Hello there, dear readers! I am so happy to bring to you the tenth chapter of The Keyhole! Once more, this chapter was proofread by my very good friend, Trismegistus Shandy! Thank you very much, Shandy! And thank you, all the readers who have stuck with me and my story since my very first chapter of The Door! I'm so happy and excited to continue to bring new chapter after new chapter. So please, enjoy!
The Keyhole (Chapter 10)
by
Elite Shade
Eli leaned back in the leather armchair, listening to the tick-tock of the well-maintained grandfather clock on the other side of the room. He kept his hands firmly on the armrest, unsure of what to do with them. He looked over at the polar bear in the charcoal grey suit with the red tie sitting behind the large oak desk, before looking away.
"I promise you, Eli," Dr. Barry Snowson calmly said with a smile, "this is a safe place." Barry's initial assessment of the human boy before him was that he was a product of systematic abuse and neglect.
Eli nodded automatically, still very visibly nervous. Eli sat there for a moment and gathered his courage. He sat up straighter, and made eye contact with the polar bear. Barry smiled, taking this as a good sign.
"So, Eli, how are you feeling?" Barry kicked things off with one of the classic staples of therapists everywhere.
"I'm f-fine, uhm, s-sir," Eli said, stuttering a little.
"Please, feel free to call me Barry," the much larger mammal said. Eli nodded.
"Your parents thought that it would be a good idea for you to see me. That you could use someone to talk to," Barry explained, having been surprised to hear from Nick completely out of the blue a few days ago.
"Uhm... okay... so I'm..." Eli looked uncomfortable.
"You're what?" Barry asked, keeping his voice soft and even.
"I'm n-not in trouble? I didn't d-do anything wrong?" Eli asked.
Barry shook his head.
"Not at all," he said, discreetly writing down something on a notepad, "they were just a little worried and felt that I could help."
Eli said nothing but nodded, only partly seeming convinced.
He does show signs of long term neglect. And his earlier flinching was a sign of physical abuse, Barry thought to himself before continuing.
"Before coming here to Zootopia, would you get in trouble a lot?" Barry asked.
Eli looked down and nodded, unable to meet his eyes any longer.
"Would you like to talk about it?" Barry pressed.
Eli continued to look down as he nodded once more. He took a breath just before he started.
"I-I got in trouble a lot, all the time," Eli said, leaning back in his chair while Barry patiently listened, "sometimes because of an accident, like the time I was pushed by one of my foster brothers and knocked over a vase. Other times... I don't really know what I did..."
"How were you punished, Eli?" Barry asked.
"... A lot of times, I was sent to bed without dinner... or lunch... or sometimes even breakfast..." Eli said.
"And other ways?" Barry was almost too afraid to ask, but knew that he had to, for Eli's sake.
"Sometimes, there was hitting... it kinda depended on where I was staying... some places were better than others..." Eli was still looking down.
"And do you think that it was always your fault that you were denied food or hurt?" Barry asked. Eli said nothing, and meekly nodded.
"Your parents said that you had been in the system back where you came from for a long time," Barry said, looking at some notes he had written down.
"No one wants to take home a kid who causes trouble all the time..." Eli said quietly.
Barry took a second to put his thoughts into order and cleared his throat.
"Eli," Barry said, waiting for the boy to look him in the eyes, "please look at me." Eli slowly raised his gaze to meet the polar bear's.
"Eli, it was not your fault," Barry said, his voice kind yet resolute.
"Wh-What do you mean?" the boy asked.
"I mean, from what I have heard from you as well as your parents, what you went through was not your fault. What you have described to me are forms of abuse that, from some other humans that I have met, I know would have gotten those who were supposed to take care of you into some very big trouble, had they been caught." Barry explained this to Eli, watching the boy's reaction, which he judged to be confused.
He believed that he was to blame for all of it, Barry thought as he let Eli process what he had been told.
Meanwhile...
Ralph was looking in the mirror, adjusting his light blue tie. He was dressed in a navy suit, while Nadine was dressed in a white sundress. Today was the day of the in-home inspection, and they wanted everything to go perfectly. It was another fifteen minutes before the social worker was due to arrive, and it was very apparent to any to observe that the wolf and the tigress were both very nervous. Ralph looked over to his mate, and gave her a reassuring smile. He took her much larger paw in his and gave it a squeeze. It wasn't often that she let her emotions show, especially when she was nervous.
"We can do it, Kitten," Ralph said as he looked up into Nadine's eyes, offering her a smile, "we can show that we will be great parents, and that this is a safe and healthy place to raise a baby."
"Our baby," the tigress said as she leaned down to nuzzle her mate. Just then, the doorbell rang. They looked to one another before Ralph went to the front door. He inhaled and tried to make himself seem as calm as possible. He opened the door with a smile, and then looked around, confused, as no one was there.
"Down here," came a female voice. The timber wolf looked down to see a female squirrel in a maroon pant suit holding a clipboard.
"Mr. and Mrs. Wolford?" she asked, smiling in a comforting manner as she saw the very evident anxiousness on his face.
"Uh, yes?" Ralph answered.
"Hello there," she said in a relaxed voice, "I'm Maureen Treeclaw. I'm here for the in-home inspection."
"Of course," Ralph said as he moved aside, "please come in, miss Treeclaw."
"It's actually missus," she said as she stepped in, first noticing the fidgeting tigress before her as well as a set of electrical sockets that had a plastic covering over them.
"So, shall we get started?" Mrs. Treeclaw asked.
"Oh! R-Right," Ralph said, wringing his paws nervously.
"Alright then, I'd like to start off by seeing where the baby will be sleeping."
Elsewhere...
"But I don't see why we have to actually go into the shop!" Chaz complained to Arnie, as the two pulled up to the curb right next to Eyevory Tusks.
"Because," Arnie said, looking over at the pouting timber wolf, "it's important to show Baily that he's being supported. A strong support system is necessary when helping others integrate into society." Chaz rolled his eyes, knowing full well that his rhino partner was quoting some pamphlet or other about helping homeless mammals.
"And by show support, you mean go in and buy some ridiculously pricey crystal or magic powder," Chaz said, making air quotes as he said the word magic, "because these new-agey, psychic shops hardly ever have any customers, right?"
"Actually, according to my aunt, her shops's generally done pretty well for itself. And Baily's presence has helped bring in some new customers," Arnie explained; his aunt Phyllis, the elephantine proprietor of Eyevory Tusks, had claimed that the increase of business was due partly to Baily being an exotic newly-discovered species, and partly to his positive life energy. But Arnie elected to omit that part, as he had a feeling that Chaz would have broken down laughing. The two froze as they got out of the squad car, and not due to the temperatures of Tundratown. There was a line of all sorts of mammals leading from the door of his aunt's shop, going all the way down the sidewalk and around the corner.
"Woah," Chaz said as they started to make their way to the door, holding up their badges and muttering "ZPD business" to those who were taking offense at them for cutting in line. They entered the shop to find Arnie's aunt behind the counter, ringing up an order for a pair of raccoons.
"Terrance, are you really sure that you want to... come out... to your parents... today?" one of the raccoons asked the other.
"Nico," said the racoon named Terrance as he turned to speak, "I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And for better or for worse, I don't want to hide it anymore. That amazing mammal who divined our future with his cards told us to let nothing stand in our way," Terrance said, paying for the packet of incense he was also purchasing before leading Nico out of the shop.
"But, Terry," Nico said as he hurried after his mate, "I don't actually remember hearing him say anything like that!" Their voices faded as they passed through the door.
"Sometimes the querent reads more into their own prophecy than what was actually said," Phyllis said casually to Arnie, giving him a knowing wink, just before the next patrons in line, a pair of tigers, entered the shop.
"Aunt Phyllis, when you said that business had picked up, I thought you were talkin' about a few extra looky-loos. This," Arnie gestured to the line outside the door, "is amazing!"
"Welcome to Eyevory Tusks," Phyllis addressed the tiger couple, giving Arnie a smile, "how may we assist you on your journey today?"
"Uhm..." the male tiger, who was wearing a wool sweater and a pair of jeans, said a little awkwardly, "we... uh... we were hoping to get a... uh... a reading..." He looked uncomfortable saying it, while the female, who was wearing a white coat with matching white jeans, was practically bouncing on her feet.
"From the human psychic!" she said, before seeming to remember her manners. "Please."
"Well, he is with another querent at the moment, but I do believe that they shall be done shortly." After Phyllis said it, a familiar male lion strutted out from behind the curtain leading to the room for fortune telling.
"Well, Phyllis," former mayor, Leodore Lionheart said jovially, "that human of yours has done it again!" He smiled as he counted out some bills to cover the session, while the tiger couple, who looked at Lionheart with a pair of raised eyebrows, quickly headed back behind the curtain.
"Oh?" Phyllis said as she rang up the reading and handed Lionheart his change. "My employee seems to have given you satisfactory service once more?"
"Definitely! According to his cards, I'm going to be taking a trip soon! They also said some other things that I now know all add up! I'll find my way to becoming Mayor once again... by becoming a professional garbage collector!" Lionheart said proudly.
"So a garbage mammal?" Chaz couldn't stop himself from asking, only just barely containing his snicker.
"Absolutely correct." Leodore turned to smile at the officers.
"May I ask how?" Arnie asked, politely, of the former mayor.
"I'm afraid that that little epiphany I had must remain a trade secret for now," Lionheart said with a wink. "Of course, I'll be sure to include my heroic rise back to prominence in my autobiography. Good day, Phyllis!" And with that, he left.
"Wasn't expecting that," Chaz said, before he broke out into laughter. Arnie sighed and rolled his eyes, reluctantly letting out a chuckle of his own.
At that moment...
"HOW?!"
Walter Cruz turned to look at his hare friend, Jack, who was sitting next to him at the table in the cafeteria.
"How what, buddy?" he asked, already knowing what had the hare all worked up.
"How could they go and make you the valedictorian over me? ME?!" Cadet Jack Savage asked, pointedly ignoring the stares and sniggering of their fellow nearby cadets.
"My money is on politics," the human joked.
"Politics?" Jack seemed to consider that for a moment. "Yeah... actually, that makes perfect sense!"
"I was kidding, Jack," Walter said, already regretting opening his mouth.
"No, just think about it," the hare said, hopping up onto the table.
"Much like myself, you are the very first of your species to join the police academy here," Jack said as he started pacing.
"But what about that bunny cop?" Walter pointed out, watching Jack's ears briefly twitch in his direction, not once stopping his back and forth pacing around the various trays of food.
"That's different, she's a bunny. I'm a hare. Completely different species," was Jack's answer, much to the amusement of the watching cadets.
"Unlike me, however," Jack continued with his original train of thought, "you are of a newly discovered species, one that is looking for some proper footholds in our society. Therefore, the best way to help your species integrate into the greater mammalian society is to bump you up to valedictorian, to show off and to make your species seem normal. Thus pushing one much more deserving down the list one space!" Jack hopped down to his seat with his tray of assorted veggies still waiting for him.
"That would be a good theory, Jack," came a voice from behind them. They, and a few others, turned to see the arctic vixen cadet, Skye Winter, "if it wasn't for the fact that Walter here," she winked in the human's direction, "actually bothered to study and got perfect scores on all the written tests, and was more than adequate for all of the physical portions. But even if he himself was not valedictorian, there's several other mammals ahead of you, Jack." Skye looked pleased at the stink eye that the hare was giving her.
"Namely, myself." Jack opened his mouth to angrily respond to that, but was cut off by the vixen.
"Oh, and congratulations, Walter," she said before casually sauntering away.
"She always has to get in the last word," Jack said in a huff as he turned back to his tray, choosing to instead focus on his food.
"I think that she might like you, Jack," Walter said.
The hare stopped eating and swallowed, mulling over what Walter had just said.
"You're probably right," Jack leaned back, his ears perking back up, "I do have a tendency to drive the females wild. It's really more of a curse," Jack said. Walter and the other mammals at the table were finding it hard not to burst out laughing, wanting to spare Jack's feelings, not that he seemed to notice.
"That poor little lady just doesn't fully understand her feelings for me yet, heh, but she will," Jack said, casually eating a carrot, oblivious to a few mammals starting to choke due to their trying to keep from laughing, Walter included.
"Yup... the only cure for what ails her is to take two doses of vitamin Jack, and then to call me in the morning. In fact, I'll go see about writing her up a prescription," Jack hopped down and bolted after Skye. The second he left through the doors to the rooms, everyone who had been trying not to laugh, finally got a reprieve.
I hope that you enjoyed the newest chapter, dear readers! I apologize for the lateness of this chapter. Monsoon season has started for where I live, and so I have to be conscious while I write of the potential sudden loss of power. Sorry.