Rehabilitation

When Terrance was released from hospital, he was too scared to return home or to work so Margareta took him to her house, where he went into a spare bedroom and lied down on the bed, he then began to weep. Margareta came in and placed a blanket over him, then she brought a cup of hot chocolate to the bedside table then she left. Mark was relieved he was safe and gave his wishes for him to recover.

Gary was arrested when he arrived home, Lance was waiting with cuffs. They also added the charge of pedophila, after finding some rather incriminating photos. Terrance relayed some comments back to Margareta about what he said about Felix and she covered her mouth shaking then she said.

"Never speak of this to Rosalyn Terrance. Please."

Margareta made dinner for him, she even made dessert, which was a greek custard dish called Galaktoboureko. She said Terrance had it once when he was the only grandchild in her life. While eating the dessert they ignored the bad news of the world and watched a movie.

The next day came and went.

Then the next.

Then the next...

Terrance did another follow up doctor's appointment. His injuries were slowly healing. The mental scars for him may never disappear. It reminded him that six years ago, he lost his brother, and it could have been prevented. He also was apart of the chain reaction that resulted in other lives getting badly damaged.

"I missed you cousin Terrance!" Terrance smiled at seeing Felix come over to visit, he jumped onto his bed and hugged him.

"Just for the record Terrance. I don't think Gary will ever be able to make anyone happy." Margareta scowled.

"I can agree on that." Terrance nodded.

"C'mon Terrance let's watch a video! Mommy brought Dumbo!" Felix tugged at Terrance's arm lightly so he'd follow him to the living room.

Sweet childhood innocence. He smiled, Rosalyn and Ben did a good job of making sure Felix would always keep his innocences.

"Anything you learnt in school recently?" Terrance inquired trying to stay updated.

"My Mommy told me about a thing called a bad touch. Mommy told me if a grown up touches me in my private parts, I should tell her or daddy."

Terrance wondered if that was related to Gary. He was glad that Felix had learnt he could always trust his parents.

"Boys wait. Before you start your movie, do you want to go to the store for popcorn and snacks?"

"Snacks!" Felix ran off eagerly, Terrance got up to join her.

"You need to put on some weight hon." Margareta told Terrance, "so what do you want? Some lollies or chocolates?"

"Anything sounds good, Gary once made me eat a mouldy cheese sandwich. Even a fresh orange looks tasty."

"Extra butter favoured popcorn it is!"

Felix kept asking Terrance what he wanted, Terrance kept searching the aisles for foods he missed, he chose microwave popcorn packets, a bottle of lemonade, some gummy snakes and donuts. Margareta didn't ask about the junk food but instead offered to bake her world famous cookies, she even said the girl scouts came up with yet another plot to get her recipe.

"I do want to pass the recipe to you and Felix. But if you ever sell it to the girl scouts. I will DISOWN you." Margareta snapped with an attitude.

Terrance couldn't help but chuckle a bit, he missed how feisty his grandmother could snap, quicker and harsher than a whip Antonius would tell them.

When they arrived at the checkout, Margareta saw chocolate bars were on special and said they could get two each. Felix picked out two milk chocolate bars while Terrance got his favourite brand of Swiss nutty chocolate, he placed it down and Margareta smiled.

"So I was thinking tomorrow, we'll go out to eat, all of us. We can even invite Mark. He really wants to see you. He wants to introduce you to his new partner."

"Business partner?" Terrance asked.

"No. Romantic. Andy's very nice also."

"Andy likes to kiss Mark." Felix spoke, "He's always kissing him! And Mark's face goes really red."

Oh. That didn't occur to Terrance. But he was well aware gay marriage wasn't legal, but then again, it was tolerated, but still not accepted by all.

"I thought it was Andy as in Andrey." Terrance explained when Margareta looked confuse at the face he made.

"No. It's Andy as in Andrew." Margareta corrected, "Yes Mark is gay."

"I'm fine with that." Terrance spoke.

"How are you madam?" The cashier asked.

"Don't call me Madam." Margareta lowly hissed, "I'm not that old. Terrance would you like to stop for some chips at the fish and chips shop?"

"Okay." Terrance answered.

"Are you Terrance Davidson?" The Cashier now addressed him, Terrance stared at her, she was a teenager with pale skin and black hair tied into a slim ponytail.

"What's it to you?" Margareta asked her.

"I refuse to serve a murderer."

"EXCUSE ME?!" Margareta angrily barked, Felix backed behind Terrance startled. It seemed like her opposite persona came out, it could only be triggered by something like that.

"I'm voiding your transition. Have a nice day."

"Oh no you don't! Get me your manager!" Margareta screeched, this lady was playing with fire, Margareta had a dangerous rising tone in her voice.

"I don't have to."

"My grandson is not a murderer!" Margareta yelled, now people were really paying attention, Terrance felt self conscious.

"He is bitch. Read the news."

Terrance's jaw dropped when he actually heard her call his grandmother a bitch, last woman who did that he heard, had their shoulder dislocated, Margareta's face scrunched up, "How dare you?! You know nothing! You know nothing!"

"I hope you die." The cashier gave a very nasty smile to Terrance, she then looked down at Felix, "You too."

Felix then began to sob in fright, he knew from his parents that die was some what of a bad word. That's when Margareta lost her temper. She lurched herself over the counter and pulled the girl's shirt collar. Margareta screamed when the girl pulled her hair in return and tried to slam her head on the counter. People were running pass Terrance trying to break them apart, he could hear Felix still crying, so he kneeled down and lifted him up, holding him close trying to calm him down by reassuring him that he wouldn't die. He was angry also, she had told his little cousin to go die!

"You let go you bitch!" Margareta exclaimed. Terrance looked back to the scene and saw Margareta and the cashier were finally torn away from each other. Although Margareta had to be held back by a man who looked like security or something.

"What the hell happened?!" A man who had the name tag with the title underneath that said "STORE MANAGER".

"My grandson was insulted by your teenager delinquent of an employee! Then she told my six year old grandson to go die!" Margareta exclaimed.

"She brought a criminal here manager! She pulled my shirt collar!"

"You clearly scratched her face." The store manager pointed out a bleeding mark on Margareta's cheek, "That's assault."

"What?! But I-"

"You started this when you refused us service! Do you know how hard the last year has been?!" Margareta showed tears in her eyes, she had awoken the emotion, "I didn't want to move! I woke up alone in bed! My house was so lonely! My Husband is dead! My husband died!"

The cashier went pale in the face, "You're Margareta. I saw you on the news- I'm so sorry-"

"Oh fuck you! You insulted my grandson the first shot you had! Our grandson! Antonius would never smile at you! I'm haunted by his pale dead face! All the breathing tubes and the blankness! It's not fair! He said we'd be together forever!"

"You're fired." The store manager told the cashier who was still pale in the face realising who this group of people were.

It took a whole hour to calm down Margareta, The store manager gave them a discount and gave Margareta a bandaid to put on her cheek. He also gave Terrance advice, saying ice cream might cheer her up. Taking the hint, Terrance ran to the freezer aisle and got a tub of ice cream. The store manager then wished them well after the police left, they concluded it the cashier who deliberately provoked Margareta so she would attack and there would be an excuse to ban her, Terrance and Felix. Margareta was still warned sternly, when her state was shown to worsen, they quickly left.

Margareta still went to get some chips with salt, she drove her grandsons back to her house, Terrance and Felix shared chips while Margareta set up the movie to play. She would be lonely in that sense forever.

"Grandma? Can I sit in your lap please?" Felix must have sense she was lonely, he glared at her so innocently, so she smiled and nodded, Felix climbed onto her knees and sat down perfectly in her lap. Margareta softly stroked the back his hair. They are both still recovering Terrance thought.

It was like a stair case almost, some were more towards the bottom, most were in the middle. But they were never alone. It was never too late to attempt to fix it.

Was it?

I would have liked to get this out earlier but I spent the evening FINALLY getting pass the 3rd level in Dark Deception (Deadly Decadence, the Gold Watchers gave me the SCP 173 vibes but multiplied it by about ten times).

I think I'm making more steady progress with stories without forgetting/neglecting stories