The rest of the days after that were quite mundane. It wasn't hard to fall into step with the rest in the group home; they had a set schedule that never seemed to change, save for the rare panic attacks or tantrums from the kids. There were chores we had to do but they were easy, like doing the dishes after dinner or helping out with breakfast. Keenan never joined any of them.

I hadn't seen him smile during the first week we spent there, mostly because he couldn't get Isaac to confide in him. Cillian had been easy; a broken man trapped in the hell he created for himself. He was desperate, but Isaac was smart.

It was obvious that Keenan wasn't used to the cold shoulder Isaac gave him. He had grown accustomed to getting everything he wanted without much struggle, but Isaac was a different case. It showed with the way he stared at Keenan as if he knew what he truly was, even though he couldn't quite see it.

I had gotten more than three words out of the kid two days in a row. A lucky streak, much to Keenan and Lorna's surprise. I figured that taking things slowly was better for a kid like him, and slow wasn't part of Keenan's vocabulary.

So I ended up being in charge of getting him to accept the deal.

Isaac wasn't a bad kid, believe me. Small conversations offered me a preview of his mind, and let me tell you that it was something spectacular. Maybe that was why he trusted me enough to even say a word; he knew that we both thought the same way. We saw things in a parallel light. It must've made him feel good, but it made me feel like a bigger bastard than I already was. I may seem like a bad guy to you, but just know that I still have a heart.

I was standing in the tub around this time. It was a Friday morning, if I remember correctly. I shut off the shower with my head hung low, allowing the water to drip out of my hair. There was a moment of silence, a sort of calm that hadn't been around for seven days straight. It felt good at first. It made forget the new troubles we had to face and how we were going to fix them. But then it got kind of suffocating so I opened the shower door, dried off, and dressed before exiting the bathroom. I didn't want Finn seeing the scars.

That day, I walked out into mayhem. The screams in the hallway had been dimmed while the shower was running, so I was stricken with confusion when the sounds filled my ears. I stood beside Isaac and Robyn—Finn's good friend, in which he also had an intimate relationship with—as we watched two housemothers hold Finn down at the doorway leading to our room.

"Give it back! Give it back!" he was screaming, but they paid no attention to the words he said. He struggled, bit, and flung, but the women kept their ground.

Lorna exited the room, holding a small baggy filled with orange capsules. She looked down at Finn with hollow eyes, bending down to match his gaze. "I thought we told you not to bring these things in the house anymore," she said evenly. "Any medications you need shall be kept with us. You are prohibited from keeping these in your room."

"It's just Adderall, damn it! Fuck, get your dirty fingers off of me!"

Lorna stared at him for a long moment, gripping the baggy in her hands. "Release him," she finally said. I swear, during the whole thing, she didn't bat a single eyelid.

The women did as they were told, bracing themselves as Finn got up to his feet gingerly. Lorna straightened herself and kept her eyes on him. They had a silent stare down for minutes, Finn gritting his teeth while Lorna gave him a twisted smile. There was a moment where he lunged for the pills, but Lorna moved away so quickly that he ended up falling. If I had blinked, I would've missed the whole thing.

"Where did you get these from?" she asked him. "Those visits to your parents...they weren't visits, were they?"

Through clenched teeth Finn said, "I stole them. Just give them back—I know you don't care about what happens to me or the others."

Lorna's smile dropped quicker than the rain outside the house. She brought him to his feet with one hand, looking at him squarely. "Your parents will be informed of this incident. Do it again and we will have to take action."

"Yeah, like restraining me on the damn floor wasn't action enough," Finn spat back. "Tell my parents; they don't give a rat's ass. Why the hell do you think I'm still here?"

I heard one of the housemothers warn him about his language, but Finn didn't seem to hear them. His face had gotten so red that it matched the shade of his hair, his eyes blazing ferociously that I was sure I could see every speck of green in them. We all waited for Lorna to say something, but instead she turned her back on him and walked straight to the steps.

"Excuse me for trying to offer service for the youth of this prison you call a home!" Finn yelled at her back before turning to the three of us, spitting, "What the fuck are you looking at?"

He retreated back into our room before any of us could get a word in, slamming the door so hard I feared it would snap off its hinges. The housemothers stood dumbfounded for a moment, blinking wildly to clear their heads.

"Isaac, Jack, why don't you two come along and help me with breakfast? Classes will start in a few," one of them said—I think her name was Mrs. Blanchard or something. "Robyn, you can help Ms. Duffield with some chores."

"And now the show is over," Robyn muttered as she strutted away with Duffield at her tail. I didn't get too close to her during my time there. You could tell that she was growing into something toxic.

Isaac didn't have a thing to say about the whole ordeal. I would be lying if I said that he didn't creep me out from time to time. With the way he seemed so...soulless, it was hard to tell if he felt anything at all.

Nonetheless, I followed him and Blanchard down the staircase. I had a deal to bestow.

 ***

"Why did the both of you show up?"

That was the last thing I expected to hear out of Isaac's mouth as we cracked eggs into separate bowls. He didn't look at me when he said it; he acted all cool as if he hadn't spoken anything at all. It reminded me of Keenan a little which pissed me off, so I started wishing he would just quit it.

"What do you mean?" I said instead, keeping my eyes on the yellowish substance in my glass bowl.

"The guy that used to be in Finn's room was the calmest guy I knew here. Then one day, he randomly went crazy and they shipped him away. My roommate used to talk about how his parents wanted him back but he didn't want to go. Then suddenly, he packed his bags and left too." He looked over at me. "Do you see what I'm getting at here?"

I knew exactly what he was getting at. He even knew that I knew, but I'd crawl into my own grave if I admitted things too soon. So instead, I let out a shaky laugh before saying, "Wow, talk about coincidence, huh? How did Amy like her eggs again?"

Isaac wasn't buying it. He grabbed a whisk and began beating the eggs reverently, reminding me of one of those cooks on TV. "Why are you here, Jack? You never show up for classes either, so everything about you is a bit sketchy."

I ended up losing my awkward smile at that point. There's something bitter about people suspecting you for something, especially when it's true. If I've got to be honest, Rosebay was taking a toll on me. The city seemed to have its own certain tune that everybody else could harmonise to, but I couldn't seem to find the right beat. No matter what I did to fall into step with the rest of the kids, that feeling never left me. It sucked.

"I'll tell you my story if you tell me yours. It's only fair, right?" I told him, taking another whisk from the drawer beside me.

Isaac was silent for a moment. It was easy to tell that he didn't like the idea of people finding out about him, but little did he know that I already read through half of his story. I just couldn't fit the pieces together yet.

"Fine," he said. "I guess it's fair. You go first."

"I can't go to classes because I don't remember anything. I mean, I know how to count and shit, but they told me gaining my memories was more important than finding the value of x. So I go to this shrink every time you guys go to class."

Don't look at me that way; it wasn't a complete lie. I didn't actually see a shrink, though, unless you count silent meetings with Lorna therapy.

My story seemed to please Isaac enough. His face softened up a little, the sceptical look seeming to dissipate into the air around us. "Do you really not remember your past at all? None of it?"

"Well, I remember some things. I've gotten some memories back from when I was a kid and some stuff from two years ago. Last year is completely blank, though." He looked confused, so I said, "Think of it as a road. There are all these pot holes, then there's this big gap without a bridge, and on the other side is a clean slate."

Isaac nodded his head, letting out a small 'ah' sound without moving his lips. We moved the bowls full of whipped eggs aside and went on to the fruits.

"What about you?" I asked as I let my knife slice through a kiwi. "We had a deal."

Isaac's lips pursed, but he answered me anyway. "I've been in and out of here for a while now. Some guys hated me at the school I used to go to, so my parents were pretty troubled with the way I was handling it."

"Handling it?"

He gave me a look. Oh, I thought, putting another slice through the fruit.

"I had a girlfriend," he continued. "Nobody would've guessed that I would ever get a girlfriend, but I did. She died two years ago, so I've been here ever since."

I didn't tell him I was sorry, because I've learned sorry isn't worth spit. So I said, "Must be hard. How did she die?"

"She was killed," Isaac spoke bitterly, spitting out the words. "People keep telling me it was a suicide, but it makes no sense. She was the happiest person I knew. She was happy with me. So she must've been killed by someone, and I'm going to find who did it."

His words were an open door waiting for me, so I took it. "Keenan can help you with that. It'll cut your time in half if you decide to work with him."

I expected Isaac to look at me funny or at least call me crazy or something. But instead, he smiled; a very low smile that seemed to pluck at my heart with an ice pick. I kept seeing him dead because of what I was pushing him to; just standing there with blood all over his face.

I still don't know where I learned to be so morbid.

"That's funny," he said quietly. "Keenan said the exact same thing."

"He did?"

Isaac nodded. "He told me that he'd be able to do the things I couldn't, and the only reason I sat still for two years was because I was missing the confidence he had. Then he told me that he'd do anything I asked him to, as long as I accepted his deal."

I blinked. "D-did he tell you what the deal was?"

To my relief, Isaac shook his head. "I left the room the moment he said that. God, it freaked me out so bad I couldn't walk straight. I thought about visiting one of the housemothers and request for him to switch rooms, but something was telling me not to. You don't think he was serious, do you?"

"Keenan can never lie to you, Isaac," I told him. "Even if you asked him to commit murder, he would. So that deal...you have to really think about it. You could lose everything if it just turns up to be a suicide."

Isaac dropped the knife he held, staring down at the half cut fruit before him. "She didn't kill herself," he snapped. "I know she didn't, so shut up about it."

"Whoa, I didn't mean—"

Isaac didn't bother to listen. He left the kitchen before I could even finish my goddamn sentence, leaving me stranded and half stunned while holding a knife dripping with kiwi juice. I really didn't understand what I said wrong to set him off. I mean, it was still the truth, wasn't it? Even the happiest of people had dark demons no one else could see.

"You've done well, don't worry about it," a voice said behind me, making me jump so high I damn near dropped the knife on my fucking foot. Lorna stepped through the kitchen doors and stopped right beside me, looking down at the food Isaac left behind.

"You've gotten more words out of him than Keenan ever could," she said. "I guess it wasn't a total loss bringing you along."

"How is that good, though? He's angry with me."

Lorna shook her head, still smiling. "Your eyes aren't great at reading people. He's desperate now. He'll want to prove his point to the people that doubted him, so there's a higher chance of him accepting the deal. See what I'm saying?"

I knew what she was saying, but it didn't mean I had to like it. I threw the knife in the sink and sighed, my heart feeling heavier than it ever did. "His death is going to be useless. He's got so much ahead of him, and if it really turns out to be a suicide then—"

"Then what?" Lorna's voice was real sharp. "What are you going to do, Jack? Play hero? Save him from his own trepidations? Don't make me laugh. You're weak. Weak things should never step out of their place."

I got real tired of hearing that. It ended up making my mood fouler, but I couldn't do anything about it. Not against her. So I stood still as she looked down on me, beautiful lips holding a devilish sneer.

"They say to never name the food you're about to eat, or else you grow attached and you won't be able to do what you're meant to. So you better suck it up and eat it, Jack, because Keenan and I worked hard to get here. I'm not about to let a stupid human foil our plans."

"If I'm so stupid, you wouldn't have the need to threaten me right now, would you?" That was way out of my place, but I liked saying it anyway. I would've said it again if I could've, but I knew better than to push it.

One week in and I was already walking on a thin line.

Lorna backed away from the kitchen counter and went towards the doorway, stopping to mutter, "Don't name your meal, Jack, or I just might have to eat you too."