My friend helped me inside, and onto her couch. We sat there in silence for a while, her clock ticking being the only sound. I stared at the muted TV, which was showing some cooking show where an overly excited woman was making pies. Neither of us were watching the show, we were deep in our thoughts. After we had sat there for a while, I finally asked, "Where are your parents?"

"On vacation." She looked at me. "Your thinking about them, aren't you?"

I nodded, more tears staining my face. "Usually I don't even give a thought about them. All they usually are to me is dead, but today I thought about them as they were alive."

My friend embraced me in a big hug. "It's okay." She said reassuringly. "At least your parents cared about you."

I hugged her back. We were both crying now. The world was overwhelming and violent to us. The only caring thing we knew was each other.

"We could go visit them." My friend said, releasing me from the tight hug.

"Thanks, Elis, but my stepdad would be pretty mad if we did."

"True." She remarked.

"So, where are your parents off to?" I asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Austria. They're visiting my uncle. Of course they didn't invite me, but at least I'm free from their abuse for a month." She smiled.

"A month?"

"Yep."

"Did they leave you any money for food or whatever? You are to young to get a job."

"Nope, they left nothing for me. Thankfully, I've been saving up for this." She held up her wallet. As she did this, I noticed a large cut up her arm.

"You really need to call Child Protective Services!" I exclaimed.

"No, they would just put me with an even worse family, and I don't want that."

"I might be able to convince him to let you live with us."

"He would never say yes. You know that, Venus."

"He can be unpredictable. You could at least live in my apartment."

She shook her head. "Maybe some day, but I can take it for now."

I sighed, "You are too stubborn."

"I know!" We both began to laugh. I looked down at my watch. It was currently 1:58. My stomach growled.

"Do you want to go get some lunch?" I asked.

"Sure, we could go to the diner… Or…" She stood up and led me into the kitchen. She opened a cabinet and a landslide of mini cream filled cakes, chocolate bars, and an assortment of cookies came flowing out.

I smiled at Elis.

After rapidly eating all kinds of sweets, we shoved the remaining food into the cupboard, and plopped down on her bed. Her room had a beautiful view of all of Gravity Falls out of a large window that led off to a balcony.

I got off her bed and jumped into a pile of stuffed animals by the window.

"So, what did you do today?" Elis asked.

"Some kid set me up on a blind date." I replied.

"Ooo, give me details." Elis asked like a stereotypical girl our age.

"I was set up with some kid who was around our age. He at least knew about the true GF." I threw a stuffed pig at her. She caught it and asked, "So, did you like him?"

"As a friend, sure. I'm like incapable of love after the incident."

She threw the pig back at me. I narrowly dodged it and retaliated with a pink stuffed bear.

"I really doubt that," She said between throws and catches. Suddenly, my phone rang. I picked it up, wondering who it could be.

My phone was glowing with a golden light. It was him.

"Sorry," I said to Elis, "I need to take this."

She nodded. I reluctantly pressed the answer button and was answered by the usual twisted voice.

Elis POV

Venus walked out on the porch, not wanting me to hear the conversation. I sat there, thinking through what she had said earlier.

Could I really live with her? I was deep in thought. If I moved in to her apartment in Mt. Hood, my parents could never hurt me again. We could live like how I was living for the rest of our lives. I could learn magic with her, help her out at the healing tree, I could live how I had always wished. He could protect us from my parents, but he may not want me.

Being abused by him would be worse than being abused by my parents, and I knew deep inside that I could never leave for good. I could fix our family, if I tried hard enough. I could either become the perfect child they always wanted, or I could hire a counselor. That still wouldn't be as great as living with Venus and her stepdad.

My mind was swirling like a hurricane, so I didn't notice when Venus came back inside.

"Elis?" I didn't respond. "ELIS?" She said louder. This snapped me out of my trance.

"Huh?" I replied.

She sighed, then smiled. "I have to go to the tree, do you want to come?"

"Can I?" I was worried that her guardian would destroy me if I went to a sacred place like there.

"He wants you to come for some reason." She shrugged

"Alright then." I stood up and grabbed my messenger bag from the hook by my window. "What do I need to bring?"

"Okay," she replied, "I think I remember it all. Do you have an empty notebook?"

"Yeah?" I picked up a composition book from my desk.

"Good. What about a fountain pen?"

I held one up.

"What ink cartridges do you have?"

I picked up a box off my desk and looked through it, announcing all the colors of ink I had, "…red, purple, blue, a few blacks, gold, and light blue. Why?"

She ignored me as I threw the ink in my bag. "Alright, this one might be a little hard, but you don't happen to have a blank stuffed animal do you?"