24 years ago — Jamie: 4 years old

The staff weren't fond of Tyler, but he was one of the children needing the most help. Nobody knew why he was at Kollon, not even the staff. They asked him where his parents were, but he refused to tell them. When they searched for him in the system, there were no records of his birth nor names of his parents associated with him; he called himself Tyler.

Unfortunately, he didn't have the greatest reputation either—he was not a safe child to be around.

Peeking into the girl's bathroom.

Beating up another kid for taking his pencil; the child needed surgery.

Playing with himself in front of the girls during lunch hours.

Fighting a staff.

Breaking windows, doors, putting holes in walls.

The list went on and on. Weirdly enough though, Tyler took a liking to Jamie and vice versa. The first time they met, Tyler had been walking towards the cafeteria when Jamie stormed around a corner in a hurry, almost knocking him over. But it caught his attention when Jamie completely stopped, bowed his head and muttered, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hit into you! I was just..." The way his face contorted with such fright, as if he was expecting a beating, made Tyler's heart sink. "I want to get to the line first because everyone goes there and it ends up being really long and all the older kids push us away from the line and I—"

"Do you think I'm gonna hit you?" Tyler asked bluntly. When Jamie flinched, inhaling a sharp breath and slowly nodding his head, Tyler couldn't help but feel sorry for him. That was why he grabbed him by the collar, pulling him under his arm and began walking with him. "I'll get you in front of the line, let's go together."

Around Jamie, Tyler was different. He behaved, wanted to withhold a mature appearance and cared for him in a way people had never seen before. His attitude shifted, his eyes seemed to smile a bit more even though the grey irises always appeared somber and cold. During lunch hours, Jamie would rush towards his table and rant about all he had done in the morning and Tyler always talked about the mischiefs he thought about. It occurred repeatedly, day free day, TBE two became inseparable

This one time, Jamie rushed beside Tyler, ecstatically waving his hand. But Tyler did not seem happy at all; he did not smile, instead continued to chew on his food and waited until Jamie sat across from him.

Jamie frowned, his usual bright blue eyes becoming somber. "What's wrong?"

"Jamie," Tyler leaned forward, "you like girls, don't you?"

Jamie shrugged his shoulders; that was a topic he was always embarrassed to talk about. He did not like being around girls, they were boring and all girly—but he did find a few of them beautiful. There was Cassidy with long blond hair, Stacey with ginger curls that bounced from her shoulders, even Sarah that had dimples poking in her cheeks whenever she smiled, but she was much older than him. All of them were gorgeous, and he did catch himself staring at them a few times.

But they were girls and girls were gross. All they did was complain and want to play with dolls—Jamie liked race cars and soccer. They always complained that it was too aggressive, or that he pushed them too hard. That was why Jamie didn't actually like girls.

"Come on, answer me."

Jamie scratched the side of his face. "I m-mean," he chuckled quietly, his cheeks flared red when he admitted, "they're pretty." And in an instant, he furrowed his brows, "but no, girls are boring. They're no fun—"

"No," Tyler snorted, shaking his head, "I didn't mean it like that Jamie."

After a short pause, Jamie again raised an eyebrow, "Then what did you mean?"

"Do you want to kiss girls?"

His face flared red instantly, and Jamie glanced elsewhere. He was only four years old—those were not conversations he usually had. "No! That's gross!"

"Come on," Tyler smirked wickedly, "you don't want to do things with them?"

"Do things like what?"

"Have sex." When Tyler saw Jamie's face twist in confusion, he chuckled before widening his fingers, "Look." With only his index finger up, he made a circle with his other hands. "This finger is you," he then motioned to his other hand, "girl's have things that are called vaginas. The finger is supposed to..." he shoved his finger through the circle and continued a thrusting motion, "...do that."

Jamie nodded his head, but soon after, he shook it. After a short pause, he asked, "What do you mean the finger is me?"

"You do know what the thing between your legs is, right? Or are you too much of a baby?"

"I'm not a baby!"

"Well, listen closely," Tyler leaned forward and whispered, "Sex is when your penis goes in the girl's vagina." He then returned in his seat and winked, "It feels great."

Even though Jamie was eager to continue this conversation and learn more, lunch was over and he was left to ponder with all these discoveries by himself. It was only the next day when he saw Tyler again, and Tyler this time asked, "What about boys? Do you like boys?"

These were conversations that continued for months, and by the end of the summer, Jamie had started getting himself in trouble once again. He mentioned the stuff Tyler had told him to other kids, but when he tried them with the girls he thought was pretty, they called him crazy and cried.

But Tyler said it was normal, "Girls always cry—boys are better."

Without even knowing it, Jamie was completely changing into someone he never meant to become. And it was all because of this Tyler. But could you really blame him? Jamie was only four years old that year.

And Tyler was sixteen.