Chapter 21

Nelly arrived at Freddy's by noon. Nigel, Felix, Aaron, Chica and Freddy were all waiting her arrival. Foxy took Mike out for the day so this wouldn't interfere with anything.

It was only know that Nigel met Nelly back when he was in his teenaged years, he befriended her because she was a girl who desperately needed help. He spent months, many hours talking and offering her things, until she did agree to get help to deal with her abusive father, her drug problem and her suicide attempts. Nigel painfully recalled a night when he woke up suddenly pained by the urge, a need to see her, he knew something was wrong, he didn't know how, but his mind was screaming at him to get out of bed and find her right away. He dashed over to her house, her father was passed out drunk, and she had attempted to drown herself in the bathtub. Nigel ripped her away from the water, she was alive, and conscious. She was trying to scramble away, telling Nigel to let her die, she was hysterical, until eventually she collapsed into his arms, screaming until her lungs burned with pain and her heart was heavy.

Once she had calmed down enough, Nigel dragged her away from the bathroom, told her to get dried and dressed, then he told her he would take her to the hospital just to be safe, he then threaten to tell the school what had happened. If the school knew, she would sent to counselling. She begged him no, he agreed to not breath a word, just as long as she told him where she got her drugs from and she promised to stay away from them. Needless to say someone paid for what they did. Nigel didn't kill said drug dealer, but once they were in prison, they were killed in a prison fight.

Nelly hadn't touched drugs since that night, she had nothing for over twenty years. She was roughly the same age as Nigel, a woman in her forties, going to her fifties, like Nigel, she had kids. Twin daughters in fact. Nelly arrived in a mint green car, she had honey coloured hair which was obviously curly despite it was in a bun, as a few loose locks had sprung out and went down to her shoulders and neck. Her eyes were a deep ocean blue, everyone saw a simple clean silver ring on her right hand, on her third finger. She was dressed in a white button up blouse which was without creases with a black skirt that ended just after her knees with flat black shoes and dark coloured tights that covered the rest of her skin.

"My name is Penelope Sweet." She didn't say hello, so she took them off guard a bit. It was a bit like Nigel, he never usually just said hello.

"So your title is Miss Sweet?" Chica inquired.

"No, Mrs Sweet. I'm married to a man named Theo Sweet."

"Isn't Theo one of your friends Nigel?" Freddy asked.

"Yes. I got them both together, Theo had an eating disorder, when he started to socialise more, he was getting better." Nigel explained

"Anyway my married life is no going to be discussed." She waved her hand in dismissive matter and looked directly at Chica, "I think what the main question is, is there proof Mike actually has a grandmother who managed to track him down?" Nelly inquired.

"I asked Mage about her, there's no trance of her anywhere, no birth records, no visas, nothing proves she here legally, what concerns me is that appears to be a ghost." Nigel spoke.

Freddy moved uncomfortably in his seat.

"The way Nigel is using that term means this woman does not exist as Marge Schmidt, she could be lying, we need to tell the courts right away we suspect she's lying about her identity, Mike may need to go into protective custody, now is there anyone in this group who knows a responsible adult that will be able to take Mike for a while. I don't necessary believe that you're all not responsible, but Marge could track him down if he's with someone who is too close to him." Nelly advised.

"He called Chica Mom." Freddy told her.

"I know. I'm for family reunions, I'm very pro for that, it benefits everyone. But this smells fishy. Now Chica, do you know anyone who could take him for a while?"

"I don't know... I see most of my friends frequently."

"I could ring my friend, ask them to watch Mike. They lives in what we call a "safe neighbourhood" so it's motioned by the police and most of the people that live in that area foster abused kids and teenagers, they're also victims of sexual assault who are getting support."

"I don't really want him to live with a stranger..." Chica spoke.

"This person has passed a police check, no criminal record. To me, this person is not a stranger, and can't physically harm Mike, because well... it's a lesbian woman who is happily married..."

"What?" Chica asked.

"Renee was born female, but she was forced by her parents to dress and act like a boy because she liked women."

"Well if he is a she. We will call her a she."

"I'm sure her and Evelyn would like that."

"So her birth name is Renee?" Freddy asked just to get clear.

"Yes, born as girl, when her parents found out she was attracted to a female classmate, they moved areas and forced her to dress as a man, they said if she loved females, she would have to become a man. They didn't buy her bras and they forced her to wear bulk clothing to cover up her female shape. She now feels safe to be a woman."

"I would like to meet her before anything is considered."

"I understand." Nelly nodded.

"I do too, however." Freddy and Chica didn't like it when Nigel said "however", they never did, because what would follow would be a very blunt, harsh statement.

"We need to consider ever open door, I'm worried that this "Marge" character isn't who she claims, if she isn't, then why? That's my question, and where did that breach happen, Paige seems very responsible, I'm not blaming anyone here or anywhere else. Personally I'd like to get in touch with the local authorities and dig deeper, I also think Mike should be placed somewhere safe, now as I recall, Ennard has a new friend called Yenndo, I was informed Yenndo lives on the other side of town in a small apartment, Ennard might be open to taking Mike away, so they're in a location there together and-"

"How can you say that?!"

"Excuse me?"

"You want to take Mike away?!"

"Shit you're taking this all wrong you stupid bitch!" Nigel snapped at Chica who jumped in response to hearing him swear, "I do not want to take him from you! I was suggesting for his wellbeing to protect him! I was a single father, what the hell were you?! I was the only one who had my sons back! I know you struggle, everyone else does, I'm sick of being snapped at, I'm trying to help, you let me advise you then you won't take it. That frustrated me, tell me what do you want?"

Chica froze.

"What the fuck do you want from me? I can only do so much, I only have so many opinions, this bitch had breached a barrier in my opinion. I'm looking out for everyone's safety even though I shouldn't give a rats ass about any of you. I try and try to please. Do you know else I tried to please? My parents, and they always hated their son was into the occult. The dark side if not evil, thanks to what I did, I met my wife, I had a child, I was able to help people like me. Damaged. You've opened the door to a child, I too have also opened my mind to that. But once again, I can only do so much before I say enough of this fucking cheating game." He stood up from his seat and threw down his book, he then walked casually to the door and purposely took the chance to swing it wide open then shove it back so hard it slammed and rattled the room.

Night time had come, Ennard's favourite thing to do at night was star gazing, so he shoved open his windows and looked into the clear night sky. All the stars glittered and dazzled in the darkness of the deep blue surrounding, the shadows at night looked interesting too. He pulled his blue ocean themed curtains back so he had a full view of the endless night sky and all the stars glowing like soft candles in the dark. It reminded him he had lived, he had survived.

"Ennard, dinner's here, I wondered, could you locate Yenndo?" Ballora asked. Ennard was happy now everyone had accepted Yenndo was here. It had been a whole day since Ennard brought him in, yet everyone extended a friendly hand to him. Ballora made sure at breakfast he was well fed, Tiffany had washed and dried the clothing he came in wearing, Baby shared with him some ice cream, Minirenna even offered to buy him lunch when she went out for her afternoon exercise at the park. It did catch both Ennard and Tiffany's attention that they were obvious tears on his clothes which had been patched up by hand, Ennard could tell they hadn't been fixed by a machine and he was concerned that the clothes were actually falling apart, he said he actually believed Yenndo could be very poor. He did tell Yenndo he should stay for dinner again, offering him another set of clothing for the day.

"Oh sure, I'll do that." Ennard smiled and rose from his seat, he was in the middle of making a new dress for Baby, a red top with a striped white and red skirt, he imagined it would be a good Christmas theme outfit. He placed aside what he had completed of the main torso piece, he hadn't put on the short sleeves yet but that was one of the next steps.

It was one of those days when everyone just agreed on ordering take away, tonight was pizza, Yenndo did seem thankful for a warm meal last night, and the fact Fernando located a blanket so he could sleep on the sofa.

Ennard wandered down the hall, he searched the living room, the kitchen and others rooms. Yenndo seemed to had gone AWOL.

Stephan was outside however, like Ennard he seemed to like looking at the sky, Ennard grabbed his hand, Stephan jumped a bit startled, he clearly wasn't use to having his hand grabbed. Stephan looked at him unsure. He seemed damaged. Whatever happened to this child was major.

"Hey, let's go inside okay?" Ennard asked.

Stephan seemed he wanted to ask something.

"Is everything okay?"

"I've never seen a house like this, that doesn't have a pet."

He did have a point. No one had ever brought up the idea of a pet, but Ennard did think for a while after he left hospital that a pet would comfort him, however the idea never came through in the end.

"Maybe we could get a dog... or a cat." Ennard muttered, "what do you like?"

"Cat."

"I guess I could look into that-" Ennard stopped when he heard a pot plant smash. One of Tiffany's plants.

"Oh shit-"

"Yenndo?" Ennard asked seeing him in the darkness from his single eye, he sometimes wondered if his vision was better since he only had one eye.

"Yes?"

"Why are you out here? And among the pot plants especially...?"

"Well it's just..."

"Can you please just tell me?"

"I don't deserve this." Yenndo told him.

"What?"

"I don't deserve to be treated so kindly, I never did anything nice for you."

Ennard blinked, "And you really don't have to. I know what it's like to be pushed to the brink. To stared at, deliberately ignored, teased, poked at and gawked at like a wild animal."

"But you're just bringing yourself down with me."

"I'm not listening to that. I learnt a lesson. When you need help, you need it. Just accept it. Now dinner's ready and I'm sure you're hungry. Be honest."

"I am."

"Good, now let's eat." He gestured to the door and watched Yenndo with his only eye as he walked slowly back to the door and went inside. Ennard tugged Stephan's hand to lead him back inside also.

"Dad?" Stephan asked, again he wasn't use to that title.

"Yes?" He replied.

"Can you read me a bedtime story later?"

"Sure."

Everything truly was changing for the better.

But in the back of his mind, there was Elizabeth.

Message from the author:

I give you two updates cause my internet crashed unexpectedly last month and we only got it back recently.

Well from this point, my life is getting more stressful, Exams are a week away, so updates any stories might be fewer now, so just enjoy updates and don't harass me for more updates. I'll be more into a routine of updating after my exam period most likely. But I'll say I have exams on the 31st of October, the 2nd, 5th, 12th, and the 20th of November. My grad is on the 22nd of November. However it's likely most of my spare time will be occupied by study and I will use some free time to make small progress. I'll try and get another update on any story done before mid November at lease.