Another day has passed for Schiza in the home, the moon and stars spread across the sky like an evening gown. The other children were beginning to yawn and move languidly, a sign that they were tired and it was about time for bed.
Schiza still did not reveal much of herself to the others. She was still frightened of them criticizing her once they saw who she really was, so she continued to play by herself. When questioned if she wanted to play with the others, she could only be quiet and resume what she was doing.
She longed for friendship, someone other than her stuffed animals she could talk to. She wanted so much to play with them out in the sun's warm light and run with them until her legs were sore, but every time they said anything to her, even a simple "hi", she wanted to run away. She couldn't help but be afraid of their eyes, their eyes that studied her and scraped through her soul, searching for anything that they could ridicule her for. Their words, their voice…even if she could sense a hint of abhorrence she would avoid them, run as far as she could. They didn't even try to chase her, but she knew they thought she was strange, which hurt her as well, but she knew they would condemn her for something else if she stayed any longer.
She had a dream that always scared her, where a million eyes inspected her, piercing her like long, thin nails. Something she did that they thought wasn't right, they would immediately start laughing uproariously at her, the only thing she could do is try to shield herself and cry. She was especially afraid of children the most, thinking anything she did that was "weird" to them; they would automatically hate her for it.
Renee found her, lying on the floor flat on her stomach, her feet swinging back and forth as if she was enjoying herself, playing what seemed to be Monopoly with her toys, her moving the pieces for them. She said, "Your turn, Sonic", about to move his piece until she gazed up at her.
"Oh, hi there Schiza. I didn't notice you playing by yourself. Are you sure you're having fun, just playing a board game with your toys?"
"I'm okay, Ms. Renee. Sonic's winning at this game though; he has a lot of red and green pieces. I don't really know how to play this game, but Sonic taught me."
"I…see. Say Schiza, why don't you play with the other children? John and Maxwell could use another kid to play with, because I know Jessica won't, and Klay's too old…"
She looked down, staring at the floor. "I don't want to play with them, Ms. Renee. They scare me."
"Why do they scare you?" She crouched down to her level. "You should be playing with kids your age, Schiza. You shouldn't be just playing a board game by yourself, pretending that your stuffed animals are playing too."
She wasn't sure why she told Renee her little secret. She was beginning to trust her, and she always got annoyed when she thought of them as just "toys".
"I don't know about Rosy and Lucky, but Sonic…I'm not pretending to play with him, Ms. Renee."
"Schiza, that's…silly to say, you know that. You see Sonic not being able to move and you moving his piece and all, you know that he's just a stuffed animal."
She was a little offended when she said that, but kept the irritation inside of her. "He's a toy now Ms. Renee, but when I'm alone with him, he's…real."
"Schiza, you have a really big imagination! He can't be real; he's only real to you because you imagine him to be real! I know you're a kid, but…"
"I'm not lying!" she shouted as she began to stand up. "He wants to be real like you and me, but something is making him into a toy! I…I know this! He wrote me a letter!"
She was still skeptical of her claims and found all of this to be silly. "Are you sure you didn't write it, sweetie?"
"No!" She stamped the ground with her foot. "He did write me a letter! He is real, just not to you! You don't know anything!"
She was surprised to see Schiza acting this way. She barely heard a word come out of her mouth and she definitely seemed timid, but now she was acting out, stomping her feet and claiming she "didn't know anything".
"Schiza, calm down, honey. It's okay, you don't need to get angry at me. I'm just telling you the truth…"
"It's not the truth, Ms. Renee! Sonic is real and…"
Jessica was channel surfing with the TV in the corner of the main room, Schiza ending her tirade as a news reporter began to talk loudly.
"A couple, who were recently charged with severe child abuse, just today received a jail sentence and a trip to a psychiatric ward. Jack Mahogany, 37, not only was charged with physical and sexual abuse of his daughter, but he also abused his wife, controlling her to abuse their child as well…"
"Jessica!" Renee exclaimed through the house. "Change the channel or turn that off! I don't want Schiza to be reminded of her past so often…"
Jessica quickly rose, turning around. "She's in a damn foster home, Renee! She's going to be reminded of it every fucking day!"
"Jessica, don't use that language around here! I don't care if you use it to yourself or outside, but there are kids here…"
"I'm trying to prove a point to you! Besides, I'm sure they're going to hear that shit a lot!"
Schiza began to cover her ears, scared.
"Jessica, I had it! I don't want to do it, but I have no choice but to put you in a different foster home! I…I obviously can't reach you and I don't want you to be like this! You're a bad influence to the kids, you don't comply with the rules…"
"You want me to pack my bags just because I wanted to watch a news report! Damn, sorry that I want to be informed of what's going on…"
"Jessica, just get ready to leave. I don't want to argue with you, especially with the children here. Just go to your room and pack up everything. I can't deal with you anymore."
She glared at her, her eyes looking watery. She plodded to her room in a flash after staring her down, slamming her door so loud and harshly that it looked like it was going to break.
She could faintly hear the news reporter say, "Jack has been sentenced to 20 years in jail, the maximum sentence for child abuse in this state."
Her eyes began to well up. Her heart raced every time she would hear someone yell and scream, even if it wasn't at her. She wasn't sure why she was so afraid of loud noises, but it was all too familiar to her old home.
"Schiza, are you alright, sweetie? I'm sorry that you had to go through with that…Jessica definitely likes to yell and stir things up."
She let go of her ears, the whole room not sounding much different than when she clasped them. No one moved, except for Renee, who went to the remote to shut the TV off.
"That's enough drama for one day. John, Maxwell, and Schiza, off to bed. It's past your bedtime."
John peeked up at Renee, holding his ball a little tighter. "Ms. Renee, what's going to happen to Jessica?" he faintly asked.
She was quiet for a while, grasping John's hand tightly. "She's going to a different foster home, John. Don't worry about you guys being transferred, alright? I only do that to kids who don't follow the rules and it just seems like I'm not getting anywhere with them. You're fine, you guys."
"Oh," John mumbled. He glanced at the floor as Renee took him to the bedroom, until he asked another question a minute later. "Is she coming back?"
She looked stern as she took him to his bed. "She probably won't come back, John. Many kids who get transferred don't come back, and most of the time I don't really see them again."
"Will you see me again when I'm twansfurred, Ms. Renee?"
"Don't worry about it you guys. As far as I'm concerned, none of you really act like Jessica for me to warrant that. Lights out."
The room was now completely dark, the only light escaping into it were from the windows above them, Schiza only seeing some faint moonlight and blue from the night sky. She once again smothered herself with blankets, taking Sonic under them. She knew that a few minutes ago, she was acting exactly how Jessica was acting, by stomping her feet and yelling. She immediately thought of herself as a bad child, someone who was going to one day be sent to a foster home that would punish her everyday for all her wrongdoings, a different version of Hell. She didn't want to leave here, although she didn't play with the other children. She felt hope for this home, something that she thought never existed when she was living with her parents. She wanted to keep holding onto that hope, gripping onto it as tightly as she could, and survive this whole ordeal. Hope was the only thing that kept her going.
She wasn't sure how to feel about her father being in jail. He definitely deserved it; he needed to go to a concrete Hell for what he did. A few memories of her father flashed before her, mostly him screeching bloody murder for something she did, resulting in her getting punched. She dreaded getting hit by him, as he was strong and it was certainly nothing that the belt could possibly make her feel. Many bruises would be on her body, a fleeting reminder of the pain she felt whenever her father ever approached her.
She hated him. She hated everything about him. She wanted to see him ridiculed, alienated, and suffering for everything he did. She wished he was in jail for longer than 20 years, it seemed too lenient. He could be there for an eternity or until he was an old, frail man, regretting that the rest of his life was spent in a jail cell and he never spent it with his child or his wife he claimed to love so much. That punishment wasn't good enough for her.
What seemed to be hours passed, her tossing and turning as she thought about her guilt and her anger. She couldn't sleep even a wink, her mind in turmoil over her worries.
"Hey Schiza, having trouble sleeping?"
She recognized that voice from anywhere. She felt Sonic's head on her body, him looking at her, smiling sweetly.
"Yeah…I guess I'm worried…"
Sonic wriggled his way out of the blankets and covers, carefully getting out of the bed without disrupting her. "Why are you worried? What's wrong?"
"I'm kind of scared, Sonic. I…kind of was mean to Ms. Renee today. I was trying to make her believe that you were real, but she wouldn't listen…"
"Oh no, did you tell her that I was real to you, Schiza?"
"Yeah. And she said I was just imagining you! I can't be imagining you Sonic, I feel you and you talk to me…" she said as she began to pet him slowly, feeling his soft fur and his smooth quills.
"Well…don't tell her about me, okay Schiza? I want you to keep it a little secret."
"Why? I get mad when she says I can't play with you because you're a toy! I was having fun playing with you on that game, and she said I needed to play with the other kids! But I'm scared of them, Sonic…"
"Don't be scared of them. They're just kids, what is the worst they could do to you?"
"Hate me," she sorrowfully replied.
"Don't be afraid of them hating you, Schiza, or else you won't be able to play or talk to them very well. If you forget about it, you can see that you can do much better." She soon couldn't feel Sonic anymore, wondering where he went, until she saw a little of him being shown by the moonlight, him grabbing a chair. "It's getting pretty late and I want you to go to sleep. Do you want to hear a story?"
"A story sounds good, Sonic. What's this one called?"
"Well…I came up with it a while ago, but I haven't really given it much of a name. Just listen to it and maybe at the end we can come up with a name, how does that sound?"
"Okay Sonic." She snuggled up to her pillow, facing him with curious eyes.
"Once upon a time, there was a kingdom, in a land far away from here. It was settled in a large castle, its walls completely black and shiny, anyone who looked at it a little afraid of their king and queen.
"The king was a greedy man, only caring about himself, not even tending to his queen. The only thing that he was worried about was how much power he ruled over everyone, and how much people feared him. He would pass laws that were so strict, that if they were broken, he commanded his soldiers to chop off the lawbreaker's heads. He went to bed every night, smiling over how many people were afraid of him.
"The queen was lonely, saddened by the king not paying attention to her. She was so distressed over how power-hungry her king was, that she completely forgot about their daughter, who was a princess. Sometimes she got so frustrated from the king that she would yell and order the poor princess around, making her life miserable."
Schiza was imagining his story in her head. For some reason, she imagined that the king was her father, dressed in black, royal clothes, wearing jewelry all over his body and commanding all his subjects to do whatever he pleased, trying to make everyone he ruled over fear him so much, that they didn't want to come out of their homes and dreaded going inside the castle.
She imagined her mom, also dressed in royal, very wealthy clothing, depressed and weeping loudly every night that they went to sleep, obsessing over why no one paid attention to her good looks. She also imagined her screaming at this princess for every little thing, fueled by this frustration and sorrow. She also imagined herself as this princess, suffering from her family's greed and rage.
"One day, the king became alarmed as a soldier told him that a great, big dragon was coming to their kingdom, warning him that if he didn't take any action, everything he built would be destroyed. He was outraged that this soldier was lying to him, saying that a dragon was coming. 'No dragon will ever come here! Even if he does, he's no match for my armies! Don't waste my time with such tomfoolery!' The soldier was later beheaded, just for warning him.
"A few hours later, the king still skeptical of everyone's warnings, looks out of the window, seeing something flying towards him. All he could tell was that it was big and black, with glowing red eyes that haunted him constantly. He still told himself that this was nothing but a bird, or some sort of trick that the villagers were trying to pull on him. He was so delusional that he began to behead who he thought was trying to pull this trick on him.
"The queen wanted him to stop, but she felt powerless. She continued to yell at the princess, saying that she was only making her angrier and her father more mad. The princess cried, knowing that all this wasn't true. If her family was actually kind to her, she would love them, but she knew the king and queen didn't love her back. She would crawl into bed, weeping loudly as the moon rose.
"Then one day, it happened. This dragon, which was as black as the castle, with many horns that curled and transparent, green wings that shone like the moon, attacked the castle. The king ordered many of his soldiers to attack him, but they were all quickly killed. The dragon was hungry, and saw the king and queen as a meal that was enough to satisfy him. He grabbed the king and queen from the castle, and ate them greedily."
She imagined this dragon eating her mom and dad, crunching through their bones and blood dribbling from his mouth, them screaming for mercy from God, but their lord forsaken them from their past sins. She also imagined this castle slowly crumbling down as the dragon attacked, the king losing everything.
"Although the dragon thought they were delicious, he was still hungry. As he saw through the castle, he saw the princess. 'Maybe I'll eat the princess too, and I'll be satisfied…'"
"Does…does she get eaten, Sonic?" she asked, her voice shaking a little.
"Just listen to the rest of the story and you'll find out."
"The princess knew that she had to do something, or else she'll be just another meal to this dragon. She asked one of the soldiers if she could borrow his armor and his sword, as she was determined to fight this dragon by herself. Courage surged through her as she wore that armor and held that sword, as she went out of the castle to face him.
"The dragon took one look at her, laughing at how weak this princess seems to be. 'You're going to fight me, even though I've just taken down many soldiers without breaking a sweat? I do like to hunt for my meals though, so this will be all the more satisfying to me.'
"The dragon breathed forth many flames from his mouth, her able to quickly dodge his attack. He tried to smash her with his tail, slashing her with his claws, blowing her away with his wings, but nothing was helping him out in the fight. As he tried to cook her with another set of flames she quickly lunged towards his stomach, her sword quickly cutting through his body, him screaming for her to stop, but as she pushed the sword deeper into his chest, he keeled over, his body no longer breathing and his slit eyes no longer staring at her. The dragon was defeated, and the dragon was dead."
She thought of herself with the sword and armor, fighting with this evil dragon, and her plunging it deep into his chest, blood spraying all over her, the dragon screeching from the pain. She saw blood all over the ground and some on the castle as it fell, it no longer begging for mercy and its eyes closing.
"The princess was instantly a hero, as she saved the entire village from the dragon. Although her parents were dead, many of the villagers thought of her as a brave, kind girl who would be a wonderful ruler over their land. She quickly became a queen, being praised the world over for being a fair and strong ruler, and for being brave enough to defeat a large dragon.
"The kingdom was in peace for all of those years, the queen not guided by greed or jealousy. She cared about her subjects, making her village prosper, the people no longer afraid of their ruler. They were happy, proud that their ruler was as strong as their bond, and their kingdom. The end."
As he finished his story, he saw Schiza being completely quiet, no longer moving or rustling in her covers. She saw her fast asleep, looking as if she was in a deep slumber.
Sonic pulled the covers up and patted her head as she snored a little. "Goodnight, my little princess," he said softly, slowly disappearing into the darkness as she slept soundly.