This is the very last chapter of Pieces of a Puzzle. This story didn't go as well as I thought it would (I must admit). Oh well. Hope you readers enjoyed it even the tinsiest bit (is tinsiest a word?).
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Chapter 5: Jigsaw Complete
"We could hang him upside from K.C.'s high ceiling by his big toes...with those choke chains some people use for dog collars," Chelsea suggested as she walked into Ashley's living room holding a glass of Chai tea.
"Or we could put him in an Iron Lady, only instead of spikes we could use a swarm of bees and a colony of fire ants," Teanna put in as she drank a Coke.
"Maybe we could pull out his fingernails and toenails, slowly, one by one, and in their place put white hot quarters," K.C. said, flicking through the channels on Ashley's giant flat screen TV.
Ashley walked past them and threw a couple of spiked bracelets onto her coffee table. "Acupuncture," she said simply as she went into the kitchen.
The other three stared at the dull spikes for a moment before continuing.
"I say we chain him to the wheel of a monster truck, spread eagle, while they do one of those monster truck battle things," Teanna said.
"Nah. How about we use him for dart board practice?" K.C. asked. Chelsea shook her head.
"We could remake the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie," she told them.
"Beat him up, then chain him to the underside of a mattress, and electrocute him," Ashley said blandly as she went past them again to her room. The others watched her go before continuing once more.
"We could convince him to go skydiving with us, then push him out of the plane with no parachute," Chelsea added.
"Instead of skydiving, let's make it bungee jumping, only instead of giving him a bungee cord we tie him to a rope that looks like a bungee cord," K.C. said.
"Better yet, we could dress him up as a woman, and instead of remaking Texas Chainsaw, we could remake the Hills Have Eyes," Teanna suggested. Chelsea made a face and K.C. gagged.
"I have a even better idea," Ashley said as she returned to the living room. "First, we'll put his head on an executioners block, and tie him down so he can't get up. Second, we'll get a pair of really dull scissors. Teanna can do the honor of cutting off his head with those dull scissors. Start at the very back of his neck, and snip slowly, using just the tips of the scissors at first."
The room filled with silence. "You've been watching too many horror movies," Chelsea said, staring at her friend.
"What was all that about?" a male voice said. All four girls turned to see Tama, Chi, Tasuki, and a purple haired stranger standing in the doorway. All four boys had looks of horror on their faces.
"Torture plans for some dick name Hotohori," Ashley replied with a shrug, going back into the kitchen.
Tama, Chi and Tasuki looked at each other, than at the stranger.
"So it was him," Tasuki said. Tama and Chi looked disgusted.
"Wait a minute," K.C. growled, turning off the TV and getting up to face them. "You know this guy?"
"Yeah, at least we thought we did. We used to go to school together, before Tasuki dropped out and Tama and I moved," Chi replied.
"Who's he?" Chelsea asked, poking the purple haired boy and looking at him suspiciously. "Oh, that's Nuriko," Tama said.
"They told me all about you three," Nuriko said as he held out a hand. Chelsea shook it, gave him a small smile, than went into the kitchen with Ashley. K.C. scowled at them before following her friends.
"Sorry," Teanna said as she stood up. She walked over to Nuriko and hugged him. "They don't like it when others talk about their personal information," she told him, eyeing the other three boys.
"They didn't tell me much, just how they met," Nuriko informed her.
Seconds later there was the sound of breaking glass and a shout of "GREAT GALLOPING GUMDROPS!!" They ran to the kitchen, Tasuki reaching it first, to see Ashley kneeling on the floor holding her head in her hands. Chelsea and K.C. stood on either side of her while they calmed her.
"What happened?" Tasuki asked, his voice coated in concern as he looked at the floor. Shards of glass where everywhere.
"She dropped another bowl," K.C. said, gesturing at the glassy mess.
"Another?" Chi asked.
"She's dropped at least four, ever since she found out about Hotohori," Chelsea answered, stroking her friends hair.
Teanna fidgeted. Ashley only dropped things when she was focusing on something else...thinking deeply about information she had heard but couldn't quite understand. Which meant she knew there was more to Teanna's story than what she had told them.
Tasuki made his way into the kitchen, walking across the glass in his shoes, and crouched down in front of Ashley. He whispered to her, so quietly no one else could her. Chelsea and K.C. looked at each other.
"Teanna is only telling us half the story," Ashley said suddenly. The others stared at her. Teanna fidgeted. "There's more to it than what she said. And I think you had better tell us, now." K.C. and Chelsea turned to look at their friend while Nuriko looked away shamefully.
"Well...what happened was...was...Hotohori and I had been going out for some time and...and...well...one night, he got drunk and...you know...he didn't try to get into my pants...he actually did...and I couldn't stop him...and I'm...I'm...I'm...I'M PREGNANT!!" The last two words were shouted out loudly. Stunned silence met them face to face. After a moment Chelsea sat down on the ground with a thunk, K.C.'s eyes narrowed dangerously, Tama fell back against the doorframe, Chi's mouth fell open and his eyes went wide, Tasuki looked down at the ground with a look befitting an angry rhino, while Ashley and Teanna stared at each other across the room.
"Are you going to get an abortion?" Ashley asked. The question brought everyone back down to earth. Teanna shook her head.
"No. It's not the baby's fault, and Nuriko is going to help me take care of him," she answered softly.
Ashley smiled. "The baby is a he?"
"I'm just saying because calling the baby an 'it' sounds wrong," Teanna responded with a small smile back. "Especially since its already two months along."
"TWO MONTHS! WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL US!" Chelsea roared, slamming her fist against the ground. "FOR PETE'S SAKE! WE CARE ABOUT YOU IDIOT! DON'T KEEP SECRETS!"
Teanna looked down at the ground.
"What I want to know is why couldn't you stop him?" K.C. asked. "You've got quite a left hook, and yet you couldn't beat back some stupid boy who was so drunk you could have knocked him out with a hanger?"
"I was drunk too," came the quiet reply. "I...it was...a mistake! I'm s-sorry! P-p-please don't b-be m-mad at m-me!" Teanna rubbed at her eyes, trying to stop the flow of tears. Moments later she felt arms around her.
"We're not mad at you Tea," Ashley crooned gently. "Just disappointed that you drank and that you lied to us, and upset that you didn't trust us with the truth. You are right. You made a mistake. And that's all it was...a mistake. Everyone makes them. Why would I get mad at you for making a mistake when I've made them too?"
Tea cried harder and collapsed against her friend.
"Hey Nuriko, I take it that that story you told us was a lie?"
"Yep. This is what really happened."
When Teanna stopped crying Ashley asked the million dollar question. "Now, instead of torturing Hotohori, what are we really going to do about him?"
...
The group of friends waited patiently; Chelsea and Ashley on the swings with Tama and Suki pushing them, K.C. and Chi upside down on the monkey bards, and Nuriko going up and down the slide. They watched carefully while on the far side of the sandbox, sitting on a bench, Teanna spoke to a boy with long black hair. A while back the boy had put his head in his hands and his shoulders shook. Teanna had then comforted him, and now Hotohori was nodding his head and talking back to her.
Hours later Teanna walked slowly back over, with Hotohori trailing behind. When they reached the group Hotohori apologized to his friends, who said to him what Ashley had said to Teanna...with a slight difference. Chi wacked him hard upside the head, while Tasuki cracked his knuckles and Tama warned him never to do it again or else.
Hotohori then apologized to Teanna's friends. K.C. glared at him full force, clearly attempting to set him on fire with her eyes alone, but accepted. Chelsea accepted his apology as well but still gave him a warning look. Ashley accepted, warned him about the consequences of his actions, then asked Tasuki if he could keep pushing her.
After that Hotohori left...to turn himself in. The group of friends watched him go.
"Do you think he really is sorry?" Chelsea asked, stopping in her climb up the stairs to the slide.
"As much as I hate him...yeah I do," K.C. responded. "He comes off as an annoying busy body, but you can tell he's sweet inside. Anyone is capable of doing what he did, no matter how sweet they are. But it takes a man to own up to it."
"So what's going to happen?" Nuriko asked Tea.
"Well, he's going to use his savings to pay for child support. Then as soon as he gets out of prison he's going to get a job, and help pay for diapers, baby food, bottles, other baby stuff. In return, I let him see his kid on weekends and holidays."
"Works for me," Ashley said as she continued to swing.
"Hey Ashley, didn't you hate Hotohori at all?" Suki asked as he watched her. The others turned to look at her. She stopped.
"Of course, look at what he did. But it's like what you told him. It was a mistake. And you can't hate somebody forever. Doing so is just an excuse to be angry. There's no reason for it. Plus he wasn't the only one at fault. Teanna was a part of it. She got drunk too, not just Hotohori. Both of them owned up the that mistake; Teanna is going to raise the child, not kill it, and Hotohori is going to prison."
"You really thought about it didn't you?" Chi asked.
Ashley shrugged. "Each individual person's life is one big fat jigsaw puzzle. Some people put it together too fast and look what happens. You've got to take it slow, examine each and every piece throughly, before fitting it in. If a piece doesn't fit, it obviously must go somewhere else, so step back and fix it. Don't throw it out and say it doesn't belong there. It does...just not where you might expect."
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The End. I hope you enjoyed! I had an urge to continue to rant. I just hate it when people go out and get an abortion because they got pregnant by 'mistake'. I'm sorry, but if your old enough to have sex, your old enough to have a baby. You'd better own up to that mistake. Raise the kid, don't kill it because you had sex and the condom broke, or whatever else happened, and you got pregnant when you didn't want to. If you don't want to get pregnant, DON'T HAVE SEX! ABSTINENCE PEOPLE! ABSTINENCE!! However if the person was raped, I can understand that. Just don't go screaming rape as an excuse to kill some poor innocent baby over mommy's mistakes.
Well, please R&R. I'd really like to know what you thought about my story.