Dry Your Tears Chapter 34

Shadow's p.o.v

I sat across from Xander at the kitchen table, not daring to take my eyes off of him. If he was intimidated by me, then great. He should be. He stared back with irritation in his eyes. "So is this some type of staring contest?"

I grunted. "It's whatever the fuck you want it to be." I leaned back with my arms crossed and stared him dead straight in the eye; still no intention of losing focus. "We can stay like this until Amy gets back for all I care." Xander huffed and rubbed his head.

"Where'd Amy go anyway?"

"None of your business."

"I'm her legal guardian", he growled, "it is my business."

"To see her friend Cream." Upon seeing his look of confusion, I rolled my eyes frustratedly. "If you knew anything about her life, you'd know that's her friend who's been hospitalized for quite some time now."

Xander rested his chin on his palm. "Yes, of course I knew that. I can't say I ever really paid much attention to it back then."

"Don't say back then like it was years ago. Just the other day you were abusing her, and we still don't trust you. At least I don't."

Xander nodded slowly in understanding. "I don't trust myself either. Perhaps it's best you did keep your eye on me after all."

"Didn't need to ask me", I grumbled. I watched closely as Xander stood and went over to a slightly cracked picture frame. It was Vera back when she was healthy and glowing. Xander traced his finger down the glass slowly. Suddenly, he picked the picture up and placed it in the drawer under it. "I can't be reminded of you right now", he whispered to himself. How pathetic. Xander looked back at me and scratched his head. "I can't really tell you why Amy winded up with us in the first place. It just sorta happened. If I could go back to the day I met Jackie, I never would have made that deal with her."

I sat up abruptly. "Jackie? Tell me what happened that day."

Xander frowned. "No thanks. It's not anything you should be concerned about."

"It's not a request. So you better start singing like a canary. Unless you prefer your teeth to be smashed into your brain. Don't think it's possible? Try me."

Xander sat on the small sofa, and I stood in front of him. He leaned his elbows on his knees and began to tell the story. I listened intently. If I knew anything, it was that Jackie was a no good, sneaky bitch.

Flashback (10 years ago)

No p.o.v

A younger and healthier Xander walked up to his close friend Vera who was laying on a bench. She wept as Xander knelt down to her. "Hey...hey it's okay. We're going to eat tonight. I won't let us skip another meal. You've stuck with me since the beginning, and I won't let us suffer." Xander then laid his coat on top of Vera, and kissed her forehead. "I love you...you know that."

Nightfall was on its way and it was only getting colder. Xander and Vera had been camping out wherever they found an available spot. Tonight was an old park not too far from downtown. The lake in the middle of it had frozen over, leaving nothing but a plate of thick, glass-like ice. Xander wandered over to it, keeping an eye on Vera every once in a while. He stared at his reflection.

CRACK!

Xander heaved in and out as he punched the spot his reflection was in. "I hate myself. I can't even take care of her."

CRACK!

CRACK!

Xander's knuckles began to slowly turn purple from bruising. He stopped and covered his ears with his balled up fists. "Keep it together Xander...keep it together", he told himself. He thought long and hard about what he would do, what they would eat, where they would go. The more he thought, the more frustrated he got. "Please...I'll take anything at this point. Just please", he said as he too began to cry. His coat was placed on top of him slowly. Xander looked up to see Vera standing over him.

"We can't both be crying", she said with a sad smile. She sat next to him and leaned on his shoulder. The stars began to come out of hiding in the darkening sky. "Xander", Vera mumbled, "will you give me a star?"

Xander looked at Vera slightly confused. "Okay...um..how about that one right over there? The largest one in the middle of those three tiny ones. That's yours."

Vera sighed a breath of relief. "Thank you. Who needs a meal when you have a star?"

Xander flattened his ears. He realized she was trying her best to take his mind off his worries. He laid back on the grass, and laid her down with him. Together, they gazed up at the stars. "You're right", he mumbled. "We'll reach them one day, won't we..." Xander closed his eyes, slowly beginning to snooze.

A soft, but scratchy thing landed on his nose, tickling it. He wiggled his nose and opened his eyes. His eyes widened, and his ears perked. A crisp, $100 bill lay on top of him. Slowly more began to fall upon him. He nudged Vera who also saw what was happening.

"There's more where that came from."

They both looked up to see a tall, figured hedgehog standing over them, clutching a purse. "It's rude to stare. My name is Jaquelyn, but you may refer to me as Jackie. I have a proposition for you."

end of flashback

No p.o.v

Shadow paced back and forth as Xander stopped talking. "So she gave you money to take care of Amy. Is that it?"

Xander shook his head. "Not exactly. She was being very secretive, but of course we didn't question it back then. We were young and just wanted a way out of the poverty we were suffering in. Everything she asked of us, we did it. For the money."

Shadow tapped his chin. "Everything she asked of you? Explain."

Xander sighed and leaned back on the couch. "Well after she gave us a couple hundred dollars..."

flashback (10 years ago)

No p.o.v

Xander and Vera sat on the bench as Jackie paced in front of them in her high heels. Vera latched on to Xander's arm. "You mean all you want us to do is take care of a six year old girl? You'll provide the money and everything?"

Jackie nodded at Vera's excitement. Xander on the other hand was not entirely convinced. "Wait a second. Why won't you take care of her? Who is she to you?"

Jackie blinked with a blank expression. "My niece. There will be an accident tonight. A terrible accident, and she will soon be an orphaned child. I do not wish to raise the child who will remind me of my dear sister."

Xander frowned and looked Jackie up and down. "What do you mean there's going to be an accident? Why don't you go help your sister out then? What're you hiding from us?"

Jackie held up her wrist and looked at her diamond encrusted watch. "By now it is already done. I am sorry. If you do not wish to have this great fortune then I will move on to the next poor people who will. It's now or never."

Vera looked at Xander sadly. Their stomachs growled in unison. Xander balled his fist up. Something wasn't entirely right about this situation, but what could be the harm in simply taking care of a little girl? He nodded at Vera. "Okay, but we can't raise a child in a park. As you can see, we don't have a home."

Jackie cleared her throat. "Already taken care of." She tossed Vera a single key on a ring. "It's to a large one story house towards the outskirts of town. Here", she said as she handed Xander a roll of money in a rubber band. "That should be enough to pay for groceries and the bills for a few weeks. I will supply you with more if you continue to do as you're told."

Vera clutched the key in her hand. "We don't want to get involved in anything-"

"No stings attached", Jackie assured her with a smile. "Just raise the child. But there's one small thing. You must beat her."

Vera gasped and Xander tossed the money back to Jackie. "What kind of shit are you running here?! We aren't going to beat a child. Do you know how much trouble that'd get us in?! Besides, we aren't those type of people. Take your scheme to someone else. We aren't interested."

end of flashback

Shadow frowned. "So you said you wouldn't do it. How the hell did you manage to get tied up in this anyway?"

Xander sighed. "The thought of money, a home...food. It consumed us. At first we were going to say that we'd beat Amy, but not actually do it. But things changed..."

"What do you mean things changed", Shadow growled. "There's never an excuse to do what you did."

Xander waved his hand. "I know I know. Our anger got the best of us. You see...we moved into the home Jackie set out for us. Everything was going fine. She hadn't given us Amy yet, but she continuously came to visit. With the riches we had, I proposed to Vera. We got married, but for some reason we still weren't happy with our living circumstances. It was almost as if we had cheated ourselves." Shadow leaned against the wall as Xander continued.

Eventually, Jackie introduced us to drugs. She knew what she was doing...she tricked us. We got hooked and blew a lot of our money on it. The house went into foreclosure, and we got kicked out. The only place we could afford was this apartment. She wouldn't even help us."

"Then you received Amy", Shadow finished for him.

Xander nodded. "Yes, we received Amy. All of our money had been squandered, and we found we had less and less of it everyday. So we beat her. We beat her for Jackie's sake after she said she'd give us money for doing it. We were desperate. Even if we stopped and told the police, we knew we'd go down too. Eventually she cut off our money all together, so I started a drug ring so to speak. If anyone didn't pay up, they got killed. Vera went into prostitution and other illegal things. We did do many cruel and disgusting things just to keep our heads above water."

Shadow scoffed in disgust. "And where did Amy come in throughout all of this? What did she ever do?"

Xander shook his head in shame. "Nothing. I guess we blamed it all on her. Had we never taken the whole deal, we never would have ended up with her. We never would have been in the situation we were in. That's how we saw it back then. It's not justified, I know. But that's all I want to discuss right now."

Shadow walked over and looked out the window. Amy should have been back by now. He turned back to Xander. "You do know Jackie was responsible for Amy's parents don't you?"

Xander shoved his hands in his pockets. "It seems that way now. Yes."

Shadow grabbed a coat, and began to unlock the door. "Where are you going...", Xander asked. Shadow stopped and looked back with a glare. "To pay Jackie a visit." Shadow swung the door open, but stopped in his tracks. Amy was toward the side of the door, leaning her head on the rail. She was sobbing silently. Had she heard what they were discussing? He knelt down to her and tapped her. She looked up with teary eyes. "What happened?"

Amy wiped her face. "Cream was having some sort of brain and heart failure. She's in the ICU. I don't even know if she's going to survive. She's my best friend.." Amy stopped and began sobbing again. Shadow lifted her up and lead her inside. Xander stood and helped Amy sit down. Shadow gave Xander a look that signaled not to bring up what they had discussed. Xander nodded and sat with Amy on the couch. Shadow began walking back to the door. "I'll be back", he grumbled.

The door shut, and only Amy's sobs echoed around the room. Xander looked at Amy with a sad expression. He kneeled in front of her and moved her hair so he could see her eyes. "Your friend is going to be alright. I promise."

Amy stared at Xander. "H-How do you know?"

Xander sighed. "I just know. So trust me. She's going to be alright."

Amy leaned on Xander with droopy eyes. She sunk down from the couch and laid in his lap. She was in a deep slumber. Otherwise, she wouldn't have dared stayed this close to him. Xander stroked Amy softly and leaned back against the couch. "I'm sorry", he whispered as he stared at the ceiling. "I'm sorry..."

Check out Spirals. It's only 10 chapters in, and will be as good as this story. Fav, follows, and reviews deeply appreciated. Always love to know how I'm doing, or how my readers feel about the chapters. Have a great day.