was just... It was just too much. All of what you went through." She says with a sniffle in between. I subconsciously wrap my free arm around her shoulder and whisper a "Thank you" as sincerely as I can. "Thank you for talking to me about it." She replies and relaxes against me, as we stay there holding each other.