(Okay, serious moment:
I watch this one person on deviantART, and she recently posted a journal about this girl named Erin. Erin lives in the US, is in her late twenties... and has Chiari malformations and cranial lesions.
She has no job, so she can't get money. Her state is poor, and she doesn't meet requirements for Medicaid. Since she has no job, she has no health insurance. So, she signed up for an account at megaDownloads...? I believe that's the site's name. This site says that if she gets over five million downloads, they'll give her ten thousand dollars.
Then she can get one of the four operations she needs to save her life. She set up an account and has given it the name Project Download.
I know that there's a bunch of people that read my shit; please, go to projecterin dot com and download the file. There's no viruses- my computer would already be fucked up if there were. Please- I'm pointing this out and advertising it to help save someone's life.
Somber moment over; let's begin.
Leslie, Victor, Tyler, Derek, Angie © Nintendo
Alex, Erika © Me)
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Days of the Phoenix
Chapter Six- Lost History
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For several seconds, there was silence as Leslie, Tyler and Victor stared at the child.
"...what? Why are you looking at me like that?" Alex squirmed under the intense gaze of the three adults.
"You said... Stiles?" Tyler spoke softly, his brown eyes wide with disbelief.
"Y-yeah..."
"How old are you?" Victor demanded, his black eyes flashing.
"Uh... I turned thirteen a few months ago..." Alex spoke carefully, fearing Victor's tense voice.
"You said... that you had no parents," Leslie recalled. "So... how do you know your last name...?"
Alex shifted where he sat.
"I never knew my dad," he began. "Mom was out of her mind... she killed herself when I was six. The night before she died, she gave me this ring..."
He held up his hand to show off the plain silver band that rested on his thumb; something was etched into the silver object.
"The thing I remember most about her is when she would say, 'Remember that you're a Stiles', because she said it so many times.
"After she died, I went from foster home to foster home... I hated it. I was always getting sick, and the foster parents couldn't understand that I didn't like being unhealthy. After I turned eleven, I gave up-- I ran away. For about two years, I've been living on the streets..."
"...let me see that ring, please."
Victor and Tyler stared confusedly at Leslie as Alex pulled the ring off his bony finger, handing it to the green-haired woman.
"Les...?"
"Derek gave Angie a ring about two weeks after... after that operation," Leslie murmured, carefully examining the inscription in the ring. "She showed it to me one day when she came to Caduceus..."
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"Leeeeeslieeee, where are youuuuu?"
Leslie looked over her shoulder to see an extremely bouncy Angie Thompson hurrying over to her.
"Well, you're in a good mood today, Angie," Leslie laughed as she hugged her friend. "What's up?"
Angie beamed as she held her hand out, showing off the silver ring that now graced her slender hand.
"Last night, Derek and I... shared a special moment," she giggled. "He gave me this ring this morning... and said it was a temporary engagement ring."
"Oh, congratulations, Angie!" Leslie smiled at her friend, hugging Angie once again. "You so have to make me a bridesmaid!"
"You know it! But did you see what Derek had engraved in it?"
"No-- what's it say?"
Angie showed Leslie the engraving...
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Derek Stiles & Angela Thompson- 2017 -Together, till death do us part.
Tears came to Leslie's amber eyes as the memories of more carefree times came flooding back.
"S-she said that he called it their temporary engagement ring..." she whispered, trying not to cry. "...their engagement ring..."
Tyler placed a comforting hand on his wife's back, letting her rest her head on his shoulder.
"...do we trust him, then?" the blonde man murmured.
"...it adds credibility to his story, but we still have to be careful," Victor hissed quietly. "...if someone keeps an eye on him until I can trust him, I won't bitch about him being in the house."
Leslie carefully handed the ring back to Alexander, who had distracted himself by plucking lint puffs out of the couch. He shoved the ring back onto his bony thumb.
"Alex, you're going to stay with us," the green-haired woman spoke softly.
"W-what? N-no, it's okay, I don't want to be a problem--"
"No, we don't want to hear any of it," Tyler interjected. "You're going to stay here, alright?"
"...but--"
"If you protest one more time, I'm going to staple you to the couch," Victor snapped.
There were no further disputes.
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"Hey, Miss Leslie...?"
"Yes, Alex?"
Two weeks had passed since they had discovered the lost child of Derek and Angie. After finally getting three meals a day that actually filled him up, Alex's thin frame filled out nicely; his scrawny limbs became much more solid, and his gaunt face had rounded out, taking on the same shape of his deceased mother's.
"Why did you take me in?" he queried, helping Leslie clean the kitchen.
The green-haired woman paused.
"...we knew your parents, when they were alive," she began softly, scrubbing the grease off the stove. "So, when we learned that you were their child... we weren't going to let you go back to the streets to fend for yourself."
Alex was satisfied with that answer, and continued washing dishes.
The phone began to ring; it suddenly grew silent halfway through the second ring, shortly after caller ID revealed the incoming number.
"Who keeps answering the phone?"
"Rylee does; Tyler's usually out at meetings, I'm taking care of chores, Erika is at school or talking to Victor, and Victor never leaves that stupid basement..."
Hurried footsteps suddenly resounded throughout the house; Rylee appeared in the kitchen, a worried look in her hazel eyes.
"Leslie, we have a big problem."
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(End chapter six.
So, did I tell you all I bought a new notebook? It's wonderful. The cover is black, it's plastic, and there's no chance in hell of pages falling out of it. Score one for the ITB.
Don't forget Project Download.
Please review!)