Where have you been?

Trouble

Adam clenched his eyes shut and pressed his hands against his ears. It was too much and he couldn't take it anymore. Tears were rolling down his cheeks, but he didn't know how to make it all stop. James was in the room with him, or at least it seemed like that. Adam didn't know whether to believe he was actually there. He didn't know what was real and what wasn't. Was James really there? Was the dog that was attacking the blonde really there? Was the knife Adam was holding really there? He knew he could use it against the dog to protect James, but was James really there? What if he wasn't and Adam attacked a dog for nothing? What if the dog wasn't there and he'd somehow end up hurting his boyfriend.
'ADAM, PLEASE HELP!' James screamed as he tried dodging the dog. He failed and the dog sank his teeth into the blonde's arm, making him scream in pain. Adam shook his head. What was real and what wasn't? He didn't know. The chaos, the confusion, the fear, the worry, it was all too much. He wanted it to stop. Make it stop! He raised the knife up to his stomach, but didn't point it to the dog. Instead it was aimed at himself.
Was he really doing this? It seemed like it was the only way to stop it. To stop the chaos and confusion. Adam screamed and fell to his knees, dropping the bloody knife to the floor. It hurt. It hurt so bad. But at least, eventually, things seemed to become darker and quieter. Though he could've sworn he heard a door open and someone swearing before he blacked out.

'That is quite the story...' Jaiden said eventually. James had told his friends everything Adam told him. The dark haired boy was still upstairs, trying to rest a little. His panic attack had drained most of his energy, but after James managed to calm him down, Adam had told the blonde to tell his story to their friends, and to the police.
'Was it just you, or other people too?' Rebecca asked.
'He said it was all his friends and family, but me most of the time.' The blonde replied.
'Not very surprising considering he's your boyfriend.' Jaiden replied.
'We should tell the police.' James said.
'Wait a moment, James... How do we know for sure it's true?' Maaz asked.
'Maaz! What the hell are you talking about! Why the heck do you think he would be lying?' Jaiden asked.
'I'm not necessarily saying he's lying, it's just... a lot happened and he might just be very confused. I can't imagine that's how Dr. Diabolus does his research.' Maaz explained.
'I'm sorry we're accusing your celebrity crush here, Maaz, but this is some serious crap! I trust Adam and I'm going to go to the police with this story! If the guy is innocent he's got nothing to be afraid of!' James snapped. He wasn't usually the type of person to snap at his friends, but they were still talking about the guy that did those awful things to Adam.
'It's not about whether or not he gets in trouble when he's innocent,  it's about the fact it'll ruin the reputation of a great scientist.' Maaz tried.
'I don't care! Imagine if he did do it! Are you really just gonna let him get away with it?! I don't think so!' James snapped before heading to the front door and slamming it shut behind him. He only hoped officer Miller would be more willing to listen than Maaz.

'That's quite the accusation, James.' Officer Miller said.
'I know, I truly believe Adam is telling the truth. You should've seen him, he was struggling so much to talk about it, to think back to it. He's been my boyfriend for so long, I know that he wasn't pretending. He was genuinely panicked.' James explained.
'I'm not saying I don't believe you. I'm just showing my surprise. We'll look into it, but without any details such as locations, I'm not sure how much we can do. If he's really been doing these kind of things, he's been doing it in such a way that it was very well hidden. We'll see what we can do.' Officer Miller explained as he opened the door to let James out.
'Thank you...' James said as he left the office.
'It's our job.' Officer Miller replied before closing the door behind James, leaving the blonde alone in the hallway.
"He doesn't believe me..." James thought. He sighed before leaving the police station. He didn't know what else to do. The only hope he had, was that officer Miller would indeed look into it. But if he didn't...

Maaz was eagerly taking notes, writing down as much of what Dr. Diabolus said as he could. He was really interested in everything the wise man said, but a part of him was feeling more nervous every second. He'd been nervous about the possibility that Adam was right when he entered, but now it appeared that the subject of the research was indeed what Adam had said it was going to be.
'That'll be it. If you want a review, you can always read the paper I published on it. But for now, that'll be it. Are there any more questions?' Dr. Diabolus asked.
A couple people raised their hands to ask questions, but Maaz didn't hear a single one of the answers. Should he do it? Eventually he raised his hand.
'Yes?' Dr. Diabolus said as he pointed at the Australian boy.
'How did you get to these results, since it's hard for me to imagine a way to get these findings, without actually seeing these reactions on real people?' Maaz asked. Even from the distance he was sitting at, Maaz could tell the doctor was a little uneasy.
'It's a complicated process, but I can reassure you no unethical experiments were a part of it.' He replied eventually.
'Yet you describe a very detailed reaction, despite the fact you claim no social or psychological experiments happened?' Maaz added.
'As most of you probably know, I like to keep my methods a secret. But I can tell you this, you'd be surprised how accurately you can predict a reaction just based in some personality traits and a good understanding of how the human brain works. But I like how sharp you are. What is your name?' Dr. Diabolus asked.
'Maaz...' The Australian boy replied.
'I like your spirit, Maaz. It's good to question things. It's the only way we learn new things.' Dr. Diabolus gave Maaz a smile, but the Australian boy didn't smile back. There was something shady about this guy.

Maaz felt a little odd as he left the building. Sure, the presentation had had a lot of interesting information, but if Adam was right about how they got that information, it wasn't worth it to know these things.
'Maaz it was, right?' A voice behind him called. Maaz turned around and saw Dr. Diabolus come towards him.
'Yeah, that's me...' The Australian boy replied.
'I wanted to talk to you. According to the teachers at the university here, you're a phenomenal student. They say you're really talented. I'm always looking for young people to join my team. I know it might come a bit out of the blue, but if you would consider working for me, let me know.' Dr. Diabolus said as he handed Maaz his business card.
'But I'm still a student.' Maaz replied rather confused.
'Oh, as long as you're not graduated, I won't put to much work on you. I just wanna grab the good ones for my team before they're gone. Besides, it'd give you a lot of research experience.'
'I'm actually more aiming for a job at a hospital, rather than a research team.'
'You can always go work in a hospital when you graduate, but I'm sure once you get into my team for a while, you just won't wanna leave. Ofcourse it's your decision. I'm just saying that it'd be a good path to follow that'll help you along in your career. Think about it and give me a call when you figure it out. I'm afraid I have to go now.' Dr. Diabolus turned around and walked away before Maaz had the chance to say another word. He honestly wasn't interested in a research job and he didn't want to work with a potential criminal. But if he took the job, maybe he could figure out for himself if Adam was right.

Adam and James were sitting by the cliff. The sun was setting and their date night was coming to an end. They hadn't heard from officer Miller again, but they both hoped that the police would actually do an investigation.
'Hey, Adam... I have good news.... and also bad news....' James said.
'What is it?' Adam asked a little worried.
'The good news is, I have a little surprise for you... the bad news is, I forgot it at home...'
'That's okay, Angel. You can give it to me later. Than I have time to get you a surprise as well. We can't have you ahead of me.'
'This isn't a competition, Adam... You don't need to surprise me back... but I do wanna give it to you now, and since we don't live that far, is it okay if I quickly go get it?'
Adam kissed the blonde on his forehead and smiled.
'Don't leave me waiting here for too long, okay Angel?' He said.
James gave him a smile of his own before pecking the dark haired boy's lips and getting up.
'I'll be right back.' He said before he disappeared between the trees.
Adam stretched his arms and back before laying down on the ground and looking at the sky. Despite the fact that sun hadn't fully set, there were already stars visible. They sparkled in the orange sky like Christmas lights in an autumn tree.
Adam didn't know how long he was laying there, but he knew it wasn't as long as it felt. Suddenly he heard the bushes behind him shaking.
'I'm glad you're back, so what's my... oh, hey Maaz... how did you know I was here?' Adam sounded slightly disappointed when he turned around, but his disappointment was soon replaced with worry when he saw the Australian boy run up to him in a panick, panting from running all the way uphill to the cliff.
'Adam... you n-need to come!' Maaz said, panting heavily.
'Calm down, Maaz... What's the problem?' Adam asked worriedly.
'No time, you... you need to... to come, Adam... It's James! He's in trouble!' Maaz panted.