Hey y'all, it's Ender! I hope you're having a great day and I hope to make it even better with this new chapter! 1,355 words this chapter. NOTE: I don't own Minecraft, Mianite, any YouTubers mentioned, and really, I don't own anything except this story.

Chapter 2

"Where are we going?" The young boy asked his father, his light brown eyes wide with innocence. He couldn't have been more than eight, possibly younger. He wore a dark blue jacket that was several sizes too big over his orange-and-white striped T-shirt.

His father, a tall man with close-cropped light brown hair, looked back at the boy, who was skipping along happily behind him. He smiled slightly, beckoning for the boy to come closer with one hand.

"We're going to town for a quick trip," His father responded lightly. "And I promise to get you a nice stick of rock sugar candy."

"Candy?" The boy perked up, a wide grin appearing on his face. "Any flavour I want?"

"Any flavour you want," His father nodded. "Now come on, Richard. Pick up your feet – we've got a ways to go if we want to reach the town before noon.

Richard and his father sped up their pace, walking side by side. Richard seemed to get distracted by many things – a small purple flower on the side of the path, a cluster of speckled mushrooms, a deer bounding away through the woods. Richard's father was patient with his son and watched him dart around with amusement sparkling in his dark green eyes.

"Dad! Look!" Richard knelt down by the roots of a young birch tree, studying something on the ground. Richard's father came over to see what Richard was looking at, blinking curiously.

Lying on the ground was a fallen nest, probably blown out of the tree by a strong breeze. There were two baby birds inside, chirping fearfully as they glanced around with wide, dark eyes. They didn't appear old enough to fly yet, and were fluttering their puny wings nervously.

"Can we help them, Dad?" Richard begged. "I bet their mother is oh so worried about them. And they're going to die if they stay down here. Please, Dad, it will only take a second! And we can make the Mama Bird happy that her babies are safe."

Richard's father hesitated, but when Richard looked at him with wide, pleading eyes, he sighed in defeat and gently scooped up the bird's nest. The baby birds starting chirping louder, crying out in fear. Richard reached up and gently stroked one of the little birds' head with his finger, then seemingly chirping back at them. The baby birds calmed down quickly after that and Richard's father glanced at his son, surprised.

"Alright, Richard. Here they go," Richard's father gently tucked the nest into a crook in the branch of the birch tree, making sure it was safe and secure.

"Thanks Dad," Richard grinned and hugged his father. "Now the Mama Bird can be happy."

Richard's father smiled, but it was almost overshadowed by a lingering sadness. He gently took Richard's hand and led him away from the bird's nest, the mood turning solemn around them.

"Dad?" Richard asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over them. "What was my mom like?"

Richard's father froze in his tracks and his grip on Richard's hand visibly tightened. The young boy stared up at his father, waiting patiently for an answer.

"Well, Richard," his father began cautiously. "When I first met her, she was the nicest, kindest woman you could ever hope to fall in love with. She was as perfect as a goddess in my eyes. Then, when you were about three years old, we both realized there was something – different about you. We weren't sure quite what it was but we could both feel it. Your mother didn't want to keep you but I objected. We spent so many nights arguing over what we should do. Finally, one night after it got particularly bad, she screamed that if I wanted to keep you so badly, then she was going to leave. I didn't back down. She left. I haven't seen her since."

Richard was quiet for a long time, his eyes fixated on a distant point. "I'm sorry," He finally murmured. "I didn't mean to make her angry."

"It's not your fault," Richard's father sounded like he was trying to swallow down a wave of bitterness. "Kaylen made her own choice. If she had just been willing to accept the fact that you weren't like other kids, then maybe things would be different. But she was too blind to see that you were special in your own way."

"The kids at school say I'm a freak," Richard admitted suddenly. "Are they right? Am I a freak?"

"Now why would you be a freak?" Richard's father frowned at his son, clearly concerned by what Richard had just confessed.

"Because I can hear the animals speaking," Richard said after a moment's hesitation. "When they're happy I can hear them laughing. When they're sad I can hear them crying. Sometimes I talk with them and try to help them."

"You what?" Richard's father narrowed his eyes. "Richard, that's not possible. It's not nice to lie."

"But I'm not lying!" Richard raised his voice indignantly. "I can hear the squirrels in the trees talking about how they're worried that winter is coming and that they may not have enough food. I can hear the rabbits saying how there's no good place to dig a burrow and that they may freeze to death in the cold. And I can hear the birds saying how it's time to fly south before a blizzard comes. I can hear all of them, Dad. They're so sad and upset and I wish that I could help them all but I can't! Please believe me, Dad. I'm not lying, I promise."

"You can – hear animals?" Richard's father sounded incredibly doubtful. "What were those baby birds saying then?"

"They – they were crying out for help, but they got scared when you picked them up because they didn't know who you were. I told them that we were helping them and that they would be safe," Richard explained. "Then they calmed down and said 'thank you'."

"Really?" Richard's father said coldly. "Richard, if you want to talk to me, go right ahead, but you have to stop lying. I will not tolerate this nonsense any longer."

"But I'm not!" Richard yelled, tears beginning to shine in his eyes. "I'm not lying! I swear to Notch I'm telling you the truth! I really can talk to animals and they can talk back to me!"

"Richard!" The boy fell silent, staring up at his father with fearful eyes. "Enough! If you can't behave, then we are going right back home. You're lucky that your punishment for lying will be mild. I could make it so much worse you know. Would you really want to go through that again?"

Richard shuddered and flinched away from his father, clearly scared. His father didn't back down, instead grabbing Richard's hand and holding onto it tightly – much too tightly. Richard whimpered, but allowed himself to be pulled along as his father started walking back down the path.

"You remember what happened the last time you lied to me?" Richard's father snarled. "Tell me what happened."

"You – you made me drink a potion of harming, level two," Richard responded timidly. "And then I had to stay in bed for the next ten days so I wouldn't die from the aftereffects."

"Exactly," Richard's father snapped. "This time, it will only be level one. It won't hurt quite as much, but it will still be an appropriate punishment for your lies."

Richard started trembling as they neared their house, which was a small cabin made out of birch wood. His father threw open the spruce door and stormed inside, tugging Richard along forcefully. He opened a cupboard and grabbed a bottle filled with a dark, murky liquid.

"Drink up, and let this be a lesson to you, Richard," Richard's father said coldly, handing the young boy the potion. "Don't ever lie to me again."

And through all the autumn forest, where the trees were just beginning to lose their leaves, Richard's pained scream echoed through the chilly air as he accepted his punishment for the truth.

I swear, User as a young'un has got to be the cutest thing I've ever written about! I just want to give him a hug and let him know that everything's going to be okay... even if it's not.

Random Observation: Earlier today I was thinking about what would happen if User read these stories and what he would think... needless to say, I started freaking out at the thought of him even reading these! XD (And no, I'm probably not going to send the link to him because that would require me learning how to use Twitter... and I don't really like Twitter.)

RusYRP: Yay! User is indeed back, and I will make sure to include as many feels as possible!

ironhideandratchet4ever: Oh, just you wait... I've really been going ham on the pre-writing, and the feels in Chapter 7 should definitely give your heart a little twist... ;)

DiamondScribe: I was shaking, Diamond. SHAKING! True though, I didn't cry like I did when I was writing Chapter 7 of TPD when User killed himself...