Chapter Ten

(Hey, y'all!

I hope you're having a nice day!

If you're not having a good day, as I have said previously, things will get better. I promise.

The good news is that Christmas is coming! Celebrate with other people who don't have anyone to celebrate Christmas with. It'll make their day…FOR REAL.

Shout-out to AnonymousZGirl: I really liked the song that you wrote in the comment that you sent me (Run, Joey, Run). I've been listening to that all day while I was at school and I am listening to the song again while I started to write this chapter.

Everyone who is reading this, I would like to say that if come up with any song or story ideas, please write them in the comments box after reading any chapters or PM them to me and I can come up with something in the other chapters or stories. Any songs with explicit content need to be edited to clean versions of the original song and inappropriate ideas will not be used.

Anyway, here's the tenth chapter of this story.

Enjoy the story and life as it goes!

-imaginarytoon1)

Beatrice:

After I took one step out of my house, Mr. D grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and carried me to his white van. It took him two minutes to get to the van and when Mr. D came to the back doors, he literally tossed me in the back of the van and I am struck by a wall that divided the back and the front. Mr. D left me in almost pitch black darkness after closing the doors with two really hard slams. The only light came from a tiny, rectangular, and scratched window that was installed on the right side of the van (if you look at it from the back).

"You, too?" A teen girl's voice asked me.

I looked behind me and I saw a girl, at least the same age as me, with extremely pale skin, heavy eyeliner, and really, really short dark chocolate brown hair. Right beside the Girl Number One was another girl. Girl Number Two was not in her teens and she has light blond hair and naturally, she isn't wearing any make-up. In her hands was a baby doll (which looked like Baby Herman) in a fuzzy puppy dog onesie.

"Did that Mr. D take you because your family thought that you were crazy?" Girl Number One asked.

"Yeah but it's only my mom who thinks that I'm crazy. My brother and father don't believe that I'm gaga. That's another word for 'crazy' if you were confused by the other word." I replied.

"No, no, I know what it means."

"Is the little girl next you your little sister?"

"Yeah. Our mom and dad thought that she was crazy, too."

"Why did they think that?" I asked.

"My sister said that we can both see, hear, and talk to these…things called…um…'Toons'." Girl Number One replied.

"Really? Are you serious?"

"'Heck' to the 'yeah', I'm serious. Why do you ask?"

"My mom thinks that I'm crazy because my brother and I can see, hear, and talk to Toons. That's why I'm going to the Houston Juvenile Institute…or at least, that's what the rest of my family thinks."

"What are you planning to do?" Girl Number Two asked, speaking for the first time.

"Are you planning to escape?" Girl Number One asked.

Like a group of football players planning their next move, Girl Numbers One and Two and I gathered around after I checked to make sure that Mr. D wasn't listening to us with hidden microphones or putting his ear on the wall so that he can pick up any details.

"Yes. I know a place that's an hour away from the Houston Juvenile Institute but it is still inside Houston. It's very hard to be found by many other people but I know how to get there very well. Would you like to join me in my escape?" I asked.

"Yes because I don't think that you're crazy and I think that you're a good person." Girl Number One said.

"Where are we going?" Girl Number Two asked.

"To my grandfather's place. He's very nice and always lends a helping hand." I said.

"I would never go anywhere without my big sister."

"There are just a couple of things that we have to do before we escape."

"What's that?" Girl Numbers One and Two asked in unison.

"We have to wait five minutes and ten seconds so that we can tip this two ton piece of junk off its wheels."

"And what else?" Girl Number Two asked.

"We can't do an escape without an introduction. I can't call y'all Girl Number One and Girl Number Two when I'm trying to get your attention. I would rather call you by your real names."

"You tell us your name first." Girl Number One said.

"My name's Beatrice Birchwood." I replied.

Girl Number One looked at me with shock.

"Is everything all right?" I asked.

"You're Beatrice Birchwood?" Girl Number One asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"I'm Cressida Gruwell."

"Text-pal Cressida Gruwell?"

"Yeah. I never thought that I would actually meet you in person."

Wow, this is…this is really neat!

"Anyway, my little sister is named Penelope. Some people call her 'Penny' for short." Cressida said.

"All right, Cressida. Now that we know each other's names, the five minutes and ten seconds begin right now and we have to act like we're not doing anything. When those five minutes are up, we have to work together and try to knock this van off its wheels."

"Penelope and I are with you. You're a good friend and thinker, Beatrice. You're one heck of a good person."

…..

Tommy:

There was absolutely no way that I'm going to live the rest of my life without Beatrice. Ever since we learned how to talk and read, Beatrice and I were like two peas in a pod. We always had each other's backs and we would always work together in many situations.

Now that Beatrice is going to an insane asylum, I'm going to miss everything. I'm going to miss Beatrice playing the piano, drawing pictures, sing along with the piano music, and I'm even going to miss Beatrice sticking up for herself whenever she would get in argument with Mom.

Two minutes after Beatrice left, I walked into the living and I said to Mom,

"I hope you're proud of yourself, Mom. I hope that you're happy now that my TWIN SISTER is GONE!"

"Is that any way to talk to your mother, Thomas J. Birchwood?" Mom snapped at me.

"I had to say it! And Dad made an excellent point about not giving away a family member! It's really wrong!"

"I didn't want to lose this house, Thomas! I wanted to you to have a roof over your head instead of having to live in a cardboard box on a wet street!"

"Living conditions have nothing to do with Beatrice!" Dad exclaimed when he came in to the living room. "How you're behaving is what making me and Tommy ticked off and sad! You are the mother of our sweet little girl and you don't display any appreciation of everything that Beatrice did to make you happy."

"How is giving me a fish tank full of leopard frogs trying to make ME happy?" Mom asked.

"There it is again. Your lack of appreciation is being displayed again." Dad said.

"You're not acting like a loving mother, Mom! A loving mother doesn't make her own daughter go to an insane asylum just because she can see, hear, and talk to other things that not everyone can see, hear, or talk to in their lives!" I exclaimed.

Then, Dad looked at me and said to me in a serious voice,

"Tommy, go to your room."

"Am I in trouble?" I asked, nervously.

"No. Your mom and I are going to continue to have a little talk. Read a book or watch a movie and get ready for bed."

"Okay, Dad."

…..

Greasy:

"Wow, Greasy." Sleazy said. "That's definitely a good song."

"I don't want to miss a thing…" Psycho sang while walking around the record player.

"Once I go see the muchacha tomorrow, I'm going to sing this to her and then, she'll love me para siempre. I hope that this song would be better than the last two songs." I said.

"I thought that the last two songs were catchy." Sleazy said. "I mean, after we got out of Birchwood's mind, you played Barbara Ann and Stand By Me several times and I thought that they were really nice."

"I thought so, too, but I don't think the muchacha liked them at all." I said and grabbed the rule book.

"But don't worry, Greasy. It takes time for a girl to like you. Maybe tomorrow, things will get better."

I thought it over and I nodded my head.

"Yeah, you're right, Sleazy." I said. "Maybe things would work out tomorrow."

Then, Psycho giggled.

Sleazy and I looked at him awkwardly but Psycho ignored us and continued to walk around the record player.

"Well, I'm going to hit the hay." Sleazy said, breaking the silence. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"First thing tomorrow?" I asked.

"As usual."

"All right, Sleazy. Hasta luego."

Then, Sleazy left the office.

I went back to the book and I was about to read the pages that Sleazy told me to read. I couldn't read past the first sentence because of two things, another one of muchacha's songs (she has an unusual but really nice taste in music) is stuck in my head and all I can think about is the muchacha herself.

The other song begins to play in my head as I trace circles on my desk with my fingers.

I'll be your dream,

I'll be your wish,

I'll be your fantasy.

I'll be your hope,

I'll be your love,

Be everything that you need.

I sigh in a state of daydreaming and staring out into space.

I'll love you more with every breath,

Truly, madly, deeply do.

I will be strong,

I will be faithful,

'cause I'm counting on

A new beginning,

A reason for living.

A deeper meaning, yeah.

….

I want to—

I snapped out of it and the song stops playing in my head after I heard someone knock on my door.

"Come in." I said.

Then, the door opened and Wheezy walked in while burning six cigarettes in his mouth.

"Have you read the book that Yen Sid sent you yet, Greasy?" He asked and blew out a cloud of smoke.

"I tried but I began to think about the muchacha." I replied. "She's really been one the only things that I can think about."

Wheezy chuckled.

"You really like that girl, don't you?" He asked.

"Si." I replied.

"To be honest with you, I haven't seen you this happy since Boss gave you and Psycho permission to join the Toon Patrol."

I looked at Wheezy and I saw him smiling a small smile.

"And to be honest with YOU, Wheezy, I haven't seen you smile in a long time. Are things going all right with you?" I asked.

"Yep. Despite of having to go to jail again and having to be a part of a trial, things are still going well for me." Wheezy replied.

"That's good."

"And Greasy?"

"Si?"

"If you really like Birchwood, then she's all yours. I think that she's really the right girl for you."

"Hee hee hee!" Psycho giggled and rolled around on the floor.

"Heh, heh, heh, *cough, cough* even Psycho agrees." Wheezy said.

"But Boss still doesn't agree that I should be around Birchwood, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, sorry."

"What about Stupid?"

"He agrees that you're okay with Birchwood."

Then, we heard Psycho snore softly. I saw him lying on the floor flat on his back in a immediate but deep sleep.

"Well, we better hit the hay." Wheezy said and inhaled on a cigarette. "We're going to have another visit with Birchwood tomorrow. Are you planning to come along, Greasy?"

"Oh, yeah." I replied.

"All right, then. Now, get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow."