Chapter 7
The pair dashed back to the park and when they got there they wasted no time searching for the correct path that would take them to the police station. With every moment passing, Surly's heart began racing, just like it had when he tucked Hayden in that fateful night before the heist. Suddenly nothing else in the world mattered to the squirrel but to get back his friend, or rather, his daughter. He couldn't believe he didn't realize it sooner, but he knew that now was better then never and when they found the way to the police station his heart was practically leaping with endless energy and joy. He didn't even bother to stop when he and Buddy saw Andie, still upset about what had happened when she saw them and before she knew it Surly suddenly scooped her up, spun her around and, much to her shock, kissed her full on the mouth before saying "Gotta go!"
"Surly!" Andie exclaimed in shock as the purple squirrel let go of her and ran of with Buddy "What are you doing?!"
"I'm bringing back our kid baby!" Surly called out before he and Buddy vanished into the night. Andie was shocked and stunned by what had just happened... then she felt a burst of joy as she said to herself "They're bringing back Hayden! I have to tell everyone!" and with that she dashed back into the park to tell everyone the joyous news.
Back with Surly and Buddy, they were essentially gliding across the wires of the telephone pole as fast as they could, they knew that once Hayden saw them she would be so happy to see them there would be nothing to stop them from bringing their dear friend back home and live happily ever after with their cherished little family member safe and sound in their care.
But such was not entirely the case.
When they finally reached the police station the first thing they did was sneak in through the front door and search for Hayden. They finally found her sitting alone in a room behind a slightly opened door. They pushed the door open, as wide as they could so they could squeeze in, and approached Hayden with Surly saying "Hayden! Oh, i'm so glad we found you. Come on, let's go home!"
But Hayden didn't budge, She just sat there, clutching the blue blanket the police had given her and turned her head away.
"Hayden?" Surly asked "What's wrong?"
"I'm not going back to the park." Hayden said, much to the pair's shock "I told the police everything, I had no choice... even the name of the orphanage I ran away from... they already called it and now i'm waiting for someone who works there to pick me up and take me back."
"What?! B-But Hayden! You told us how miserable you were back there! Why'd you wanna go back to a place that treated you so harshly?" Surly asked
"Because I thought running away to the park was the best idea I had," Hayden said, lifting her head to show them her red eyes as tears leaked from them and said "Instead it was the worst! You left me, and they punished me for it!"
"Hayden, I can explain... " Surly began
"No, I had enough of you Surly!" Hayden said "You had been so nice to me, but that was when you only needed me! When I needed you the most you weren't there! You abandoned me! I can't go back now, and I never will! I'd rather go back to the orphanage and be a bully punching bag then to ever be use again by the likes of you."
"But Hayden, just hear me out I..."
"GO AWAY!" Hayden screamed, kicking her foot in anger. However, she also accidently hit Surly in the face with her shoe and he slammed onto the floor with a thud. He groaned as he go up, holding his right eye in pain. Hayden and Buddy gasped when they realized the hit had given Surly a black eye and the broken hearted squirrel started at her with as much pain in his heart as his eye and he hollered "Fine! Go back for all I care! I don't need you anyway."
Before Hayden or Buddy could stop him the poor squirrel had already ran off. Buddy gave the girl a sad, disappointed look before he ran off too. Hayden broke into tears again, this time for hurting one of her friends. Right around then a police man cam into the room along with a man wearing a white zipped up jacket and black pants with white shoes. The police man pointed to Hayden and said "Here she is; your little runaway."
"Hayden!" the man exclaimed with relief before he embraced her and picked her up "Are you alright? You're not hurt are you?"
Hayden was too upset to respond, she just tugged the man's jacket and cried "I'm so sorry Mr. Wollcraft, i'm so sorry!"
"There, there, it's okay." Mr. Wollcraft said as he patted the girl's back "But you did have us all worried sick." He touched Hayden's frozen and wet cheeks and heard her empty belly growling in hunger "Poor little thing, your frozen and half-starved. Let's get you back home where you belong."
Mr. Wollcraft unzipped his jacket and wrapped it around Hayden so she could get warm. He walked outside and placed Hayden in the passenger seat of his car before driving off, unaware that a familiar blue rat had stowed away as he shut the door to the car.
They drove for about half an hour before they finally arrived at the orphanage. It was a quant place with some toys scattered across the front lawn and a sign that said 'Mrs. Godwin's Home for Children'. Buddy fallowed them in the shadows and watched the man carry the upset child towards the front of the building. They just reached the porch when a woman with her blonde hair in a bun and who wore a blue and pink dress came out and cheered, "Oh Hayden! Oh, we've been so worried about you!" Hayden was still sniffling as the man placed the little girl in the orphanage owner's arms and was rocked like a baby before her stomach growled loudly.
"You poor thing," Mrs. Godwin said "You're hungry. Don't worry, I have some delicious meatloaf that will fill that little tummy of yours right up, but first we have to give you a quick bath and slip you into some nice fresh clean clothes, obviously the world hasn't been very kind to you!"
Buddy snuck into the building while the adults were focused on Hayden as they went inside and he hid behind a vase as he watched the adults take Hayden upstairs to wash her up. About an hour later, Hayden was escorted downstairs, washed clean and wearing a rosy red nightgown with a big blue, white and black laced bow in her hair but not even as she ate has she ever came close to smiling. Buddy was sadden by this and knew it was because of Surly's actions of using her that caused her to lose her smile along with her accidently harming the squirrel with her food when all he wanted to do was apologize and try to take her home.
And just when Buddy thought it couldn't get any worse a group of bullies in their pajamas cornered Haden, who was still eating the last of her meatloaf sadly.
"Well, look who decided to finally show her ugly mug back here again." said the leader of the group, a boy known as Percy "What's the matter, no animals wanted you around either?"
"Go ahead and bully me Percy," Hayden sniffled "I deserve to be a punching bag."
"Ah, it's too late." Percy said "It's bedtime and we're too tired to pick on you freak... but just wait until tomorrow, then you'll be sorry you ever came back."
With that Percy and his gang left Hayden alone, but not before one of them yanked the girl's hair, nearly causing her to fall but she hardly even registered the cruel action, she was too miserable to even care anymore. Buddy was sadden too, for those were the bullies Hayden had told stories about. He had to get everyone at the park and tell them what was going on, hopefully they'd be able to rescue her before tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile Andie and the other animals, which had woken up due to the news, were anxiously waiting for Surly and Buddy to return with Hayden with baited breath, none of tem could be more excited for anything else before. However when Surly returned, they were shocked to see him with a black eye when he fully came into the light of the park's lanterns. Andie was especially shocked to see him like this and ran up to him saying "W-What happened to you? Where's Hayden?"
Surly puffed, but only a wheeze came out. "I... I tried to bring her back..." he said sadly before he pointed to his black eye "I tried but... but she did this to me and told me to go away. She's not coming back... she's probably already back at the orphanage by now... not that I care..." However, it was pretty obvious to Andie he truly did care as she watched the squirrel sulk away past the shocked and sadden crowd.
Right after Surly left Buddy arrived, out of breath and energy before he collapsed due to exhaustion.
"Buddy!" Andie exclaimed as she rushed over to the fallen rat. His face as pale from all the running and he was taking deep breaths because of how far he had traveled. Andie did her best to help the rat by supporting his back so he could regain most of his energy back as the animals gathered around him before Mole pushed his way past the crowd and said "Alright, beak it up! Break it up! Can't you see he needs some air?"
The animals stepped back as Andie helped Buddy up and she said "Buddy, what happened? Where's Hayden?"
Buddy took one deep breath after another before he made gestures with his hands like in a game of charades and Andie, being as close to the rat as Surly was, slowly began to understand; Surly and Buddy tried to bring Hayden back home but she was too angry and she accidently harmed Surly and broke his heart in the progress Then a man from her orphanage came and took her away and now she was in danger of being tormented by the bullies who lived there.
"And you know the way to the orphanage?" Andie asked.
Buddy nodded and pointed down the road he came from. The animals cheered as Jamie said, "Now we can go and break our kid out of there, Hayden's one of us and we'd never abandon her!"
"Never!" the animals cried before they broke out into cheers and jests before Andie whistled them and said "Alright, we will go and free Hayden. But we are going to need supplies, anything you can find that you think could be useful you are free to bring. And we won't stop until we bring our dearest friend back home."
The animals soon departed to find supplies as soon as the red squirrel was done talking. Andie returned her attention to Buddy and gently leaned him against a smooth rock saying "Rest up Buddy, you're going to need all your energy for this heist."
The word 'heist' made Andie think about Surly and she said "Stay here Buddy, i'll be right back. I'm going to check on Surly."
She made sure the rat was comfortable on his rock before she dashed off to talk to Surly. She scurried up his tree and entered his home. She found him huddling in a corner cradling a peanut he had found. The strange thing about this was instead of eating it he was treating it like an ailing newborn child. The purple squirrel turned to look at Andie for a moment before he turned away and gently stroked the nut's shell like a face. Andie was taken back by this strange behavior, and had she had not understood then and there he truly was heartbroken about losing Hayden she would've assumed he had lost his mind.
"Surly... i'm here to talk." Andie said
"You were right Andie." Surly said with a depressed tone in his voice "I'll never change... I used her... I used the only human friend we ever had made and... I lost her... this is entirely my fault..." he clutched the grip on his nut child and added "Go ahead, do anything you want to me... I deserve it."
Andie's heart went out to the former rouge and she walked up to him saying "No... I can't." se gently placed a paw over his shoulder and Surly turned to her with the part of his face that had the black eyes, thought it was healing rather well "This is punishment enough for you... but I have to do... do you really care for her?"
Surly sniffled and said "I... I didn't want anyone to know... but yeah, I do." he couldn't help but shed a tear as he said "Hayden... she's wonderful... just like you... she's kind, she thinks of others... but she..." he choked on his own tears as he said "She doesn't deserve me... I can tuck her in bed, give her food, shelter, a place to sleep, heck i'd even sing her a lullaby... but she'll never love me back."
"Oh Surly," Andie said with Sympathy "I... don't worry; we'll clear everything with her. We're going to rescue her... and we need you."
"Hayden already did this to me," Surly said as he pointed to his black eye "This is proof enough for me that she hates me... I... I can't... I can't show my face in front of her again."
Andie felt terrible for Surly, this mission was to rescue the one special friend they, especially Surly, had ever made and he was too heartbroken to go and join them. She realized, looking back on past events before, she really couldn't blame him for feeling so miserable. She gave him a warm, much needed hug and said "Alright then... i'll lead the rescue. And I promise that when we find Hayden, the first thing i'll tell her is how much she means to us... and more importantly, how much she means to you."
"You'd... really do that for me Andie?" Surly asked
"Of course, there is nothing I wouldn't do for you." Andie said softly "And... for earlier... i'm sorry about how I treated you... you really have changed. I hope you'll be able to at least forgive me for what I said...and please accept this special gift as my apology."
She gave the purple squirrel a gentle, loving kiss before she heading outside saying "Good Bye Surly... f anything happens... I just want you to know you'd make a wonderful father." and with that she left, leaving Surly alone to his own devices, gently rubbing the cheek Andie had kissed.