It was a nice day outside, the sun was shining in the clear blue sky and both Harry and Robin knew that it wasn't going to stay like that for long so they decided that it would be the perfect opportunity for one of their delicious chicken picnics. It might give them a little time to discuss the situation they were in now and Manny a chance to play outside. As they walked to their usual picnic spot, they were all silent. They had nothing to talk about until they got there. It was important that they remained quiet so the teachers wouldn't overhear something they had said and go blab to Roy. If they did then Roy would make their lives hell on earth especially for Manny. When they finally arrived, they settled down for their picnic. They never actually enjoyed it but the chicken was what they were provided with so they didn't have much say in that. If one of them complained then they all suffered the consequences.
"It's such a beautiful day, isn't it?" Harry said, trying to make some form of conversation.
"It is and I've packed us... a delicious chicken picnic," Robin said hesitantly, lifting the lid over the basket up to reveal masses of raw chicken that they had been given.
The food was passed around and they all slowly ate it, trying to keep their faces neutral as they swallowed the disgusting meat and washed it down with egg yolk, another thing they were allowed to take on picnics. By the end of it, they all felt incredibly sick especially Robin, who knew that a distant cousin was probably in that pile of flesh.
"Holy shit," Harry whispered, covering his mouth.
"Harry, not in front of Manny!" Robin gently slapped his red friend's knee.
"Sorry," Harry said sheepishly, quickly glancing at Manny, who hadn't been paying attention at all.
"Can I go play now?" Manny asked, getting more and more impatient as every second went by.
"Yes, you can," Robin said even though he didn't want him playing on his own," just don't wander too far."
Manny's face lit up as he stood up and ran into the woods. Robin always worried about him, he never liked to let him out of his sight. Manny understood why but found it increasingly annoying whenever he was fussed over by his bird friend. He was fine, he could fend for himself. While he was scared of the teachers, he wouldn't let them hurt him or his friends. He could protect them, he could save them but they wouldn't let him. It made him feel a little sad but right now he wanted to concentrate on his little game. A game where he was the hero and he could save his friends and in the end they would all live with him and his dad happily. They would all be friends again, free from the dangerous teachers. He missed his dad, he hadn't seen him in weeks. He just hoped that he would visit again soon and maybe he could convince him to-
"Woah!" He managed to balance himself so he wouldn't fall into a hole hidden by the bushes.
It was quite a large hole and he was lucky he hadn't fallen in. He peered inside, it was quite dark, he couldn't see the bottom. Manny slowly backed away into the bushes and walked away from it. It felt too familiar and the atmosphere around it was ominous, he didn't like it at all. As he walked down the path, he could hear faint sniffles coming from up in one of the trees. Manny wandered over to the tree and looked up. Someone was sitting on one of branches not high up from the ground.
"Hello?"
The sniffs suddenly stopped and the person in the tree looked down at him.
"H-Hi."
It was a young girl with yellow skin just like Manny's and light pink hair that looked like cotton candy. She wore a long white flowing dress that reached her ankles. She looked a little worse for wear though. There were tears in her dress which was smeared with mud, her fluffy hair was now a mess decorated with twigs and leaves and her skin was covered in ugly red cuts and gashes. Her face was stained with blood and sweat and there were clear streaks where her tears had fallen. She looked so familiar to Manny, he knew he had seen her somewhere before. That's when he realised who she was.
"You're my special one, aren't you?" He asked her.
"I think so," she whimpered.
"What are you doing up there?"
"I'm hiding from Shrignold, he's scary," the special one said.
"Who's Shrignold?" Manny was genuinely confused by what she was saying.
"He's the leader of our group but I ran, I hate them all," she looked around as if she were checking to see if anyone else was around.
"Okay, do you wanna play with me?"
"Sure," she hopped down from the branch and landed gracefully on the floor. Manny noticed that her feet were bare.
"So we're both superheroes and we're trying to protect all my friends from the evil teachers," he explained, hoping she would understand.
"Who are your friends?" She asked, she asked a lot of questions.
"You'll meet them soon, just pretend that your saving people," he said.
They played his game for a while until he knew that Robin would start worrying. She was a good person to play games with, she went along with the story and suggested a few good plot twists to keep it interesting. It was a shared experience and Manny felt that he was closer to her now. She was nice.
"Do you want to come meet my friends? They'd like you," he asked her. She nodded eagerly, he didn't understand why she was so desperate to get away.
They walked back to their picnicking spot.
"Wait here, I'll tell them what happened," Manny told her, she nodded again.
Manny walked over to his friends, feeling a little nervous. They both looked up at him and smiled. Manny shuffled awkwardly on the spot before explaining the situation to them. They didn't interrupt him but let him speak as his special one stepped out from the woods and joined them all.
"H-Hello," she said, peeking over Manny's shoulder at Harry and Robin.
"Hello, dear, what's your name?" Robin asked.
" Shrignold and his friends call me special one but I like to be called Lily," she said, grabbing onto Manny's hand and squeezing it.
"That's a pretty name, so why are you in the woods alone?"
"I was hiding from them, they scare me, they hurt me," she said, quickly wiping her eyes.
"Who were you hiding from?"
"Shrignold, I managed to get away from him, he scared me," she was crying again.
Manny reacted instantly by wrapping his arms around her, letting her sob quietly into his shoulder.
"I think we should go home," Harry said.
"Yeah, good idea," Robin agreed.
It had been two weeks since Manny had found Lily in the woods and she had settled in nicely. They didn't have a bed for her but she was fine with Harry's armchair. Once she was in it, she didn't want to get out so she slept fine. She had opened up a little about what had happened during her time with the cult and from the information they had gathered, it didn't seem like they treated her well. She was incredibly skinny, they could basically see her rib cage poking through her skin. It was horrible and it was even worse when they saw her back. Her back was covered in large red welts and dark black bruises. She was still in pain, they could all tell. She was quite open about the cult in general and the king they worshipped, Malcom. She also talked about some of the things they did to her, the punishments she'd receive for bad behaviour. A lot of these conversations would end in tears from either Lily, Manny or both. One night, Manny woke up to see Robin whispering to Harry.
"I went downstairs to get some water and she was just gone!"
"What do you mean she was just gone?"
"She wasn't there but something was left in her place, just come with me," Robin led Harry out of the room.
Once he knew they were gone, Manny got out of bed and tip toes to the stairs so he could listen in on what they were talking about.
"What. The. Actual. Fuck?" He heard Harry say," they cut off her fucking finger?"
"It appears they have Harry, what the hell should we do? What are we going to say to Manny?" Robin was beginning to panic.
"Calm down, we'll figure something out before he wakes up," Harry said.
"Harry, what can we do? They took her back, she's not safe anymore," Robin said.
"I don't know! We just need some time to figure this out."
"I just can't believe this, God bless her soul."
Manny was in shock, he didn't know why she was gone. He stood up and rushed into their room, making the floor boards creak. Both of them heard.
"Ah, shit, he's awake," Harry said before running upstairs to find Manny," hey kid, you alright?"
"Where's Lily?" he asked.
Harry seemed to hesitate for a second before responding.
"She's had to go, she probably misses you a lot."
"But why?" Manny was genuinely upset.
"That's only for her to know, I'm sure you'll find out one day," Harry shrugged, before pulling Manny into a hug," it's okay, she'll be okay."
They stayed like that for a while, hugging each other, until Manny fell asleep into a world of dreams where he was with Lily and his friends. Strangely, his dad no where to be seen.
