Chapter 1: Simon

“Pretend I’m a mirror you’re looking into,” she asks him, her tone more demand than request.

“Is this were I ‘be the tree’ because this feel a lot like yoga to me,” Simon asks, “Sitting still isn’t one of my strong personality traits. I’d hate to be a disappointment on our first date.”

Dr. Adams pauses, jotting something down on her notebook before saying, “This isn’t about me, Simon. This is about you. I’m supposed to be helping you. I’m not important.”

“That can’t be a healthy way for you to think,” he tells her, “Maybe you should be the one pretending I’m a mirror? Or you could get the black and white cards! Who doesn’t love depicting ink blots?” he snarked.

She spoke a soft, “Simon,” before sighing and continuing her thoughts.

“I know you don’t want to talk to me. No one ever does in these situations. But I give you my word that I’m only trying to help you get better.”

Simon picked at his thumb nail before speaking. “There is nothing wrong with me. I was attacked. People get attacked all the time,” he looked up from his hand, making direct eye contact with Dr. Adams.

Having only been in the same room with this woman five minutes, he had concluded three things:
1.)She had this weird left eye twitch every time he answered a question and she didn’t like the answer.
2.)She bought all her clothes from tacky, second hand stores. That sweater hadn’t been in style since he was nine, and Simon knew fashion.
3.)He was never getting home if he didn’t remember what happened and fast.

He definitely wasn’t taking his Physics text tomorrow. Damn.

Chapter 2: Lucas

Officer Jermimiah hated cases with attack victims.

The boy who sat in the hospital bed couldn’t have been over sixteen, and had already been through such a traumatic event in his life. All he wanted to do was catch the bastard who did this. Monsters like that didn’t deserve to be on his streets.

Jermimiah walked into Interrogation Room 1. It smelled like old coffee and metalloid. That’s the Police Department for you.

The boy behind the table seemed harmless enough, but Jermimiah knew better than to make assumptions about teenagers.

Lucas Aide was the star player of the town’s high school soccer team. He may not know what the decay form of carbon- 14 or the differences between ‘you’re’ and ‘your’ were, but he could score goals like no other.

Neither of those things concerned the Officer. His main reason for bringing him in was because he was Simon’s best friend, and one of the last people to see him.

“Lucas, why don’t you tell me what you remember from that night?” he asked, sitting down at the rusty, interrogation table.

Lucas winced, his eyes shakily pulling away to look at the table.

That’s a sign of guilt, and Officer Jermimiah knows it. He doesn’t think Lucas would hurt Simon, but he’s pretty sure he has some idea who might.

“I need to know what happened that night. This can never happen again, don’t you understand that? This is your best friend we’re talking about. Don’t you want to help catch the guy who did this?”

“It was a party,” Lucas insists, “We were celebrating ACT’s being over. I got a 23. Simon was so proud of me, so we decided to throw a party in the woods,” he says quickly.

Lucas looked destroyed, and that told the Officer he wasn’t lying.

“You really don’t know,” he sighs, taking his glasses off and cleaning them.

Shaking his head vigorously, Lucas relied a strong, “No,” before looking back to the table. We didn’t even notice Simon go missing,” he started, “I only knew after I heard him screaming and-“

“And?” Jermimiah presses.

“And Dalton went looking for him,” he replies reluctantly.

“Dalton?” he questions, “Dalton Mann? The guy arrested a month ago for a kidnapping?”

“He was found innocent,” Lucas reminded him. “They’ve been together for over a year now.”

That was his next interview. Dalton Mann was his best bet in finding Simon’s attacker, if he wasn’t the attacker himself. Jermimiah couldn’t be certain. His record went against him.

“We looked for him, I swear,” Lucas exclaimed, tears forming at the ducts. “I am his best friend and I couldn’t even protect him!” he screams, his forehead colliding with the rusted table.

“It’s okay, son,” the Officer pats him on the back as Lucas’ tears hit the tabletop.

Chapter 3: Simon

"Tell me about Dalton Mann," she asks.

"Dalton who?" Simon replies, slouching against the raised hospital bed, watching her warily.

"If you're not honest with me, I can't help you," she says.

Simon shifts his weight from left to right. His hips are still bruised so sitting in one position for too long is excruciating. His eyes leave their usual fascination with the floor and meet hers.

"What have they done to him?" he asks, maintaining composure.

"The officer on your case is bringing him in as we speak," she replies.

"No," Simon says. "He didn't do this. A monster did this." He fiddles with the necklaces he has on, the silver chain having a capital 'D' on it.

"You had serious bruising on your hips before the attack. If he's hurting you-" She begins, but Simon cuts her off.

"Dalton would never hurt me," Simon replied angrily.

Chapter 4: Dalton

Dalton sat down in front of officer Jeremiah, leaning back into the chair's embrace.

"Do you know why I brought you in here?" the officer asks, his only response being a blank stare. "Come on son," Jeremiah presses. "Help me help you."

Dalton leans in, chest against the table. "Do you really want to help me?" His tone impling he already knows the answer. "Because last time I checked, you and the rest of this town still believe I kidnapped Kayla Johnston."

The officer raised his eyebrows. "So you didn't?" He questioned.

Dalton sighed and leaned away from the table, his combat boots squeaking against the floor.

"No, I didn't," he huffed. "All I did was give the girl a ride home when it was raining," he confirmed. "She tried to hit on me and I showed her this." He held up a diamond 'S' on the chain around his neck. "I tried to explain to her that I was in a completely happy, gay relationship, and she flipped out." Pain and anger flashed across Dalton's eyes and the officer knew they were thinking the same thing.

"That b****!" Dalton snarled as Jeremiah left him, headed for the hospital.

Chapter 5: Triggered

"Why don't you tell me what you do remember happening?" Dr. Adams asked.

"We were all doing heroine and drinking scotch," Simon snarked.

"Are you always this sarcastic?" She asks him.

Simon chuckles before responding. "It's a gift. I blame Jesus and the people who make my tacos."

He narrowed his glare at Dr. Adams before coughing. "Do you smell that?" He questioned.

Kayla walked into the room, her perfume making his nose twitch.

Before Dr. Adams could turn around and greet her, she was surprised with a knife to the back. The chair fell backwards, taking the blooded remains of Dr. Adams with it.

Simon looked up from the spot on the floor where his therapist laid, and met Kayla's eyes. "It was you-" he began. "You were the one who did this to me." His voice produced a sort of growl near the end.

Kayla walked towards him, fingers tracing the white linen sheets as she went.

"Of course it was me, silly," she chuckled. She clutched Simon's wrist, ensuring his staying in the hospital bed.

"This is where the evil villain usually confesses and blurts out their plan," Simon snarked.

Kayla grabbed him by the chin, forcing his gaze to meet directly with her crystal blue one.

“He was supposed to be mine, you know? We would’ve been perfect together. But then you decided to come along and mess it all up!” she bellowed, slapping him in the process.

Simon clutched his jaw before retaliating. “He was never yours in the first place,” he glared at her. “He was always mine. Just because you formed some one-sided fixation on him, crazy!” his chest rising with each word.

She reached for the nine millimeter gun located in her right pocket, and aimed at his forehead.

Suddenly, the door comes open, banging against the wall as it went.

“Step away from him, Kayla,” the Officer said, gun meeting up with the back of her head. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if necessary.”

She dropped the gun to the floor and began to scream. “He would have been mine!” she bellowed as two police men dragged her out of the hospital room.

Dalton ran past the both of them, shoulder brushing against Kayla, causing him to look down at her. A swift slap was heard all across the hospital.

“Are you okay?” he asks,panicking hands running up and down Simon’s sides, looking for any obvious injuries. “I’m so sorry. Had I known-“

“But you didn’t, silly,” Simon chuckled. “It’s not your fault you’re irresistible.

They both chuckled before the nurse came in. “No visitors after seven.”
Dalton nodded an apology.

“I have to get going. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

Simon smiled up at his boyfriend. “Of course you will, darling. Now leave me. I must sleep. Perfect isn’t easy, yah know?” he grinned towards his boyfriend who was at the threshold of the door.

“Your perfect is all I need,” he said, winking before shutting the door.