I woke up, and Sam was right next to me. I was about to ask him what happened, but he told me, "Don't talk for right now, you're incredibly dehydrated."
Sam got me some water, and he handed it to me. "Drink it slowly."
I listened to him, and he then got me some food, and I finished that sucker fast.
Sam placed his hand on my forehead, and said, "No fever, that's good at least."
"Sam… I was stupid." I was giving myself mental penance, but Sam just hugged me.
"No… I was the stupid one. It didn't occur to me, to tell you to hide the letter."
Sam blamed himself for this, but I didn't want that, so I tell him that, "I should've been able to figure that out on my own."
Sam smiled, and I smiled back, we both were stupid in not thinking about that sooner.
"I'm going to a guess that your folks did this." Sam said, smile now gone.
I responded "yes", and Sam just looked at me, with sympathetic eyes.
"Sam… I think they're going to be back today, let's just end it now…" I said, hoping he would listen.
Sam looked at me, smiled, and said, "Took the words right of my mouth, but you need to rest first."
I nodded, and I began resting on the couch we had, in the living room.

I woke up a few hours later, just in time to see my shithead folks walk in.
"Who are you?" Mom asked.
"My name is Samuel Tailor, and I found your son dehydrated on the floor, in his room, calling out for help." Sam answered, with his serious voice.
"Well, he's fine now, you can leave." Stepdad said.
"No… I've been gathering proof that you have been neglecting him, for quite a while." Sam said.
They were silent; there was no way that they could argue their way through this.
"Alright, cut the bullshit and tell me the truth, you bastards." Sam said, scaring then.
"Our son must've locked himself in his room, and couldn't get out." Mom said.
"That's funny, because It was locked on the outside... how would he lock himself out and yet be inside at the same time?"
"Now, tell me something I will believe, or you'll face the judge in Maycomb, Alabama."
With little to no choice, they surrendered; we dropped them off at the Meridian Police Department, and Sam explained everything. They then tell us that, they can't hold a trial until August, and that was fine with us.
We got tickets to Maycomb, we boarded the train, and I said my final farewell to Meridian.
I wasn't going to miss it, one bit.

The second we arrived in Maycomb, we headed to Atticus' house. Scout and Jem were still in school, so that meant that Calpurnia was looking after the house and was waiting for them to get home.
Eventually, we got to Atticus' house; we knocked on the door and Calpurnia came to check, and when she saw me standing right next to Sam, she was surprised.
"Dill, what are you doing here?!" She asked.
"Now's not the time, Calpurnia. Do you have any food ready?" Sam asked, concerned for my well-being.
"It should be ready soon." Calpurnia answered.
"Good."
"Dill, explain everything to Calpurnia. I have to let Atticus know you're here." Sam said, as he headed to the phone to call Atticus' office.
Calpurnia sat me down and asked me, "What happened, Dill?"
I explained everything to her; I knew I could trust her as she was the same person who was like a mother figure to Scout and Jem.
"I see… so that's what happened." Calpurnia looked at me with pity, and for some reason it bothered me, but I had no idea why.
"Please don't pity me, it bothers me for some reason." I said, not wanting to be rude.
"That's normal, Dill…" She responded.
As soon as she said that, Atticus came in and got a good look at me; he then place his hand on my forehead to see if I had a fever.
Atticus gave a sigh of a relief, and told me, "Dill, stay where you are for right now."
I asked if I was sick, and he responded, "No… but you're still very weak, so I would recommend not moving around for a while, at least until you regained some strength. Scout and Jem will be home by the time dinner is ready, you can explain everything then."
Atticus went to the living room to talk with Sam. While I was curious on what they were talking about, I already had a good idea, and I didn't want to disobey Atticus after he showed concern for me, so I just waited for Scout and Jem to get home; as I waited I thought about the look on their faces, and I chuckled at the thought, but I started wondering if it would turn out that way.
When they finally got home, they were indeed shocked, but also concerned, as they immediately noticed that I was weak from hunger and thirst.
"Dill! By god, you look horrible!" Scout yelled.
"Is that what you say to your boyfriend?" I joked.
"This isn't the time for jokes, Dill!" Jem shouted.
Atticus and Sam came in, and they told them to calm down.
"Calpurnia, is dinner almost ready?" Atticus asked.
"Just got done." Calpurnia answered.
"Thanks Calpurnia, this really means a lot." I said, really grateful.
As we got our food, Scout and Jem asked me what happened, and I answered all their questions to the best of my abilities, but with me being barely conscious, it was a little difficult.
Scout was the first to lose her cool, which didn't surprise anyone. "Those bastards!" She shouted.
Jem wasn't able to keep his cool, as he asked Sam, in a furious tone, "Tell me you put those sons of bitches in jail?!"
Atticus was the only one to keep his cool, and he said, "You two calm down. Sam did have those two arrest, and if they don't approve to Dill being adopted, then they have a trial scheduled in August, and Sam will be the one representing Dill, if it comes to that."
"If it does come to that, I'm going to make sure to sever their ties with Dill, even if it costs me my badge." Sam was serious, he was actually willing to lose his job for my sake.
I was worried that he would lose his job for me, so I asked, "Will you lose your job if you defend me?"
Atticus answered for him, "No… He's saying that he's willing to go against the law if it keeps you safe."
"But's that crazy!" Jem shouted.
"It's my choice, Jem… But I don't think we're going to have to worry about that, because all the evidence I have is decisive, and that's not even including my testimony." Sam said, with confidence.
"Can he really win, Atticus?" Scout asked.
"It's a cut and dry case, having a trial is almost pointless." Atticus answered.
"But people will up and go mad, when they think that their life is over." Sam continued.
"Like Tom…?" Jem asked, sadly.
Atticus looked at Jem sadly, and responded, "Like Tom…"

Once we finished our dinner, I took a bath, and I went to the guest room. Sam was waiting for me in the room, and he wanted tell me something.
"Dill… Aunt Rachel doesn't think she can raise you right, because of her family's history. So she wants Atticus to look after you, she'll still see you, but until the court says otherwise, consider this room yours."
I had a feeling that my Aunt would feel this way; I was still sad that she felt that way, but I could understand where she was coming from. So instead of arguing about it, I just accepted it, and was at least happy that I was staying with Atticus.
"Also… I need to organize the evidence for the trial, so you won't see me for a while, but I'm going to get started tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll be finished before the trial starts." Sam said.
"Don't worry about it, just focus on getting them in jail." I said, trying to smile.
Truthfully, I didn't want Sam to be doing this for too long, but I could tell that he didn't want to either, so I just tried to smile to lift his spirits up.
Sam gave a small smile and said, "Thanks Dill."
Once he left the room, I climbed in the bed, and I drifted off to sleep.