Thank you to everyone who helped me review and flag that Goodreads account for stealing my story.  Hopefully it gets shut down, but at least it didn't seem to link anywhere (I hope) so I'm just hoping it was not a full-blown plagiarism and theft- just someone trying to take credit by making their own cover (with their name) and snagging my summary. I couldn't get the book itself to flag so I flagged my own review as it let me put a description as to why. I explained it was my book stolen, I could prove anything.  Hopefully that route works. I tracked down the other stories that profile published as there's. I am contacting the actual authors with this information as well. (all from fictionpress, where my story is as well)

As for my story, sorry I have been away again- I am trying to get back into the rhythm. I'm debating even having a "mature" rated chapter in the future... I'm not sure how Wattpad would like that ha-ha but I'll look into it.

When I first began writing this story, I listed its main genre to young adult. It felt like that more than anything, but since I've intertwined the paths of Alys and Hayden so much, I decided to edit the genre to romance. It took me almost five years to get to 80k views, and it took just two months to get 15k more views (Putting me at 95k) with the new genre change lol. But that's good, it means more people relate to my story under "romance".  Glad to know that now.

Anyways, thanks for waiting. I adore you all for being so patient and understanding.

Helium

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"Can I ask you a question?" I exhaled quietly into the phone, knowing no one was around me but still wanting to be cautious. I stared at the raindrops forming against the windows of the Bureau Building's 9th floor. Tim was with his father a few doors down, but I waited in the City Council's lobby. Such a huge building, so many political avenues. I never thought I would be in so many parts of it. The lobby was smaller than I expected, but it was nice. Clean sleek furniture, a fountain behind the reception desk, giant windows to the sides to let in the light. They reminded me of the mural's glass ceiling.

"Alys, you know you can ask me anything." Karri said back. She didn't know the file in my hands, the words Tim screamed to his father about, the anything that surrounded us after she left.

"Okay." I breathed in steadily, "I told you not you ask me about the mural. I told you to let me be, as I couldn't answer anything."

"Yes... I know," her tense voice gritted, "and please tell me you are explaining it now."

"No," I shook my head, "You will know why soon, you will find out everything soon. But there's one thing I need to ask you...."

I breathed in deep and felt my eyes tighten. "If given the chance... would you want revenge on the Catfish. Would you want everyone to know what kind of people they were... what they did."

It was quiet for a moment, I held onto the phone tightly. Finally, Karri answered. "If you would have asked me right after this all happened, I would have said yes. I would have loved for everyone to know what happened. But..." She paused, and I could picture her green eyes tracing their sights over her hands, her brown tresses slipping forward as she debated her words, "No. Not anymore. Anger is funny like that; though it hurts, sometimes it's a good thing to have a burst of it; to cauterize the wound quickly and to help you heal cleanly. But the longer you let it fester and stay an open wound- the more it will scar you when it finally closes. Honestly Al... its what's happened to you...."

I winced slightly, gathering myself into my knees and ducking away from the world. "I'm sorry I've been so weird. I know with Tim telling you he thought I was being bullied didn't help."

"Not just that; it's how you've avoided me... how you've suddenly jumped into a project that I knew had to do with them. You've been obsessed with revenge Al, and I don't even know what you are planning. More posters? Something with the mural?"

Obsessed with revenge.

"I wanted to protect you." I whispered feebly.

'You did. I made it out. You stood by my side and made sure I wasn't expelled- that I could keep my credits when transferred.  You stood up to those crowds when they first gathered around me. You are the only reason why I made it out.  I was protected."

I squeezed my knees tighter, my heart seeming to ache with the pressure as well.

"Tim knows." I finally said.

"About what you did? I kind of thought he always knew how you managed to help me-"

"About dad." I cut off.

Silence. I held my breath and counted the seconds. Five. Finally, she croaked, "Are... are you okay? How did he find out?"

"I guess Tim's dad realized who I was when we met him freshman year. You remember that day, right? We all said our names, and you told Bert it was my mother he started dating. Yeah, it was then when he heard my name that he realized my past. He didn't tell Tim though, I'm not sure why. Not until a few months ago at least. Apparently, Tim asked his dad for advice because after you left, I was so shut-in. He wanted to help me but didn't know how to do so."

"Oh god Alys," Karri whispered roughly, I could hear the regret on her lips, "I did this, I can't believe this all happened because I left. Al, please forgive me, this is all my fault."

"Hayden knows." I said softly instead. The darkness within knees and chest still protected my eyes from the gray light.

She choked for a second before yelling alarmed "That's why you are working with him? He blackmailed you!?" Karri quickly started fast-talking, horrified. Bits and pieces of words came through; she knew he was a sociopath, did he do something to me?, she knew she should have never trusted him. I kept trying to butt-in but she didn't seem to hear me. I could picture her pacing whatever room she was in back and forth.

"Karri!" I finally yelled, sitting up and finally letting the gray light return to my eyes. I knew I finally had her attention again, "I told him."

".... WHAT? Why would you tell him? I... You..."

Karri knew me so well... she knew this should be causing a psychotic-break; that I should be breaking and running- fighting the demon with every fiber of my being.

I smiled to myself in defeat. "Because I like him."

"YOU. WHAT. MATE?"

I laughed quietly but she could hear it.

"Hold the fuck up. I've been shitting myself- horrified that I just caused some irreversible damage to you. Tim knows about your past. Hayden knows about your past. You told Hayden. What the hell has happened while I've been gone?!"

I started laughing earnestly as that point. I wiped a bit of wetness from eyes, I couldn't tell whether they were from being happy or sad.

"I promise... I will tell you everything. Just not now. Karri... I just needed to know what you would do if given the chance for revenge on them... and now I know."

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The Mayor's office door creaked open and the silhouette of Tim stood within the light filled gap. "Alys," he acknowledged, his voice hoarse, his eyes darkened and saddened. His face hadn't changed much since I told him. I had told him it all. More than his father ever had. I had told him what I really fought when painting, what it stemmed from. He knew everything, but child's lie. That I couldn't bring myself to say again.

Those dark sad eyes scanned my face intently. "Please," I murmured... "don't look at me like that."

"I'm sorry," he tried to smile, that boyish grin never returning. "How did it go; did you talk with Karri?"

"Yes." I nodded, "She wants to know everything, but I can't tell her. This all began because of what she did with those posters. She will be investigated no matter what. That means, for her safety, she can't know anything. She knows enough to lie and say she didn't suspect anything, but even if they press her- the only thing she actually knows is: I was painting a mural and I told her nothing dangerous about it."

"They might question me too." Tim shrugged, "But I don't have any condemning posters to begin with like Karri. Nor have I helped paint this mural in anyway way. I can lie through this with ease."

"Tim, I know I said it before but you don't have to help like this. What we are doing now is dangerous for you. I was only going to ask you-"

"Too late," Tim shrugged, "Besides my dads' waiting." And at that he opened the doors wider and stood aside for me to enter.

I breathed in deep before stepping in.

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Bert looked up from his desk and held my gaze. I approached slowly but steadily. He looked the same as he did that day when I met him my freshman year. When my name had been introduced, I had somewhat wondered if he recognized it; the way he held my gaze for a fraction of a second longer than the rest. But I was never too sure. With time... I forgot my fear, I suppose.

But now I stared at him in wonder and uneasiness. He knew who I was this whole time. I glanced to Tim from under my lashes.... But he never told Tim to stay away from me.

My eyes found Bert again, and I felt a small ball of appreciation build within my chest. Yet as my fingers tensed into the folder's edges, I wondered if that would all end.

Bert was reddened a bit in his face, the screaming match with his son clearly still pumping through his veins. Suddenly, I felt a tightening in my chest at being so near someone who represented the system; the same people; judges, Lawyers, Law Makers, police officers- who had condemned me to my fate long ago. And not just me... all those who had come before and after as well. Gabriella's law, the campaigned addendum that would have brought accountability to Child Services and the families under them- shot down by the Governor as a way to save money. It was too expensive of a bill, it would cost the State too much money looking into all of the families, as well as having to reanalyze their resources. Too much money, the darkness of my mind whispered, from a man who lavishly approved a stadium to be built for his own campaigning benefit, who spent and embezzled money to others.

My eyes held Bert's. I knew the Mayor had pressured for that law to be passed, but it didn't help. The bill was denied almost immediately; the one thing that would have investigated the facilities used, the drugs administered, the numerous immoral families that housed the troubled youth.

"What have you done?" Bert whispered harshly as he watched me. I lowered my eyes for a brief moment before returning his gaze.

Bert didn't know about the mural. He didn't know about the revenge. He didn't know about anything, except that Tim had accused him of turning a blind eye to what happens to Foster children in our community, how OCS dropped the ball for so many, how the State was legally allowed to drug those kids; protected under the very laws they themselves made. 

"You know my name," I whispered softly, yet my voice was more hoarse than I would have liked, "You know my story of what happened. But you don't know anyone else's. You don't know Hayden's, you don't know Tucker's, you don't know any of them." Or else you might have saved them.

I held out the file for him to take. He hesitated for a moment. Finally, he grasped it. "Who gave this to you?" Bert asked before opening it and reading its contents. He froze as he found the picture of Tucker's deceased body.

"You don't know any of their stories." I said again.

Bert's eyes rose to mine. Neither of us spoke. Finally, he rubbed his temples before looking back down at the file in his hands. I stepped closer.

"Our friend was accused of manslaughter because he unknowingly prevented an overdose shot, he thought he was preventing one of two drugs that should be illegal to give to foster children as their sole purpose was to be a mental straightjacket. Those drugs had been heavily abused into them, and Hayden knew that." I shifted my gaze to the document that lay beneath Tucker's photo, "The Autopsy Report lists cause of death as an overdose. Yet when the police made their report, they told Hayden that he had prevented a shot for an epilepsy seizure. Tucker's seizures were not from epilepsy. According the report he never even had epilepsy. He was over proscribed Haloperidol and Benzodiazepine and was OD-ing on them. Again, the actual Cause of Death by the Coroner was Overdose. But no one told Hayden. The State's neglect is responsible for Tucker's death, not Hayden, but he thinks it was because of him- he still believes after all these years he killed a kid."

I realized I was crying as my words got louder. "I didn't even want you to know this, but Tim convinced me. He convinced me to show you this damned file and demand you help. But we might have just screwed ourselves, you could call security at the snap of your fingers. We will be in trouble if this is ever revealed, so I suppose this is your chance to rat us out now; call the cops- tell them we threatened you for private paperwork and be done with it!"

But Bert did nothing, just watched us in contemplation, eyes holding mine with an intense focus.

Finally, his mouth parted. "You want me to gather all the archived files and drafts I have on Gabriella's law ... things that never even made it to the table?"

Tim spoke up from behind me, "Yes. There were many first drafts- you had told me about them in your anger, dad. They had kept whittling away vital parts meant to help the kids. It was always budget this/ can't afford that. When the law finally went up for vote, it was a sliver of what it once was. And even then, Governor Nickolas shot it down without a second thought. Alys and I need those first drafts. We need the bill in its stages, as well as the final one. You are the only one we can ask. The mayor wouldn't normally go digging for them, so as long as no one sees and pairs it with our release of it- you'll be fine."

"This is wrong." Bert shook his head, "This needs to go to court. Hayden has a strong case if he would just-"

"He won't." I interrupted. "And he made a deal as well..." I paused, knowing I couldn't fully elaborate, "He has been betrayed by everyone who was meant to help him; the State, the foster system, the police, child services, our school, and his own family and legal representation. If you don't help...."

My fingers ground tightly together, tears threatened to swarm my eyes. In three weeks, when the mural debuted.... Hayden was going to go to court for this. He wasn't going to do anything to stop the belief it was all his fault, as he truly thought that himself. 

But it wasn't. Yet no one was going to help him. He was never going to ask for help.

"We are going to help him." I whispered heatedly, "You are going to help him. We won't say where we got this paperwork," In fact they'd probably blame it on the unknown hacker that was really Randal, "I'll make sure of it. But this is the only way to help save him. We need just a little more information of Gabriella's law. It was the only thing meant to hold the State and OCS accountable, to track the number of drugs issued to children, to fully investigate abuse or overmedication. But the Governor shot it down. The same Governor-" I noted Bert's eyes narrowed as if he already knew and despised this part "that generously 'gifted' our school an expensive new stadium, right before his reelection."

"Will you help us, dad?" Tim asked beside me. Again, I felt a shock of surprise and suspense- realizing he stood with us on this now, and this was where he wanted to be. I watched Tim from the corner of my eye and felt immensely ashamed I had ever pushed him away. I didn't deserve a friend like this. Yet here he was.

'What did you mean by saving Hayden." Bert asked pointedly. "If there hasn't been any investigations recently- why would there be suddenly now? Do you plan on revealing what's in the file? Why?"

I didn't answer and neither did Tim. Bert narrowed his eyes before asking, "Answer me one thing right now- will anyone be harmed by this? Whatever you are planning... is it going to be dangerous."

"No," I answered truthfully, "But there will be consequences to my choices and I am fully prepared to accept them."

"And I won't be a part of that Dad, don't worry."

Bert held my eyes. The way his gaze traced back and forth between my gaze was a little unnerving.

"No." He finally whispered and I closed my eyes firmly before watching my shoes in defeat- trying my best to keep any tears at bay. "I will not help with this because you two are asking."

Before Tim could start yelling, Bert raised his hand to silence him; the shadows of his movements mimicked on the floor.

"I will not help because you two are asking. I will help, because of you Alys."

My eyes shot up instantly.

"We failed you back then. We all did. No one believed you. No one listened to you. No one saw what was going on behind closed doors. Your case was one of the reasons I transitioned from City Manger to Mayor. After your case was made public, there was demands for an investigation into OCS and other systems. There was an outrage to hold people accountable. But as the months slid by... nothing ever happened. I wanted to do better, I wanted to change how things were. But somewhere between now and then, nothing has really changed. I tried, don't get me wrong, but I'm just a Mayor. Laws like that are bigger than me. And every time I tried to back a bill, support a new law- it was shot down. It was always your face haunting me when that would happen..."

Bert rose from his desk and approached me. He held out the folder for me to take.

"I will not help because my son and a girl are asking me to break the laws." Those steady somber eyes held mine. "I will help because it is the right thing to do."

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A/N:

Thanks for being patient like always.

Next chapter is half way written up, I'm shooting for next week. Time to revisit Hayden and his last moments kissing Alys. Ha!

Also, thanks again to all who are helping me with my work being stolen. I can't stress how amazing you all are and it means the world to me to have such support.