She walked inside the house, her footsteps being the only sound she heard. The house was completely quiet and mostly dark. She expected her parents to scream at her for her revealing everything, but they weren't here. She would've wondered where they went, but she was overjoyed that she was safe. For now. She rushed up the stairs and shut the door to her room, being greeted by Sonic.

"Hey Schiza, was school okay?"

"Yeah. They didn't give me too much work, so I think I'll manage." She was still for a moment, looking at him. "I read your letter."

"Yeah, I figured you would." He was silent as well, until Schiza piped, "I do wish you were real Sonic. You're real to me but I wished you could come alive and teach my parents a lesson."

"If that happened though, I wouldn't be any better than your parents."

"What do you mean, Sonic? You know they deserved it!"

He crouched down again. "Maybe so, but beating your parents up so they can learn a lesson? I would be treating them like they treat you, and that wouldn't make me any better than them. Learn to not stoop to your enemies' level, or you just will be the same as them. Understand?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"Good. That's a lesson you should live by, Schiza. I don't want you to ever be like your parents. You're too smart and nice for that. Is that understood?"

She nodded again.

"Good. Say, I don't know where your parents are at, but that means we have full range of the house for a while. What do you want to do?"

"Can we get out the plates and teacups and have a tea party? I'm sure Rosy and Lucky would like to go too."

A tea party wasn't exactly what Sonic had in mind, but he agreed. "Sure. We can do that."

"Yay!" she cheered, as they both walked down the stairs into the kitchen.

"I don't know why we have to go to her school, Roseanna. I think Schiza told them something."

"I'm sure it's about her failing grades. That child doesn't even care about school anymore. We're going to have to do something even more drastic."

"You should've punished her. I'm sure she's back at home, destroying everything."

"Don't blame me for this! You didn't punish her either!"

"I'm not going to get into it right now, Roseanna. We're here," he said, as he drove up at the school parking lot.

As they entered the school office, they met Mrs. Runnell and Mr. Burton, who were standing beside the door to their conference room. "Mr. and Mrs. Mahogany, we've been expecting you. Come inside and we'll talk."

After they shook hands they sat down on a chair beside a very wide table, both of them giving Mr. Burton and Mrs. Runnell a dead-eyed stare.

"Thank you for coming. We wanted to talk to you because we were concerned about Schiza…"

"What is it? Is she failing her classes?" her mother spoke quickly.

"Well, no. She's actually doing quite well. The reason we called you here is that we wanted to ask you a few questions."

"What kind of questions?" Jack bluntly asked.

"They're about Schiza and her living situation. Now…"

"We always knew something was wrong with her, Mr. Burton," Roseanna interrupted. "When she was a baby, something was wrong. She had very long crying fits and no matter what I did she wouldn't go to sleep! Then when she became a toddler, she…"

"Mrs. Mahogany, we didn't even ask you a question. I think Schiza is a good kid, you have nothing to worry about."

"She always had issues, you know. I think she's sociopathic. I saw her go to the woods and kill innocent defenseless animals. I think I even saw her one time crucify a mouse!"

"Mrs. Mahogany, please! Can we ask questions about her home situation? We aren't asking about her behavior!" Mr. Burton exclaimed sternly.

Roseanna was silent, breaking her stare. Jack grunted, his brow furrowing.

"Thank you. Now, Mr. and Mrs. Mahogany, does Schiza eat breakfast and dinner everyday? I know whenever she can, she eats lunch here, but I'm wondering why she looks so skinny."

"She's anorexic. She never eats anything we give her. We even try to give her her favorite foods and she won't even eat a bite," Jack stated matter-of-factly.

"Was she always concerned about her weight?"

"Yes, because she always wanted to be like one of her favorite cartoon characters! You know, cartoons these days, making everyone so skinny! We're about at our wit's end to get her to eat!"

"But she eats lunch here, Mrs. Mahogany. If she was anorexic, she wouldn't even eat here…"

"Probably not much though, is it?"

"Actually, she eats her food like no tomorrow. She even eats the foods she doesn't like."

"And then throwing it up! She purges, you know!"

"This is ridiculous, you two," the nurse replied, a little irritated with their excuses. "From what I know of those disorders, it's extremely rare to even find a child with that condition. And I absolutely don't think Schiza fits the profile."

"Are you saying we starve her? How dare you!" Roseanna exasperated.

"We're not accusing you of that, Mrs. Mahogany! Maybe she can't eat because you have very little money to feed her…"

"We don't starve her! We treat Schiza like any other child, even if she does have problems! Don't accuse us of abusing her!" Jack screamed, pointing a finger at him.

"We weren't, Mr. Mahogany! Calm down please!"

"Yes you were! You called us here because Schiza was making stories up again, wasn't she? She's a pathological liar too! Her psychiatrist diagnosed her with that!"

"Will you two calm down! We just wanted you here so we can…"

"I've had enough! We swear to you that Schiza's fine, she's just a liar and hurts herself to make it look like we abuse her! She dwells on attention and you're not helping her with that issue! We're leaving!" Jack and Roseanna stormed out of the office door, slamming it shut. The secretaries were wondering what happened that made them so angry, as they immediately marched out of the office and back outside to the parking lot.

"I'm really positive that this is going on, Mr. Burton. If nothing was wrong, they wouldn't react like that. I just hope that bought us enough time so Mrs. Remington will be at their house by the time they arrive back."

Mr. Burton looked down on the table, sullen. "I hope so. I really do. I think Schiza is going through a lot and I wished it will end right now."

Schiza and Sonic were back inside her room, with a small table and many plates and cups arranged on it. The tea kettle and plates were plastic, not china as Schiza wished they would be. Some food was on the plates, Schiza thinking she was lucky to find small lemon snack cakes in the pantry. However, she knew it wasn't a good idea to put actual tea in the tea kettle and wasn't sure on how to make it, so she used lemonade. Her other stuffed animals, Rosy and Lucky, were wearing small doll dresses just for the party. Sonic did want to make Schiza happy, but he was glad she saved him the embarrassment.

"More tea, Sonic?" she asked, about to pour lemonade in his small cup.

"No, maybe later," he answered, as he took a bite of the lemon cake. It was only a small bite, as he thought Schiza deserved it more than him.

"Sonic, maybe you don't know, but why are you only real to me? Why are you just a toy to everyone else?"

"I really don't know, Schiza. I really don't like being a stuffed animal though. Although you hug me and everything, I can't really do anything. And I hate it. When you're away at school…" he paused. "I'm there. Alone. And when your parents come in here, I can't do much either. It sucks…"

"Yeah, I don't think I'd like to be a toy either. Especially with a boy who would probably just rip your head off."

"I'm lucky that I have you then, huh?" he said, as he took another small bite of his cake.

She stared at her food, thinking solemnly. "That's why I took Lucky with me, Sonic. Right when someone sees the toy has something like a missing eye, they get rid of it. Not me. I don't want to throw her away like she's a piece of trash."

"Your stuffed animals…and me…we're pretty much the only thing you have, aren't we?"

"Yes. I do have a few friends at school Sonic, but they don't make me feel better after my parents hurt me. They don't even know what's going on…" she mumbled.

"Did you ever tell anyone about your parents?"

"I just did today, Sonic. I told my nurse. I told my principal. They know now."

Sonic looked at her, surprised. "What are they going to do now? They should do something about this."

"I really don't know. They told me things were going to be better from now on though. I don't know how they can do that. I…I just think they want my mom and dad mad! They can't do anything!"

"But I'm sure they're very concerned, Schiza. I think they are-…"

"No!" she shouted. "They're just making things worse! They know I'm evil too! They just want to hurt me!"

"Schiza, please…" Sonic whispered desperately.

"I should've never told them! They should've never found out! I hate myself! I hate myself for telling them…"

The guilt and the self-hatred became too much for her to handle. She burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably. Sonic immediately became distressed, holding her close to his body. "Schiza, please don't cry. Please don't hate yourself…"

"My mom was right, Sonic! I'm a very bad person! I deserve all of this, except you! I don't deserve you! You're nice to me!" she yelled during sobs.

"That's not true! None of that is true, your mother is a liar!"

"I…I…" she stammered. "I wished I was dead!"

Sonic couldn't believe what she just said. It shocked him deeply. Schiza looked up at him, tears streaking her face. Sonic was completely wide-eyed, with no expression.

"Sonic…are you…okay?"

As she hugged him, she felt something wet on her hands. She quickly let go of him, observing what was on them.

It was blood.

"Sonic…what's going on? Why are you bleeding?"

His expression stayed the same as a drop of blood began to emerge from his eye. It landed on Schiza's face.

Blood began to seep from his hands, his gloves now stained and red. Schiza was now very scared, thinking her only best friend, Sonic, was dying.

"Sonic! Sonic!" she screamed. "Don't die! Please don't die! I didn't mean it, I swear!" She didn't care that his body began to bleed. She put her head against it, her hair being smeared with blood.

"I don't want to die! I really don't! Please don't die! I…I…I love you!"

He finally moved, his expression changing. The bleeding stopped, but he and Schiza were still covered with it. "Schiza? Is that you?" he asked, dazed.

"Sonic, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! I didn't want to hurt you! Please don't die!"

"What do you mean…" He was taken aback by the blood on his hands, face, and chest. "Shit! What happened, Schiza? How is there blood everywhere? Shit, shit, shit!"

"I said something very bad, Sonic. And I think you started to die."

"Your parents can't see you this way! Let's get cleaned up! Shit!" He hurried down the stairs, with Schiza in tow, rushing into the bathroom door.

Her parents walked up the driveway of their house, seeing someone they didn't recognize at all. "Shit Roseanna, someone's here! Goddamnit!"

They kept their composure when they met this lady, who looked very professional, holding a clipboard. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Mahogany, I'm Gale Remington, and I'm part of child protective services. Is it okay if I come into your house?"

Jack sighed, irritated. "Yes, it's alright."

Roseanna opened the door for her, allowing her inside. "Thank you Mrs. Mahogany, allow me to explain why I'm here. I got a call from Washington Elementary School that they're very concerned about your daughter Schiza and I want to assess the situation here. Can we sit down and talk in the living room?"

They walked into the living room, Gale noticing that both of her parents were quickly shuffling their feet to the couch, as if they were angry.

"Now, I'm going to ask you a few questions before I look around the house, okay? Where's Schiza? I think she needs to participate in this discussion."

"She's in her room. I don't think she needs to be bothered, because she has a lot of schoolwork to catch up on," her father spoke.

"Is that so? Well, how about I talk to her later then? Because it's very important I hear what she has to say."

"Don't believe everything she says. Mrs. Remington. You see, I took Schiza to the psychiatrist before and he said she was a pathological liar. She likes to make up stories on how we abuse her and never feed her, you know. She's only doing this to get attention!"

The social worker paused for a moment, writing what she said on her clipboard. "Now, about that…do you feed her when she's hungry? Do you serve her breakfast, lunch, and dinner?"

"Yes, but she very rarely eats what we give her. The child is anorexic and we just don't know what to do with her."

"She's anorexic? How old is she?"

"She's 7 years old."

"And she's anorexic?" she repeated, astonished. "Is she obsessed by how much she weighs and is worried about getting fat?"

Sonic wrung a washcloth, then began to wipe it on Schiza's face. "I don't know how this happened, Schiza. I didn't know when I'm like this I can bleed. And I think I just heard your parents come through the door. We really got to get rid of this blood or else they're going to think you just went and killed an animal."

"Yes, she is! We tried to explain it to the nurse, but Schiza always wanted to be like this cartoon character she sees on the TV. She thinks she's so fat that she's starving herself and purging just to get that skinny!"

"I see. Now, how do you correct her when she does something bad?"

"That child is always doing bad things that there's nothing we can do for her! We never allow her into the woods because she will find a random animal and kill it. She's very sociopathic that she doesn't listen to anyone, not even us!"

"But I heard from the school that Schiza is actually very well-behaved…"

"It's an act!" Roseanna screeched. "She wants you to think she's this very kind and loving child when really she just wants something from you and will do anything to get your attention! She's manipulative and she's very attention-mongering…"

"Well Mr. and Mrs. Mahogany, I want to see Schiza for myself so I can make a good analysis on her. You said she was in her room, right?"

She got up from her seat and went out into the small hallway. "Where is her room? Upstairs?"

They didn't answer her. As she took her steps up the stairs, she felt something sticky on the rails. "What on earth is…" She slowly lifted her hand off of the rail, revealing the palm of it to her eyes. It was completely smudged in blood.

"This is…blood! What's going on here!"

"I told you! I told you!" she shrieked. "She's been killing animals from the woods into her room! She's sacrificing it to Satan!"

Gale ignored her, analyzing more of the stairs. She saw at the bottom there were some drops of blood stained on the carpet. As she uncovered more blood stains she frantically rushed up the stairs, going inside her room, which she noticed at the door were many locks. As she went inside, she saw that what looked like a tea party was taking place with half-eaten lemon cakes, and a big spot of blood on the floor. She grimaced at the sight of this that she quickly shut the door.

"Something's going on here! There's a big puddle of blood in your child's room and she's not here! Mr. and Mrs. Mahogany, I'm extremely concerned and if I find out you've done something to this child…"

"We didn't do anything! My wife is right; she's been taking her killing up in her room while we weren't around! We knew she would do something like this while we were gone!"

"I highly doubt she would do something like that based on her school records! Where is she?" she demanded.

"Damn it, I can hear them! And the blood on your shirt won't come off!" Sonic furiously dabbed her shirt with the bloody washcloth, his efforts in vain.

Schiza could hear footsteps rushing towards the door. They were too late. Her parents would scream at her for the mess they caused all over the floors and the staircase. They would also find out that she told the school faculty that she was being abused. They would be boiling in rage when they see her face. She knew she was going to be punished severely or she would possibly die.

This was the end. The end of her life. Her parents would kill her and that was the end of it. Her parents were going to get away with it, and no one would hear about her again. She would be just as forgotten as the baby crow she killed with the board. She cowered in fear, tears flowing.

The social worker opened the door to the bathroom, seeing an ugly sight. The child's hair was sticky and matted, blood smeared on the side. Her shirt had a large spot of red in the middle, her face still streaked, along with bruises. She also noted she was incredibly skinny for a 7 year old, and she was crouched down, hands above her head. Her Sonic toy was near her, hands and body crimson and sticky.

"This…This is unbelievable…" she gasped, taking it in. She wasn't sure what the hell was going on in this room, but there was no doubt in her mind that her parents were abusive. She dialed a number in her cell phone quickly, getting an answer in seconds.

"Yes Gale?"

"We need the police over here, now. I got a child covered in blood, who's extremely thin, scarred, and bruised. She can't be here any longer and her parents aren't going to go scot-free from this."

She looked at the scene ahead of her. There were many police cars near her house, two of them handcuffing her parents. They were ranting and raving that they never abused their daughter and they would sue them for this mistake. Her mother, especially, saying Schiza was committing a sacrifice to Satan and she was a devil child. There were also many officers photographing the evidence of the locks on her door and the tracks of blood on the staircase and in the bathroom.

She wasn't sure what to think of this. It was a mistake, as the blood came from Sonic when he was alive, not from her parents abusing her. Although she knew this meant she was finally freed from her parents, the feelings wouldn't surface. She felt blank and gripped Sonic tighter as the cop took her parents in the car and drove away with them.

"Schiza."

She looked up, seeing that it was Gale, the worker who reported this. She had a smile on her face as she lifted her head by placing her hand on her chin to look at her.

"This may be very scary to take in, but your parents, who starved and hurt you…they won't be able to do that anymore. You're free. They'll be in jail, where they can't get you."

"Where am I going? Who's going to take care of me now?" she quietly solicited.

"You're going in a foster home. It may seem frightening, but it's a much better place than with your parents. You'll have a hot meat every day, people to care for you, not to mention you'll be able to clean yourself up." She brushed her hair out of her eyes. "This is a start of a new beginning, Schiza. You're in good hands. I promise you that your mom and dad won't hurt you ever again."

She glanced back at Sonic, unmoving and still with stains on his hands and body.

"Can Sonic, Rosy, and Lucky come with me to the foster home?"

"Of course they can. Sonic looks like he needs to be cleaned up though. Can you tell me what happened back there sweetie?"

She said nothing. She wasn't sure what kind of excuse she could offer to her, and if she told her the truth she wasn't sure if she would believe it.

"Is it too hard for you to talk about?"

She could only nod.

"Well, a police officer is going to take you to the foster home. It is a little far from here but the ride won't be too long. And Schiza?"

"Yes ma'am?"

She gave her a tight hug, patting her on the back. "Good luck."

The office led her to the car, Schiza looking back at the lady who hugged her. She was completely confused at what happened, but she kept telling herself that it was over. All over. And she wasn't dead.

She looked at the window as the officer start the car up, preparing to drive away. She took one last glimpse of the house before she was taken, from the House of Sorrow to what she deemed the foster home as the House of Hope.