Back in her hometown of Dimmsdale, Vicky has a reputation for being the embodiment of evil, one she maintains for the fun of it. Seeing her ex-charges faces when she goes home to visit is priceless, not to mention it's easy to get anything for free with so many people afraid of her. No way was she letting that perk go to waste. Yeah she'd been harsh on them, borderline cruel, but hey that's life once you get out on your own. If their parents weren't going to teach them that then she might as well do it, better they learn it before they need it than the other way around. She'd wished someone did that for her cause the way she learned it for herself sucked. Okay so the emotional scarring she left wasn't a great alternative but once she left town they all seemed to do fine. Once in a while she hopped on a couple social media sites to check up on them (she will go to her grave denying it or send you to yours if you ask). Most of them turned out well, couple had issues that an evil babysitter couldn't help with, but all in all they had more sense than most of their friends and took a lot less shit from the idiots out there now that they were older. It gave her the weirdest sense of pride.
Only kid she ever worried about was the Turner kid. His parents weren't right in the head, took all of ten minutes for them to go from 'precious gift from above' to 'we're free'. Other parents asked for references before letting her watch their kids, they were bogus but she still had them, his didn't ask her a single question before running off into the sunset. They paid her a small fortune over the six years she watched their son, way more than she charged actually. How they made enough to pay her like that, go out all the time, and go on vacation every other week was beyond her but as long as she was paid she didn't care. Didn't take much to make them happy, be sickly sweet, a few smiles, it was too easy working for them. For a while their lack of care didn't bother her, it was similar to her own childhood actually. Granted her parents came around about the time her sister was born but before that they left her to her own devices.
But it's different; being loved and adored then suddenly losing that does a number on someone's head. It showed with the kid too. Parents that only paid him any attention when it suited them meant his friendships were stronger, he was protective of them, more so than a lot of people. There wasn't a decent way to explain it. Bullies, evil adults, he'd stand up to them for the sake of his friends no matter the cost, some way to make up for how his parents treated him maybe. Kid tried his hardest to earn their love and approval over the years, it was the saddest thing to watch. From what she could gather from observing the family Mrs. Turner has disappointed she didn't have a daughter, there might be a bit of resentment with her husband for never trying again. As for the dad he was harder to figure out, chances were the man's obsessive caretaking those first few years was a fluke. But that's just one woman's opinion seeing two parents finding any excuse possible to dump their kid on her. Things for him didn't improve after she left either.
Yes she checked in on him a bit more often, the Turner kid was her pet project although must people saw it as him being her favorite prey. If he was busy hating her it took his mind off how shitty his home life was. Problem was no matter how badly she treated them he never ended up hating her, guy actually defended her online. At sixteen he stopped trying to get things back to normal with his family, seventeen the pitiful crush on that rich girl finally ended, and he moved out with a friend on his eighteenth birthday. Took his parents four months to notice he wasn't living there anymore.
Things with Tootie were better, same for her sister's friendship with the Turner kid, and for some reason told him how to get in contact with her. Wasn't much, a few messages back and forth a couple times a month to ask how she's doing, how's life, all that. Biggest shock during one of their exchanges was finding out her sister's crush, still going strong, was all for nothing. Turner was dating one of his friends, blonde kid she used to look after. Two dorks in love, nauseatingly sweet is what it is. Blondie's dad was cool with it; old man always was the supportive, loving parent every kid dreamed of. She never asked if his parents knew or not, did ask that he tell her sister so she'd quit chasing after him though. The conversation after Tootie found out was awkward, really awkward. Someone was still into that yaoi b.s.
Last week she went back to visit her family, while she was there the twerp showed up at the house to talk to her. Said that it took a while for him to figure out how harsh she'd been was some weird affection. Everything she did was done for a reason, they weren't good reasons, her methods were terrible, but she'd tried to help. He actually thanked her for what she did, made his childhood hell, but he was a stronger person for it. It made accepting his parents' indifference towards him easier. Why he felt the need she'd never understand, she didn't want his thanks just to know he'd be able to stand on his own feet. They talked for a bit, asking how he and Blondie were doing, teasing him about wedding bells and her sister going from stalker to creepy fangirl, it was a nice chat. Nice to know she didn't screw one of them up with her backwards methods, especially one who was already dealt a shitty hand.
That was the first and last time they'd ever talk like they were friends, or could potentially be friends. Or as he put it, she was his evil big sister. It was flattering. She never got to tell him that, sucks that the last thing you think about are those words you wish you'd said.