For some reason BerkVille was dead today. There were few automobiles surfering around, and the streets now had enough room to walk in the middle without hitting into vendor's stalls or having to put yourself to the side to avoid colliding with someone. It was Tuesday, but felt like Sunday.

   Dustin was on his way to pick up his little sister from summer camp. Their father had sent them some money to purchase items for school on the recent outpour of back to school sales. It wasn't much and Dustin knew he would have to ask his aunt for any extra shifts to earn the money for his art items. He was focusing on using all what his father sent to only get his sister's stuff.

   Her infant school's auditorium was the site of the summer camp. She complained that the refreshments weren't sweet enough, but other than that had fun as there were plenty of mentally stimulating games, materials to ensure they retained what they had learned over the summer, and projectors so they could watch movies every day. Above all, it prevented her from being home, which allowed him to have the room to himself during the day to complete all of his personal, self-serving tasks.

   You could hear the children's cacophonous clamor inside the walls and the teachers' frantic silences from a distance. The scent of paint stuck to the school's exterior like a thumbtack because it had recently been repainted. The school was always well-maintained, with not a single chair screw going missing unlike at ours. It was a bit pricy but he made sure his mother let her go so she could have a better education environment.

   However, Dustin discovered how early the brainwashing began when he got closer to the pick up location, which was simply the playing field. Jesus' crosses are emblazoned throughout the school, and nuns were required to teach the Bible even during summer school sessions. Furthermore, the music sheet she had to learn that was in her backpack was a gospel tune. It made him utterly nauseous. So, in defiance, he turned on the most contentious music videos of his favorite artists so she could watch as soon as they got home, regardless of the foul language.

    And as he sat to make sure she was watching he noticed something. That those same things were at his preschool, infant and primary school. He needed to take a more drastic action to remove the shoe prints because they had already made their move decades ago.

This sent him down a rabbit hole. Filing through documentaries, YouTube video essays and articles talking about religious indoctrination and how its like a slit from a knife. The creators sliced it and the blood is spilling into everything we know and love in society. Some of the phrases we say, the instilled in instinct of praying to God whenever your life is at risk, Christian days being the only holidays everyone gets off during the year and even how and when we eat. It was like we had to unlearn everything as a society in order to progress.

1:46 p.m
   Beth was on her side, Dustin was on the floor, Carson was on his stomach, Mandy was pacing around the board, and I was sitting on a tiny stool with my knees folded. We were well into a competitive Monopoly game, and none of us were backing down. There had already been two fights: one about who would be the banker and the other about who would be the car and shoe tokens. We all came to an agreement via a vote that Dustin would definitely not be the banker because we knew he would be robbing the bank. But little did they know, I was doing the same thing and even passing him some bills once they appointed me banker.

    Since our parents were having a get-together lunch, I didn't dress up today and was just wearing clothes meant for men. Dustin's mother provided the salad and dasheen, while my mother was accompanied by her renowned baked macaroni and cheese and baked chicken. Although he would only be coming to collect Beth once we were done, Mr. Rainyman sent in a variety of trays including rice and beans, boiled plantains, tofu, and mashed potatoes catered by his favorite company with Carson's parents providing the drinks. Of course they were one of those families so all our drinks were green and healthy. And finally, Mandy's mother delivered the fruit cake but didn't stay.

    And whilst we grilled each other at the game, they were sharing the food into plates. We feigned not to hear, but in reality, we could hear them murmuring that they were relieved that the murder case was resolved and that we were no longer stuck in the mud. Dustin and I put together that our mothers had to gossip about something later on based on the winks they secretly exchanged whilst pouring the drinks. And something told me those green juices would be getting a bad review.

    The heated food didn't help with the humidity in the house which made Carson get up and walk around fanning himself with a piece of cardboard. His right ear was ringing from the kitchen sink faucet, which needed to be replaced. He decided to block the leakage by wrapping it's head with a piece of tin foil. However, he quickly realized that if he didn't go to the bathroom right away, the tap in his pants would burst with liquid, so he hurried to the restroom.

    That's when Dustin noticed his mother turn to me and looked at me up and down. "Where is your little get up today? You know I like your style!"

   I became motionless. My mother and sister's eyes were rolling toward me like a billiard ball, and I was unable to speak. Fortunately, Dustin drew her away and advised her not to discuss the matter when they were around. I breathed easy once again.

That's when Mandy decided to excuse herself to text Gibbs. But unusually, she was unable to contact him. Did he have Gary with him? Their situation had become increasingly problematic, and she was on the verge of ending their relationship. They needed to have a serious conversation. Suddenly, Beth and I walked into the balcony, giggling whilst she was staring into her phone.

"What's wrong Mandy? You look stressed!" I questioned, worried.

"Nothing... it's just Gibbs"

"Is everything okay with him?" A worried Beth asked.

"No. I think he's became friends with Gary and you know he's bad news and has a way of influencing and degrading your character! I told him to stay away from him! They also had some messages talking about me that I really NEED to go through!"

"Oh... well, I know the password to Gary's Instagram from when we were together. We can go through the chats if he hasn't changed it yet hopefully"

"YES! Beth you're amazing! Let's do it now!"

Within a few clicks, we were in and saw Gibbs chat at the top. Mandy took the phone, moved to the side out of sight, and started reading. She stood there for about ten minutes. Carson was growing restless waiting for us to continue after returning from the restroom. However, Mandy lost all interest in playing once she finished reading.

"Your face looks dazed. Is the messages really that bad?!"

"Yes..." she inhaled and exhaled. "Gary is telling him that I'm trying to control him and who he is friends with. And that he should be the one wearing the pants in the relationship not me and he's supposed to be the one in control of me! He also said that Beth is probably the one influencing me to act like this!"

"He said WHAT?!" Beth shouted, drawing attention to herself from the grownups who she assured was just a little outburst which made them go back to their conversation.

"The rest of the messages is just them theorizing if I'm seeing someone else or not!"

We stood there for a while, staring at each other, unsure of what to say whilst Mandy chewed her nails.

"What are you gonna do?" I eventually asked.

"I'm ending it. I have no time for these kinds of problems. I lost my head and let my heart do the thinking. Thanks for the help Beth"

And Mandy turned off for the rest of the gathering. She didn't even bother to eat, preferring to sit on the balcony and listen to music. We attempted to converse with her and even attempted to lighten her mood with a few jokes, but she dismissed us. She lost herself in her thoughts and even hung her head looking out the window on the ride home with Mr. Rainyman.

Nothing else could have made her feel better or worse. That evening, we received word from the school that each of us had been accepted into the classes of our choice. We were jubilant in our group chat, but she was unmoved. Her mother was being her typical self, asking her pointless questions and trying to generate a reaction by strutting in a miniskirt she had purchased saying she is still youthful and beautiful but all she got was a nod of the head. It was like speaking to a rock.

10:10 a.m
Mandy sat with the sound of her mother's elegant old clock striking in the background. Her fist was holding her face up by her cheek, and her elbow was resting on her calf. She hadn't even washed her face or brushed her teeth and she was still in her jammies. She had to get things straightened out and off her mind before she could begin her day.

Gibbs was going to knock on the door any moment now to have their much needed conversation. She had practiced the exact flow of the talk last night by pacing around her room, having already planned every word. However, she couldn't help but go back to when they first met, their affinity for various anime, and their very first kiss as she paced. She then asked herself, "Am I really going to break up over this? Am I exaggerating too much?" Her heart had been racing nonstop since those questions, her appetite had vanished, it had been nearly two days since her last meal, and she felt her tongue was heavy.

She was startled out of her dream and tiptoed toward the door, her heart pounding, as soon as his knock finally reached the door. She put a casual veil on as soon as she opened it. She didn't bother to find out why Gibbs entered the room with his side bag in hand and appeared anxious.

"I just wanted to say that... that this relationship really isn't-"

"Wait! Listen to me please Mandy!"

"Why should I? What do you have that's so important to say? Matter of fact I don't care!"

"I believe you now! And I'm so sorry it took that long for me to and I was wrong! I'm a fucking idiot!"

"What are you talking about?!"

"Gary!"

"I don't wanna hear-"

"No! Seriously! LISTEN!... Carson and I made an agreement that I was going to delete some surveillance footage Gary was going to use to blackmail him"

"Gary was going to what?!"

"Yes. A day ago I went to his house to do it whilst you guys were at the lunch. And... I found this"

Opening his backpack, he gave her three notebooks. Each in a different color: blue, black, and red, with modeled gold edges extending to the bottom of each. Some of the pages were burnt to the bottom, and they were all tattered and brown in color. The cover appeared to have been moist, smearing Gary's pen marked name tag all over with dried runny ink still being visible. The books felt heavy and moist, and there were several bookmarks spread throughout several pages.

"Read these. Please. You were right about Gary!"

Interested, she opened the first book.

3:38 p.m
   Mandy texted us an urgent meeting, so we had to postpone any plans we had for the remainder of the day. Her brother was at a friend's, her mother and stepfather were away for a few days, so we all knew we wouldn't be disturbed when we got to her place. One by one, we trickled in, me being the last to arrive.

"What's so urgent?!" I implored.

"Read these" Mandy uttered handing us the three notebooks.

"What's inside?" Dustin asked.

"Just READ!"

    We all gathered around at the table and gave Carson to read out loud since he was the best of us five.

   The stories in the novels began long before Gary was even born. His mother had endured years of being mistreated, cheated on, and used as a prop by men she had romantic connections with. Even though she kept falling back into the same coffin, she never learned her lesson and continued to act as though she were a hamster on a spinning wheel.

   She began partying quickly and carelessly, spending most of her nights in hotels or at home with random men she met. She had to travel around a lot as a result of her house being looted several times. She didn't give up on her Gotham nightlife, though, until she saw that it had been two months since she had last had her period. She soon discovered that she was expecting Gary.

    She immediately knew who the father was but he was doubtful. They conducted a paternity test, and when the findings were positive, he vanished without a trace. She immediately considered having an abortion, but since she had already had several, doing so would kill her. After two months of deep depression and worry, she finally came to terms with the fact that she would have to care for him on her own, pull herself together, and stop her nightly adventures.

   And from the moment of his birth, all she could sense was that he was the guy God had finally sent to show her proper love. She soon found herself in need of his emotional support and connection. She opened up to him about everything, even her past sex experiences, giving him the whole, unvarnished, raw details. She would scream and cry and tell him he didn't love her and that he should cherish his remaining time with her before she passes away if he tried to weasel out the chats.

    However, it didn't end there. When it came to him, she had no sense of personal space or limits, and she frequently entered the bathroom when he was changing or taking a shower. And frequently, as a "silly joke," she would try to touch him and his privates when he asked for some privacy, telling him that she had given birth to him and that was nothing she hadn't seen previously when changing his diapers. This would most of the time take place when she slept in the same bed as him even throughout his teenage years.

   As a result, Gary developed a need to control people and exploit his sexual interactions, disregarding other people's limits and personal space. When he was very little, he would soon begin to exhibit these habits, which his mother would dismiss. As he grew older, this added up to shape him into the sexual assaulter he is today.

    Once girls he dated or brought home started coming to his mother telling them of what he had done she got worried and tried mending things but soon realized the chest plate was too cracked. That's when she enrolled them both into a counselor and therapist which is how the books were written once she got them to get into the root of things. His uncle aka the principle at our school was helping them through this time trying to counsel Gary and protect him but the drugs in his bag in front of everyone at school forced his hand pushing him to expel him to not seem bias and possibly lose his job.

   After he did, Gary attempted to win back Beth's favor at the gas station and try to have her sweet talk the school board knowing she was a stellar student and her viewpoint mattered because she was a head prefect. However, it did not occur. Even as he was enrolled into his new school one of the girls there told his terrible doings as she knew a girl from our school who had a terrible story from him which made him drop out of school right before summer let out.

   It seemed as though everything was turning against him. At our school, he used to rule over the girls and athletes like a king. However, he began to feel as like he was sinking, and his uncle's criticism of him for what he had done to those girls didn't help his day feel any brighter.

   One evening, the uncle confronted and humiliated him about who he had become, which led to a furious argument between the two. He started to yell back at him and try to fight, but his uncle showed him what a true man and true man strength is by throwing him to the ground and pinning him down. He yelled in his face that, when he was on top of the girls, this was presumably how they all felt.

   The last section was written a few weeks ago, and Gary hadn't updated the books at that point. None of us could say anything. Beth's eyes were wet with tears. We were all depressed and felt sorry for the girls whose names were on the list. Although Gary's past is awful, they didn't deserve it. Nobody does.

    We had no notion what we were going to do with these books at this point. It's not like we could return them. But after hearing what we just did, we felt we needed to take a mental vacation and relax. And Mandy stashed the books under her bed for once we were ready.

   We had no idea, though, that Gary's friendwas watching at us through the window.

See, last night a bunch of them were hanging at his house. They all filled up their mouth's with edibles and fell into dazes all about the place. He happened to be at the house hours prior and fell into a sleep that wore off his high slowly. There he lay on the dusty old air mattress that was at the back of the wooden steps taking you down into the basement.

He was awoken by the light flickering on, the door creaking open and being shut after one's heavy feet stepped in. It was Gibbs. Why was he here? He came to alert him of his presence then stopped himself when he saw him sit at the security camera desk and tap away at the keyboard.

After which he began shuffling around the desk drawer and found the books and started speed reading through them before he heard the voices of the others upstairs searching for him. He quickly put them in his bag and cleared off the things he had to on the system. After, he shoved a bunch of edibles down his throat and went upstairs blending right back into the crowd.

He knew he couldn't be up to no good and found himself tailing him until he got to Mandy's. Immediately, he stooped below the eye level of the window and let Gary know of this betrayal through a text. He knew for sure he wouldn't let this slide.

12:44 p.m
    Gary hadn't checked his phone all day as he was out and once he got the text about the books he went down to his basement where the books where hidden behind the surveillance computer. They were gone. Had he been duped? Mandy had gotten ahold of his stuff and had probably set up this entire ploy with Gibbs to earn his trust and find something on him. He was filled with so much rage and hate that an akuma could get him.

   He dialed Gibbs's number and made the call. With hesitation, Gibbs, who had just stepped out of the shower, answered. His hair's wetness splattering across the tiles almost mirroring the crime scene that would soon take place at carnival.

"You betrayed me. I'm going to kill you and your little bitch you motherfucker!"