Joey Graceffa

A Fresh Start

---------------------------------------2 Years Later---------------------------------------

KATIE'S P.O.V

The last two years have been the best years of my life. I finally got over my fear of Sawyer and felt safe enough to leave the house with all my friends and to buy a new home with Joey. We've bought a lovely house in The Valley and now share it with our young daughter Emily.

Despite these being the best years of my life; some pretty crappy things have happened.

Megan and Jimmy broke up, and I sadly lost contact with both of them. The medical examiner found some evidence that Chelsea's death may not have been a suicide and now a full-blown investigation of her death has begun. The investigation has been hard not only on Chelsea's family but me as well. I have interrogated multiple times in the hope that I could provide some information that can assist in figuring her death out and it is taking a serious toll on my mental health. I've been going in and out of minor depression, and I was recently diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder. But as cheesy and gross as this sounds; I felt much better when I am with Joey. Somehow he provides me with the happiness I need to go on with my life.

Luckily, these crappy situations have somewhat been balanced out by some great resolutions to previous issues, the biggest problem being Shane. A couple of years ago he told Joey that he was gay and that he loved him, but since then Shane came to the realisation that he falls more in the middle of the spectrum and identifies ad bi-sexual. He confessed that his obsession with Joey was him snapping after all those years of keeping a part of himself hidden. Now he is in a happy relationship with his amazing boyfriend Ryland, and we are all great friends.

The last two years have been somewhat of an emotional rollercoaster ride for me and having Joey by my side has kept me grounded; I don't know what I would do without him.

But I feel as though I might need to start figuring out how I would.

I hate assuming things of people, but at times I can't help it. And recently I have begun to suspect that Joey may be lying to me. I can't quite pinpoint what yet, but something just feels a bit off. Almost like he's actively trying to hide something from me. I like to think that it's just me over-analysing the way in which he's been acting, but I just can't shake the feeling that he's hiding something.

"Hey, Katie, you alright?" Joey asks as he walks into the room.

I'm sitting on the couch staring blankly at the television which hasn't even been turned on.

"Yeah, I'm alright, just a bit tired."

"You can't be 'just a bit tired' every single time I ask if you're alright."

"Well, I don't know what else you want me to say then. I'm tired. End of story."

"Hey, I didn't mean to offend you or anything, it's just that I feel like you don't talk to me anymore," Joey says.

"What do you mean, I talk to you all the time?"

"You know what I meant. You don't talk to me about what's going on, stuff that's bothering you or anything."

"I know, I just don't want to burden you with my issues," I respond.

"You know for a fact that I would never feel burdened by what's troubling you. You can trust me."

"Joey, not now."

"What do you mean 'not now'?"

"I'm just not up for this conversation at the moment," I answer.