Chapter 2

Denzel Age 6

Denzel Crocker is now in first grade. He still has his friends from kindergarten in his class. He's grown closer to them over the year and was hoping to keep having them in his classes in the future. Denzel is now starting to learn how to ride a bike. He got it for a present and he was really excited to ride it. One day after Darrells came home from work. He went to help his son to learn how to ride a bike. After he taught Denzel the basics of riding a bike, he told him to start peddling and he would keep holding on.

Darrells kept doing this for a couple of rounds, holding onto the bike as Denzel rode it down the side walk. He saw how happy his son was and decided it was time for him to start doing it on his own. So, he let go of the bike, while Denzel was looking straight ahead, not letting him know that he let go.

"Alright, go on. Start peddling" Darrells instructed, still not holding onto the bike. Denzel started peddling forward once again. Not knowing that his dad wasn't holding on.

"I'm doing it, Daddy" Denzel cried, happily."That's right, you are. Good job, son" Darrells cried. Denzel looked behind him and saw that his dad was so far behind him, not even holding onto the bike. Denzel had no idea that his father wasn't even holding onto the bike, so Denzel got scared and started circling around the side walk, losing control of his balance. Denzel screamed as he was losing control and fell to the ground. Denzel started to cry and Darrells ran to help.

"Are you okay, son?" Darrells asked, with sympathy in his voice."You were doing such a good job, that I decided to let you do it on your own". Denzel continued to cry."You… didn't e-even tell me that-you let go and no… I'm not okay. That hurt". Darrells checked to see if his son had any scrapes.

"You don't even have any scrapes. You're fine" Darrells said, in his normal voice."No. I'm not" Denzel sobbed."I'm telling mommy". Denzel went to tell his mother about the bike incident and Darrells just sighed.

Another traumatizing incident happened when Denzel was just six years old as well. It was passed Halloween and Thanksgiving, now going into Christmas season. Darrells, Dolores-Day and Denzel Crocker had a family get together to go to. It was Dolores's side of the family. The three of them always gets together with her side of the family every Christmas season. It was pretty much the only time they got to see them. Every year, Denzel's grandparents and aunts always fuss about how cute he was and how big he was getting. Denzel didn't mind before, but now that he was 6, he thought it was a bit embarrassing. His grandparents and aunts still come and pinch his cheeks.

He didn't want his older cousins to see and laugh at him. Now, since he was in the first grade, he wanted to be a bit more cooler. But, he was the youngest of the family. He was always gonna be the baby at that house hold. Unfortunately, he was always gonna get this type of treatment. Probably, even when he will be ten, or even a teenager… how embarrassing.

When the adults were doing all of their boring talking, Denzel decided to go find some fun. He walked around the house, looking in all the different rooms at the scenery to see if he could find anything fun to do. At some point, he found his grandmas room on the upstairs floor. His grandparents didn't share a room together. For as long as he could remember coming here, he didn't see them share a room. Denzel went inside and closed the door behind him, his grandma always had stuff toys for him to play with every year. The toys were hers since she was a child. Denzel couldn't believe She had them for them for that long. It seems like forever ago to Denzel. Ancient times.

Denzel didn't want to be bothered by his cousins or any body for the matter. He just wanted to be alone with his grandmas toys for a while. If his grandma wanted to come in and play with him, he was fine with that. She always played with the toys with him when they visited each other. There were times when he just wanted it to be just him and his grandma. No body else.

When Denzel was in her closet, he saw the bin of her stuff animals. He smiled with excitement and pulled it out of the closet. He grabbed his favorite toy. Her stuffed bear. He was big, had light brown fur and wore pants and a red shirt. His name was Buttons. He played with Buttons and his other grandmas stuffed toys for a while. Probably for an hour. Which seemed like forever for Denzel. After Denzel cleaned up. He was ready to go and check back in with his family. Dinner was probably gonna be ready soon. Denzel held onto Buttons. He wanted to keep him for the time being. He went to turn the door handle to open the door, but, it wouldn't open. It was locked!?

How was the door locked? All he did was close it like any other normal door. Denzel pulled on the door. It still wouldn't budge. He pulled and pulled, and pulled. No matter how hard he tried. It still wouldn't open. Oh no, this wasn't good. How could he get out? His family didn't know he was up here. His family didn't know where he was. His family didn't even know he was locked in a room by himself. Denzel started to panic. How was he supposed to let his family know that he was locked in a room all the way upstairs? Denzel started pounding on the door, loudly.

Still, nobody heard him. He started to cry and continued to pound on his grandmas door. He thought he heard someone talking he called out for them and continued to pound on the door. They didn't hear him. Denzel continued to cry loudly, while pounding on the door and cried out for help. Still nobody came. He decided to give up and just cry loudly.

It was finally dinner time and nobody knew where Denzel was. Dolores decided to look for him on her way to the bathroom. She went upstairs to use the upstairs bathroom and she heard quiet sobs coming from her moms room. The sounds were pretty quiet, but she knew those sobs from anywhere. Dolores walked up to the door and opened it, slowly. Her moms door was one of those doors that locked from the inside. But, her mom always had a key to let her self out. As soon as she opened the door, she saw her sweet six year old son, lying on the ground, sobbing. She knew Denzel had no idea where the key to the door was.

"Denzel! Honey!" Dolores cried out, sweetly. Denzel looked up at his mom and his eyes were red from crying and his nose was running. Denzel sniffled."M-Mommy"."Oh, sweet heart!" she cried and bent down and picked her son up to hold him in her arms."I had no idea where you were. Denzel held Buttons to his chest. He felt so soft.

"I-I'm s-sorry m-mother. I-I went up h-here t-to play and when I-I went to l-leave the door was l-locked" He said between sobs."Oh, honey. It's okay. But, next time let us know where you're going, alright" Dolores told him. Denzel nodded, tears still streaming down his face.

After Dolores and her son went to the bathroom, they both went downstairs to eat. Dolores carried Denzel all the way down to the dinner table and sat him down on a chair next to her. Dolores told everyone what happened and Darrells was not impressed that his son locked himself in his grandmas room like that. Darrells sighed and continued to eat his dinner.

Denzel Age 7

Dolores knew that Denzel was doing so well in school and he was being a good kid at home by helping her with chores, she thought it would be a good idea to build him his own tree house to hang out in. It would be his special birthday present. She had friends who knew construction workers. So, her friends called the construction workers to help build Denzel's tree house. Building the tree house would be a long process, but it was worth it for Denzel.

One afternoon while building the tree house, Denzel wanted to see how the progress of the tree house was going. So, he went outside in his backyard and started to climb up the ladder. He didn't get very high up until he tripped and lost his balance, and fell off the ladder to the ground. Denzel started to cry which made everyone stop what they were doing and look in his direction. Dolores ran outside to go check on Denzel.

"What happened?" She wondered while kneeling down to look at him. Darrells was already outside and walked over to them.

"I don't know. He fell down or something" he said even though he wasn't watching his son. Denzel nodded, but started to calm down since his mother was there. Dolores saw that there was a scrape on his arm and there was blood.

"I'm gonna go take him inside" Dolores said and carried him inside. After she cleaned his cut and put a bandage on it, she carefully led him up to the treehouse while she was behind him. Dolores made sure the ladder to the treehouse was build, so he could climb up there safely. She also made sure there was padding under the tree house in case he fell down again.

After another week or two the tree house was finally build. Dolores got Denzel some lab kits so he could make experiments in his lab. He had a desk in his tree house, two bean bag chairs a white board with magnets and glow in the dark star stickers on the walls. He also had a toy box in there too. Denzel loved his treehouse, he would spend a few hours making experiments with his lab kits. But, over time, he got smarter and started to make inventions too.

He would find ways to get the items he needed to make invention and he would spend a few hours in his tree house putting them together. Of course, his parents had no idea that he was making inventions and that he was only doing experiments with his lab kits either for himself or for school. His inventions was his first secret he was keeping from his parents, especially his dad. He was afraid his mom would think the inventions would be too dangerous for him and he thought his dad would be angry and wouldn't except him being a scientist like him. So, Denzel would store his inventions in his toy box if he knew his parents were coming in the tree house.

Denzel Age 8

It has been a year since Denzel had his tree house and now, since he is in the second grade, he is getting smarter and smarter with his inventions. He still hasn't told his parents yet about them. As far as they knew, he was just doing his lab experiments. Which yes, he still was doing the experiments whenever his mom got him new lab kits, but, other than that, he has really been interested in his inventions. One after one the ideas would come for them and he still hasn't showed anyone them yet… not even his friends. It's not that he didn't trust his friends, he was just afraid they would be too excited and somehow the word would get out to his parents. He just didn't want to see the look on his dads face when he would see his secret inventions.

It was getting late one night and Denzel knew he had to go inside. He still had a curfew whenever he was in his tree house, even on the weekends. That's how over protective his mother was. It was really getting close to his curfew, so he decided to stop working on his latest invention and go inside. It was dark outside.

"You're cutting it pretty close there, son" Darrells warned him when he saw his son.

"Sorry, Dad" Denzel apologized. He knew his dad meant business. So, what he said goes. He didn't want to get on his dad's bad side."I've just been really busy in there" was all that Denzel said.

"Hm. I hope that hasn't been interfering with your school work" Darrells said.

"Of course, not Daddy. You know what mother always says. School comes first. I'm still getting A's on my homework" Denzel told him. Darrells nodded, even though he was still suspicious on what his son was really doing in that tree house of his.

"That's good, son. I'm proud of you" Darrells told him. It was nice to hear from his dad that he was proud of him. He knows his dad is proud of him, but it was just nice to hear him say it. He never really says that he's proud of him that often.

Late that night when Denzel was asleep, Darrells decided to sneak into his son's treehouse to see what he was really doing in there. When he was in his son's treehouse he didn't see much of anything except for his lab experiments and other accessories like his bean bags in the corners. But, his eyes looked towards the toy box. The toy box lid was shut. What could his son be possibly hiding in there? His other experiments? Maybe. But, he wouldn't know unless if he opened the toy box himself. He was the parent. He was supposed to invade his sons privacy… right? He was only 8. What could an 8 year old possibly be hiding in an innocent toy box?

Would he even be invading his sons privacy when he was 40? Possibly. Maybe. If he felt like he had too. Again, he was the parent He's aloud to pry into his sons life. At any age really. Darrells walked up to the toy box and opened it. His eyes widened. He couldn't believe what he he saw in there. Inventions! Inventions in any shape and size. Big and small. They were still small enough to all fit in his toy box. He knew his son was doing more than just lab experiments the whole time. When did he start these?

When did his son became so smart? Was he really doing that bad of a job at watching his own son? Darrells started to grab the inventions and throw them all out on the floor, until the toy box was completely empty. Darrells stared at all of the inventions in the room. How could this small child be this smart? Was he a scientist this whole time without even realizing it? He did not want his son to become a scientist like him. He didn't care how much Denzel wanted to become one… or even if this was a hobby or a faze. Darrells had to put a stop to this now! He couldn't let his only son become a scientist.

Darrells Crocker was angry. More angry than he ever was at his son… and at himself for not watching Denzel and putting a stop to this sooner. Darrells stormed out of the treehouse leaving all of the inventions scattered on the floor. His son was in so much trouble. He will punish him the next day and he was gonna be grounded for a long time. The next day finally came and since it was Saturday, Denzel had no school for two days. So, once he woke up Darrells will finally take action and punish his son. His wife had no idea what was coming either. When Denzel came down and had his breakfast for the day, Darrells decided it was time. Darrells cleared his throat to get his sons attention. Denzel looked up at him.

"Denzel Crocker. I need to have a word with you" Darrells started. "Yes, Daddy. What is it" Denzel asked innocently, not knowing what was coming.

"Come… follow me, son" Darrells instructed and lead the way and Denzel followed behind. It wasn't long until Dolores-Day saw them. "What's going on, honey" Dolores wondered. Darrells sighed.

"It's about our son. He's been hiding something and I am Not happy about it" Darrells said. Denzel tensed up.

"Whatever do you mean, Daddy?" Denzel asked, not liking the sound of where this was going.

"I think you know exactly what I mean, son" Darrells told him and started to walk outside, into the backyard, leading the way. The family finally found themselves in Denzel's treehouse. Denzel's eyes widened. His inventions were all over the floor. Denzel was scared. His secret was finally revealed.

"Denzel" Dolores started." I had no idea".

"Yeah, neither did I!" Darrells started to raise his voice a bit.

"Darrells, calm down" Dolores told him.

"Calm down! Calm down! You expect me to calm down when our son is doing something like this behind our backs! Making Inventions!" Darrells yelled.

"I… was just trying to do something creative and fun" Denzel said, sadly."I'm just… being a scientist… like you dad".

"Yeah, Well, that time is done!"Darrells continued."You are no longer making inventions and you are grounded. For six months… and that means no tree house either!".

"What!?" Denzel cried."You can't do this to me!".

"Oh, yes I can… Denzel Crocker. You want me to take away tv too… because I will" Darrells said."Darrells, you can't just take away, Denzel's tree house for six months" Dolores said.

"Yeah, I love this tree house and I love making inventions. I will not stop making those" Denzel cried.

"Oh, yes you will. I can't believe you will go and do something as crazy as this! I AM NOT letting you become a scientist" Darrells shouted. Denzel started to cry.

"Darrells no, please stop. I had no idea about any of this either, but I'm not gonna let you ground him like this" Dolores said.

"What!? I don't know what type of rules you have, Dolores, but that son of yours is a trouble maker. Doing stuff like this behind our backs!".

"He's your son too, Darrells" Dolores said, firmly.

"Not anymore" Darrells said."What do you mean?" Dolores asked.

"I'm getting a divorce and I'm leaving tonight and that bratty child of yours isn't coming with me". Denzel continued to cry.

"But, will I ever come and see you again" Denzel sobbed.

"No, Denzel! There's no room for you. I am staying at a hotel tonight and I am going to the court house tomorrow" Darrells said. Darrells took another look around the treehouse."Theirs just one more thing. I am getting rid of these inventions. They are too dangerous for a child your age to handle".

"Getting rid of them?" Dolores said."Whatever do you mean, Darrells".

"This!" Darrells shouted as he picked up one of Denzel's inventions and threw it hard at the edge of the desk.

"No!" Denzel cried. But, Darrells picked up the invention and threw it on the desk over and over again until it broke. He continued to do it with the rest of his sons inventions throwing them until they broke. Some of them were easier to brake than others. Dolores grabbed her son and pulled him in close to her so he wouldn't get hurt from all the shattered pieces flying everywhere. Denzel continued to cry as he saw his hard work getting destroyed in front of him. Dolores continued to hold her son close to him. She wanted to put a stop to this, but she couldn't find her self to tell her soon to be divorced husband to stop. She knew that nothing she would say make Darrells stop, so she decide to keep quiet.

Darrells dusted his hands off once his work was done and turned to Dolores and Denzel.

"Their. Out of site, out of mind" Darrells said."No more inventing, Denzel. Got it. I am going to pack my bags and leave some time after dinner". Darrells left the now messy tree house. Dolores was going to have to let Denzel stay out of the treehouse for the time being while she cleaned it up. She didn't want him getting hurt. Dolores and Denzel left the tree house and went back inside their house. Dolores wanted to finish talking to Darrells quietly. Dolores lightly patted her son on the back.

"Go up stairs to your room, honey. Mommy and Daddy are gonna have a talk" She told him, quietly. Denzel nodded and walked up stairs to his room, letting his parents talk. Dolores and Darrells looked at each other.

"A Divorce. A divorce. Are you sure you really want to do this, Darrells?" Dolores whispered.

"Yes. I am leaving tonight to stay at a hotel. I will come back tomorrow to get the rest of my stuff. I still love you, Dolores. I hope you know that. But, I am just not fit to be a parent" Darrells told her.

"Well, I think you should tell Denzel you're sorry and give him a little present before you leave tomorrow" Dolores suggested. Darrells sighed.

"Yeah, you're right. I should give the kid something. You think he would be alright?" Darrells wondered. Dolores-Day shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, it might take some time. But, I think he should be back to himself at some point. He's strong that way. Also, Don't tell him that I made you apologize and give him a present. I want him to think it was your idea. I don't want want him to get hurt anymore" Dolores told him. Darrells nodded.

"Yeah, will do, honey" Darrells said.

Authors Note: Cliff hanger! You will have to wait till Chapter 3 to see what happens next. It will pick up where it left off. So, at the beginning of the next Chapter Denzel will still be 8. You will still see Darrells again in the beginning of the chapter. Cosmo and Wanda will finally come in the next chapter too. Please favorite, follow and review. Thank you. Next Chapter!