Thanks to both iammemyself and satheroth335 for reviewing my story! It was very much appreciated! First of all, I'm going to start replying to reviews on all of my stories in each new chapter I post, so here's my first attempt:

iammemyself: Yeah, sorry about all the new characters. I was just trying to outline how different Sonic's life was... so sorry if it got a bit out of hand...
satheroth335: The people who killed them are jerks! You know they're eventually gonna get what they deserve, though.

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION BELOW!

There has been a slight change in the timeline. For those of you who have been reading my story since before May 11, 2012, I need to tell you about this. Sonic starts out as eight years old, and Milly is nine. Anyway, happy reading!

Enjoy the next chapter!

Chapter Three

Sonic had actually survived more than a whole week with Frank, although he definitely didn't come out of it unscathed. Sonic finally was able to go to the hospital and get the stitches out of his torso on Friday, but he was under directions to keep the bandages on for another full week, something Frank could definitely use to his advantage, but Sonic would rather have his wounds heal than let Frank have one less way to pick him up. However, he also had to get new cuts and bruises taken care of while he was there. He was asked about how those things happened, but he just said that he fell down a flight of concrete stairs a couple days beforehand. "Quite some fall," one of the doctors commented.

Sonic was faced with quite a predicament, however. He had to go through the whole entire summer with Frank telling him everything to do. He wasn't looking forward to that. At all. And he was guessing that what he had seen on Sunday was only the beginning of what would happen if Sonic refused to do something. Luckily for Sonic, however, Frank hadn't been drinking the past two nights, and while he was still mean to Sonic, he wasn't the angry drunk that had beaten him up on Sunday night and the other nights.

At eight o'clock in the morning on Monday, Sonic was sleeping soundly, but he was soon woken up by Frank's yelling. "Get out of bed, you lazy bum!" Sonic sat straight up in his bed, and Frank was on the other couch, drinking a can of Coke. "Time for you to make me breakfast!" Sonic rubbed his eyes and stretched while yawning, and then he got up from his bed and walked into the kitchen. "Gimme three eggs and five strips of bacon, boy!" With how much of a pig he lived like, Sonic expected the man to eat like a pig, too, but luckily for Sonic's workload, he only ate as much as the next guy.

Sonic got three eggs out of the fridge and took the package of precooked bacon out of there as well. He got out a bowl and cracked the three eggs in there, after which he used a fork to whisk them. Sonic then got a skillet out and turned on the stove, where he poured the eggs. He took five strips of bacon out of the package and stuck them on a plate, which he put in the microwave. Within only a few minutes, the breakfast was done, and Sonic brought the plate with both eggs and bacon on it out to Frank along with a fork. For his own breakfast, Sonic just grabbed a package of fudge Pop-Tarts, since Pop-Tarts and cereal were the only things Frank allowed him to eat for breakfast.

Stupid Frank… I want eggs and bacon, too… thought Sonic as he smelled the deliciousness of the cooked food. Without making a sound, before he put the package of bacon away, he took a strip out of it and shoved it in his mouth, after which he quickly put it back in the fridge where it belonged. He savored it before he sat down at the kitchen table and started eating his Pop-Tarts. He never ate in the same room as Frank. He found it scary to even talk to the man, let alone sit near him. Sonic, bored out of his mind, picked up the newspaper from the table, and the front page article caught his attention because of two pictures above it.

"Those burglars… They're the ones who…" he said to himself. He didn't even finish his sentence. It would have been too emotional for him if he had. The pictures were of the two burglars who had burnt down his house. The title of the article read "Two rampant burglars caught and in custody". The article said that the two men would go from house to house, stealing valuable items and committing murder and arson, among other horrendous crimes. As of that newspaper's publication, which was two days before Sonic read it, the men were on death row and scheduled for the next day. This made Sonic let out a long sigh of relief. The burglars got what was coming to them.

"Thank goodness for that…" he said quietly. He didn't want Frank to come even close to hearing anything he said at any time unless it was a reply to something Frank had said, as that was one of Frank's de facto rules. Sonic finished eating his Pop-Tarts in partial happiness, but he still wished that his parents and Sam were alive. "Boy! Come get my plate…! And get me a beer, too!" No… No, no, no, no! Not a beer… I'm doomed…

Sonic sighed and walked over to the fridge, where he grabbed a bottle of beer for his uncle. He walked out to the living room, where he took the empty plate and gave the bottle to Frank, after which he quickly ran back into the kitchen. He hated the smell of liquor, and he hated the sight of Frank drinking it even more, because he knew that, within maybe half an hour, Frank would soon turn into that angry drunk that Sonic had a run-in with on Sunday.

In only five minutes, Sonic heard Frank say the words he dreaded even more than "get me a beer". "Get me another beer!" he yelled. "Make that two!" Sonic felt like he was about to cry. It was beginning again. The dreadful experience was once again starting, and there was nothing Sonic could do about it but fuel it, which made him feel less than powerless, if that was even possible. Sonic reluctantly opened the fridge once again and grabbed another two bottles, which he quickly brought out to Frank.

"You'd better not refuse to get me a drink again, boy…" started Frank before he opened the bottle, letting even more of the awful odor of liquor into the air. "If you do, you're in for more of a beating than even on Sunday. You got that, kid?" Sonic obediently nodded, holding back the tears that were going to inevitably fall. He ran back into the kitchen, and after he did, Frank turned the TV up, and it was loud enough that Sonic could actually let his tears out.

"No matter how drunk he gets, I've gotta give him his drink…" Sonic told himself. He couldn't refuse again. After a few minutes of crying, Sonic heard Frank say, "Hey, boy! I just remembered I'm out of Coke! Go buy me some!" Sonic sighed in relief as he realized that this was his ticket out of there for the time being. He walked out to the living room, where Frank shoved a twenty-dollar bill in Sonic's hand. After that, Sonic said, "I'll get your Coke and be back in an hour." Sonic hadn't quite told Frank about his super speed, so the time of an hour actually seemed plausible to Frank.

"If you're not back by then, I'll make sure you won't see daylight for at least a day." That meant that he'd beat him up so badly that he wouldn't wake up for a whole day. That wasn't something Sonic wanted to happen. Sonic nodded and walked out the front door, closing it behind him. He ran off as fast as he could in the direction of the orphanage, where he was going to visit Milly.

When he arrived at the orphanage, he knocked on the door, and he heard coming from inside, "Could you please get that, Vermillion? I have my hands full right now." That was the director of the orphanage, and Sonic could tell just from how she called Milly "Vermillion". She had never become very fond of the raccoon's nickname, or anybody's nickname for that matter. Milly opened the door, and he smiled when he saw who was there. "Sonic! What a surprise! Really! Come on in! Mrs. Mutti said that, after what happened, you're welcome here anytime." Mrs. Mutti was the orphanage director, the same one that had asked Milly to get the door.

Sonic walked in and said to Milly, "I can only stay here for about forty minutes, though. I've gotta get Frank some Coke from the store within the next hour." Sonic's eyes widened as he fully processed what Milly had said at the door. "Wait!" he whispered frantically. "You didn't tell Mrs. Mutti about Frank, right?" Milly shook his head and whispered back, "Of course not. I told you I'd play it safe." After that, Mrs. Mutti herself walked into the main room of the orphanage, where Sonic and Milly were standing. She was a stout female human, about five-foot-four, and she had light brown hair and glasses. However, she was by no means an old woman, as some stereotypical orphanage ladies are depicted. She was only about in her late thirties.

"Oh, Ogilvie! How nice to see you!" She scanned him as she always did, upon which she noticed the cuts and bruises all over the hedgehog's body. "Oh, my! How did all that happen?" Sonic scratched the back of his head, trying to appear as modest as possible as he replied, "Heh. I just took a tumble down the stairs at school. It was no big deal." Mrs. Mutti raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "That's what the bandages are for, too?" she asked.

"N-no…" stuttered Sonic. "Those… Th-th-those are from… They're from…" Sonic couldn't say it. He couldn't say what had happened. To keep him from having to force it out, Milly whispered to Mrs. Mutti so Sonic couldn't hear, "Those are for his injuries from when his family died…" Mrs. Mutti nodded and said, "I see… Well, you two boys have fun, now! It's time for breakfast for the little ones, so I must be going now. It was nice to see you, Ogilvie."

Sonic rolled his eyes once she left and said, "I hate how she still calls me Ogilvie after all this time." Milly chuckled and responded, "How do you think I feel? I live with her and she still doesn't call me Milly. I still can't believe Vermillion was the best name my parents could come up with when they left me on the porch of this place." They both chuckled, and then they went upstairs to the children's entertainment room, where all of the older orphans, about seven of them, gathered during the day. When they saw Sonic, they all got excited, since Sonic and Liz were the only people who would visit the orphanage on a regular basis.

"How's it going, Sonic?" asked one of the orphans. "How are the cuts healing?" asked another. Sonic was being stormed with questions, most of which he answered with a "good" or "fine". "Okay, guys, settle down," said Milly with a smile on his face. Milly was like an older brother figure to most of the orphans since he was the oldest one there, and everyone gladly listened to him, especially when he had something important to say. All of the orphans quieted down, and Milly spoke to Sonic. "Okay, Sonic, I have something to tell you. I know I said I'd play it safe, but, and everyone here is sworn to secrecy, I told them about Frank."

Sonic was about to freak out on Milly when the raccoon continued, "I did that so you'd have more than just me and Liz if you ever needed a shoulder to cry on… Not literally of course… I'm about the only one whose shoulder you can actually cry on, but either way, we're all here for you. You have our full support, buddy." Sonic, who was angry only moments ago, was now touched. He had a whole group of people who cared about him, and they would help him if he ever needed it. There weren't enough words in the dictionary for Sonic to thank Milly, so he just hugged him and started crying tears of joy.

"Thank you, Milly," he finally said after five seconds. "You have no idea what this means to me." Milly smiled and responded, "Actually, I do, or I wouldn't have done it for you." They released each other, and Milly said, "Okay, so who wants to help him right now by playing some Melee with him?" Almost all of the children immediately started saying, "Me, me, me, me, me!" And with that, Sonic, Milly, and all of the other children gathered around the TV.

After half an hour of playing, Sonic had to unfortunately leave. "Why do you have to go, Sonic? Can't you stay longer?" asked one of the younger boys. Sonic shook his head and answered, "If I'm not back home in twenty minutes, Frank's gonna beat me up. I really wish I could stay here longer, but I just can't." Before Sonic walked downstairs with Milly, all the children said the word "bye" in unison. "Well, see ya, Sonic," Milly sadly said at the front door. They hugged each other one more time, and once they released each other, Sonic said, "I'll try to come by as often as I can. Thanks so much for that, Milly. Knowing I have that many people willing to help… It makes me feel a lot better. I'll try to persuade Frank that it's gonna take longer than this to get whatever he needs next."

They waved good-bye to each other as Sonic walked out the door and ran in the direction of the grocery store. When he arrived at the store, he ran back to the aisle where the pop was kept and grabbed two twelve-packs of Coke. He took them up to the cash register, where they rang up at sixteen dollars. Sonic, since he wasn't allowed to have much at Frank's house, bought a Hershey's bar for an extra dollar, and he was just going to tell Frank that the pop had cost seventeen dollars. He walked the pop and the chocolate bar outside, after which he set the two cases of pop down and quickly ate the chocolate so he wouldn't be seen with it when he got back to Frank's. It tasted so good that he wanted another, but he knew that he wouldn't have enough time to eat another one and still get back in time.

He grabbed both cases of pop off the ground and ran toward Frank's house. When he arrived, he opened the front door to see a woozy Frank sitting on the couch in almost the exact same position he was when he left. He walked through the living room, around the sheet, and into the kitchen, where he put the cans of Coke in the fridge. When he was done, he sat at the kitchen table for a few minutes before Frank commanded, "Another beer!" while slurring his words a lot. Sonic once again reluctantly got up and grabbed his uncle yet another beer. He gave the beer to Frank, and after he did, he summoned up the courage to ask, "H-h-h-how many have you had? I'm not trying to refuse or anything. I'm just curious."

Frank opened up the bottle and took a big gulp out of it before responding, "This is my… fifth one…" Sonic's eyes widened at the sheer amount of alcohol the man had consumed. He drank four whole twenty-ounce bottles in an hour? That didn't even seem right to Sonic. "Holy crap…" said Sonic under his breath. "You drink way too much…" However, Frank had heard this, and he set his drink down on the lampstand before kicking Sonic straight in the face, sending the blue hedgehog flying backward with a yelp of pain.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say that, Frank!" exclaimed Sonic, trying to save himself from what was inevitable. Frank menacingly walked up to him and said, "Well you shouldn't have said it, then, because you're in for a world of hurt, bitch!" He took a knife out of his pocket and slashed at Sonic's face, drawing blood from his cheek and lips, and the child let out another agonized cry. Satisfied with the amount of blood, but not the amount of bruises, Frank put the pocket knife back and started to beat the kid with his fists.

By the time he was done, Sonic's face and some of his torso, along with his hands, were smeared with blood, and Sonic himself was nothing more than a whimpering and bruised child on the ground. He was curled up in a fetal position, doing nothing but crying. "That's better…" said Frank as he walked over to the front door. "I'm going to work, kid, and you'd better behave when I get back if you know what's good for you." He walked out the door, leaving only Sonic in the house. "Why did I have to say that…?" Sonic asked himself. He had no good answer for himself, only that Frank was getting progressively worse.

He painfully stood up and grabbed the picture from his lampstand. "Mommy… Daddy… I wish you were here right now…" He set the picture down and walked over to the bathroom, where he took off his bandages, climbed in the shower, and turned on the warm water. While it stung, it was at least washing the blood off. He washed off, dried off, and wrapped his bandages back up on himself, after which he noticed that the gash on his face still hadn't stopped bleeding. He ripped off a piece of his bandages and applied it to his face with tape. He couldn't very well say anything while the bandage was over his mouth, but he knew that was for the better.

He walked out to his bed and got in it, because even though it was only nine thirty, he was going to need as much sleep as possible…