Heart of Hope

Sorry for the long wait everyone. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Chapter three

After rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Molly climbed out of her cupboard bedroom first and yawned. Robert followed after her, but his leg caught on something and it tumbled across the floor. He turned to look and saw that it was Molly's favorite toy. A horse plushie she named Boomer Gallop. She had had that horse toy since she was a baby, and she didn't want James and Rebecca to ruin her beloved toy like they did with her dolls.

Molly quickly grabbed her toy and placed it back into the cupboard before closing the door. She shook with dread at the thought of being forced to watch her toy being destroyed, but Robert comforted her by gently nuzzling her face. Molly didn't know it, but Robert had been plotting for a way to escape the horrible family. He figured if they were all out of the house then both he and Molly can run away together, and hide until her parents came back. He still wondered where they were though. It wasn't like they had taken a wrong turn and gotten hopelessly lost...right?

That was when Molly's stomach began to rumble and Robert pressed his nose against her middle, which made Molly giggle. With that, she went to the kitchen to make herself something to eat. While she was eating with her beloved pet, Molly was unaware that the smell of freshly made waffles had alerted the attention of the most unpleasant non-morning people in the house...Uncle Karl. Last night, he went to the bar to party with his friends and right now he was so NOT in the mood for being woken up early.

Once Molly was done eating, Robert gulped down the last of his bacon breakfast and playfully licked Molly's face to taste the gooey maple syrup stuck around her lips. Molly giggled as she playfully pushed her dog back when they heard someone upstairs walking down...and that was bad news.

Molly fearfully ran to the cupboard to hide, but it was too late. Uncle Karl was on the top of the stairs, sneering down at her as he motioned for her to come up to him. Uneasily, Molly climbed up the stairs with Robert following behind her.

"I see you already made yourself something to eat," said Uncle Karl in a dangerous voice. "When were you planning on feeding the rest of us?"

"I-but Uncle Karl, I just..." started Molly.

"No excuses!" the man loudly snapped. "Sheesh, how hard can it be to finish making a simple breakfast for the whole family? Maybe I should teach you a lesson on being punctual and considerate by pounding it into your head!"

Uncle Karl raised his hand and Molly knew was was going to happen next. She was going to be slapped again. However before the man got a chance to do so, Robert leapt into action to protect Molly by biting Uncle Karl's leg. After the man let out a painful yelp, Robert ran down the hall with the enraged uncle chasing him with a golf club.

"Come back here and face me you dumb dog!" shouted Uncle Karl in fury.

After running across the hall and back, Robert ran down the stairs as fast as his four legs could carry him. Uncle Karl was close behind him, but when the man got to the stairs he missed the first step. He soon found himself tumbling and crashing down the stairs. Robert jumped out of the way before Uncle Karl crashed into the wall with a great big crash.

The loud noise quickly woke up the rest of the family and had them rushing over to the man's side. Upon calling an ambulance, the men came and took the badly injured uncle away with the rest of the family close behind. But before they left, Aunt Sierra shot a nasty glare at Molly, who was crying tearfully.

"You are in big trouble when we get back," said Aunt Sierra coldly.

"Look at what you did now, dumby! Why can't you do anything right?" James said as he shoved Molly aside one way, while his sister pushed her to the floor.

"We're going to make you move to the attic for this, or even better, we'll make you live in the garbage cans!" exclaimed Rebecca with a horrid smile on her face.

Once the door slammed shut, Molly ran back into her cupboard bedroom. She climbed onto her bed and began to cry her eyes out. Robert felt guilty, he didn't mean to put Molly through all this, he just wanted to protect her from Uncle Karl. But it seemed that he only made their situation worse.

Etta came out of her mouse hole door and ran towards Robert before she stopped to stand near his front left paw.

"I saw what happened, and boy do they look mad."

"It'll be even worse when they come back," said Robert with a frown. "I have to get Molly out of this house before they come back."

"You mean run away from home?" asked Etta in surprise.

"This house was never out 'home' in the first place," said Robert as his frown deepened in determination. "And it's time to take thing into my own hands now...so to speak. I just have to convince Molly first."

As Molly was still crying, Robert picked up the little girl's backpack. Molly's backpack was a lovely shade of blue with a floral printing all across the top and bottom. Robert carried the backpack over to Molly and placed it on the edge of the bed. Molly looked up with teary eyes as Robert gently pushed the backpack closer to her in hopes that she would get the message.

"You...you want to leave?" asked Molly.

Robert nodded his head at her question. Molly had always been able to understand his emotional language, though he wished she could really understand what he was saying like in the stories her grandmother had always told her. Molly took a moment to wipe away the remaining of her tears before she spoke.

"Y-you're right, we cannot stay in this house anymore. It's time we make it out on our own in the world and live by ourselves."

It took about half an hour, but Molly was able to pack food and supplies that she would need in her backpack. She also pack a few extra things within her red suitcase as well. Molly looked at herself in the hallway mirror one last time to see if she was missing anything. She had her backpack on her back and the clothes she wore were a red and white shirt, brown pants and brown shoes. She took out her water bottle for a quick drink before she put it back into her red suitcase.

"Alright," she said as she turned to look at Robert. "Let's get out of here."

They were about to head for the door when they heard a meow. Robert and Molly turned to see Horus standing behind them.

Horus was baring his teeth at them with a hard expression within his eyes: "No one leaves this house on my watch! For what you did, I'll slash your face good you little brat!"

Horus leapt towards Molly, but was stopped when Robert tackled into him. They were soon locked in a fierce battle, which left the house a mess as they jumped, dodged, slashed and bit at each other. It was only when they paused that Robert got an idea and quickly placed himself in front of the open door of the supply closet. Horus, determined to finish Robert off, jumped towards the dog. Robert smirked before he quickly jumped out of the way and Horus found himself crashing into the cleaning supplies within the closet.

Robert quickly closed the door of the supply closet and locked it: "Let's see how you like a taste of your own medicine pal."

Robert walked towards Molly, who hugged him around the neck before she pulled back to look at him.

"Let's get out of here before anything else happens," she said.

Molly opened the front door and the two friends stepped outside. She and Robert were about halfway down the walkway when Molly quickly stopped in her tracks.

"Oh! I almost forgot my horse Boomer!" exclaimed Molly.

Molly put down her bags and ran back into the house to fetch her toy, while Robert quickly remembered his own toy as well.

"And I left my frisbee in the backyard!" He exclaimed in realization as he ran behind the house, "I can't leave that here!"

While Molly and Robert were getting their favorite toys, they were unaware that something strange was happening. As they were getting their favorite toys, a golden horn fell from the clouds and bounced off a tree branch before landing with a soft thud inside Molly's open backpack, which Molly forgot to zip up. It glowed for a little bit before the light faded away.

Molly and Robert soon came back with their toys. Molly placed her toy horse inside her backpack first then Robert's frisbee before zipping up the backpack and putting it on her back again. They soon began to walk away from the home of their tormentors.

They only got about two houses down before Robert realized that they were being followed. He stopped to look back and saw Etta scurrying out of the long grass near the sidewalk.

"Etta, what are you doing?" asked Robert with a raised eyebrow.

"Coming with you!" exclaimed Etta with a determined look on her face. "You're going to need a little mouse to keep you company. And I'm not staying in that house when that cat gets out of that supply closet that you locked him in."

Robert smiled and let the mouse climb up his front leg. Etta perched herself on his head before they continued down the street towards wherever the road led the trio, unaware of the adventure that laid ahead of them.

To be continued