(Author's Note: Ah, chapter two is UP! Sorry for taking my time with it. xD Please review! I'd like three reviews before I can update!)

Chapter Two

The Cretin

"No! Don't make her go, Mr. T!" I pleaded as Mr. T and I argued the day after Pru went blind.

"Nikolai, she can't live here! We're in the middle of nowhere, snow is everywhere! She could wander of, like she did yesterday with you, and get lost! She could fall somewhere if she was alone and not know how to find her way home!" Mr. T countered.

"Do you not want her here?" I asked incredulously.

"Nikolai, Nikolai, I love you all like you were my own children. But she needs to go, for her own good," he muttered.

"'For her own good'?" I repeated. "That's not good enough!" I yelled.

"Go say goodbye to her. The plane will come for her soon." Mr. T turned away from me and marched off to his office. I huffed, irritated.

I stepped out of the room and ran smack into Pruella. She fell to the ground and I quickly helped her up.

"Sorry, Pru, I'm such a klutz." I mumbled. She shrugged.

"No big deal. Where you fighting with Mr. T about me?" she asked in a small voice.

"No, not really," I lied. She frowned.

"I don't appreciate being lied to," she threw over her shoulder as she walked away.

"Wait, Pru. This might be the last day we see each other again. Please, let's not separate mad at each other," I pleaded. She sighed.

"Fine. Will you take me out to the snow drifts?" she asked.

"Mr. T doesn't think we should go wandering again…" I mumbled.

"Please, Nikko, I know this land like the back of my hand, inside out, backwards. You said it yourself; I may never come back here again." Pru began to finger a necklace I never noticed before. It looked like a twisted root, with small leaves coming from it.

I changed the subject. "Is that new?" I asked her. She looked at the necklace.

"What, this? No, I've had it for awhile," she responded.

"Oh. I've never noticed it before." I commented, stumped. Ha, stumped, her necklace was shaped like a root. Oh, never mind.

"Well, I usually wear turtle-neck sweaters, so I guess that explains it," she murmured, her blank eyes seeing nothing.

"Oh," I repeated.

"Take me to the snow drifts, now?" she asked. She held out her elbow so I could guide her.

"Fine," I hooked my arm around hers and we walked outside like that. We didn't even really notice we needed warmer clothes.

"I'm going to miss you, Pru," I told her as she was carted off unto the small plane. The plane's side read, The Creation, in large red made me laugh because, what with my learning disabilities, looked like it read The Cretin.

"It's been fun." Was her response. Pretty lame, if you ask me. She wore an expression of pity and confusion. She pursed her lips as Mr. T led her up the plane's stairs. I soon saw her in the small window of the plane with her mixed expression. Mr. T patted her on the back lightly before stepping down the stairs back onto solid, snowy ground.

He and I waved, even though we knew she couldn't see us. We knew she knew we were there.

"Nikolai, I'm sorry about Pru; I know she was your friend." Mr. T said as he sat down on his favorite chair while I sat down on mine. We both sighed sadly as we stirred our hot chocolate.

"I know," I murmured before finishing off my warm drink. When I was done, I set it in the kitchen sink and walked outside to clear my thoughts.

The next day, as I was eating breakfast, the mail carrier came. We orphans know him as Mr. H, and that's pretty much all we know him as. Mr. T greets him with a different name every time he comes, which is daily. All the names start with the letter 'H', so that's where we got the name 'Mr. H' from.
Today, the mail carrier was known as Herb.

"Good morning, Herb, nice to see you're on time!" Mr. T said merrily. Of course he was on time, despite the fact we live in the middle of nowhere. Mr. H always, always, always showed up, not a minute after eight o' clock in the morning.

"Good morning, sir," came his reply." Let's see…,"Mr. H shifted through his stack of mail," You've got bills…, bills…, bills…, newspaper…, ooh, and a letter from your father!" Mr. H said excitedly.

"Wonder what it says!" He whispered anxiously under his breath. Yeah, right. Like he didn't know exactly what was in the letter. Mr. H knows everything when it comes to letters. Isn't it illegal to read other people's mail? If it is, I know for a fact that Mr. H does not abide that law.

Mr. T sighed as he received the bills. Why are we taxed so much, anyway? We live in the middle of nowhere! I peeked over Mr. T's shoulder to read who had sent the bills, which was hard to do, considering Mr. T's height.

The letter wasn't addressed to anyone, but the return address was from Olympic Homing Co. I heaved a sigh and raised my hand for the newspaper. Mr. H slapped it down in my hand, like he always did, with a smile and a "Good morning." I nodded to show I had heard him and settled down on my green recliner.

I sipped some of Mr. T's special herb tea as I flipped lazily through the newspaper. I've never been one for reading, but I usually look for pictures in the papers. One picture showed a family of four waving enthusiastically in front of a new home. The next, a small plane with smoke flowing around it haphazardly. The next page, the best upgrade in lawn mowing technology. Wait, what was that last page? No, not the lawn mowing one! About the plane?

"Mr. T," I interrupted his conversation with Mr. H. Mr. T looked slightly annoyed, but I beckoned him towards me and the newspaper headline. He was taking too long.

"Mr. T!" I repeated. He threw me a look of utmost confusion as he made his way through the crowd of young children at his feet.

"What is it, Nikolai?" he asked, concerned. I pointed to the picture of the plane crash. The plane was clouded by smoke, but I could easily read, or read to the best of my ability, the bold red letters.

"Mr. T…, The Cretin," I whispered.

(Author's Note: Hope you liked! Thanks for reading, all! Please review!)