Everything felt so cold and smelled so odd.
The giant double doors up the stairs to the registration building were imposing enough without the added factors playing on my senses.
Everything was bright; maybe a little too much so.
And it smelled.... clean.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoOUfvQAHxN
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Could air smell like nothing?
The floors were buffed to shine like a reflective pool of water. It only made me more conscience about my appearance when I shuffled into one of the lines that led to a grated room at the end.
There were only demons in the lines here. Any humans who tried to accompany them were made to wait in the foyer by the front doors.
I could feel the nervousness peeling from the other demons around me. Some were even sobbing quietly to themselves through thier mutated faces.
Cradles stood beside others who looked completely lost. Others who only held mild mutations were mixed beside hulking bodies of others trying to figure out thier next move.
Elements of all types were here. I saw water splattering into a held bucket, and cracked rock chipping away when claws scratched along the surface.
I burned brightly amongst my line; the illumination catching some glances from others.
We were all in the same situation here. Waiting to see what was beyond the grated rooms lined inside with humans and demon workers.
Each side had a metal detector frame that demons passed through when they had spoken to the person responsible for thier line. After that, I could see them shuffle to what looked like rows and rows of seats facing a back wall of identical closed doors.
I felt like I had done something horribly wrong to land myself here.
Each demon that left gave everyone enough space to shuffle forwards.
Quiet. Shuffle. Quiet. Shuffle.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBs1LoSGLNz
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It was like we were chained to each other; being processed for prison.
I didn't like it here at all. There was no personality or warmth here.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5w2MxVQGI
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The humans and demons scribbling on the papers behind thier grates looked at each demon with dead eyes.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBbGKbxzcC
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Each demon followed obediently with no questions to the next portion of the room to take thier seat.
I reached the front and had my first and last name scribbled down onto a piece of paper that I took with me to the metal frame of the detector.
The blaring alarm of it started me but not the other demon standing there to collect my belt before ordering me back through where I was cleared to go to the seats.
I was rattled, mostly by the alarm, as I sat down. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlSDfKIV53b
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The female beside me to my left held a tiny cloth doll that her long nails ran along the face of. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzxsJAlL0c
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She kept muttering to herself, hunched over in her seat, her back skin mostly covered by the cardigan she wore. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW6GoXS03mv
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I didn't know what she was saying until it made sense the more the repeated it in her dead voice.
"I'm good. I've been good. I'm not bad, no; I'm good."
I avoided her eyes and saw the demon to my right already bored with her muttering. She had fallen asleep, her head lolled back and her mouth wide open and drooling. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡADvvUAunXK
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He mutations had given her thousands of pointed teeth that jutted outwards. Her face had holes in it that I could see through, and her arms touched the ground. The back of her huge hands rested in the polished tiles, her black skin peppered with shining golden flecks and swipes.
I huddled down in my seat between both women and kept my eyes on the back of the room where the doors were for my name to be called.
Between the muttering and the choking sounds of the sleeping demon, it was hard to keep focus.
It sounded like I had a person facing death row in one ear and the clicking of a blender being flipped on and off in another.
"Could you..." I bit to the chanter, lightening my tone when thier black eyes met mine "could you not? Just for a moment, please?"
"I've been good" she whimpered, still stroking the doll "I shouldn't be here."
Of course I wasn't going to get anything else out of her. She looked shell-shocked.
I kicked my foot into that of the other demon who snapped her mouth shut with a confused moan. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ9HtulMZzo
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I watched her lift her head back up before complaining about the pain in her neck she rubbed.
Silence. At last.
"You were snoring" I spoke to the grumbling demon looking for who had disturbed her "at least, I think that's what it was."
"Ohhh" she drawled out, ready to complain, but focused on the other woman instead so she could point a long finger at her "you are quiet! Finally!"
She clapped her hands together once in amusement. The sound echoed through the room and got a few curious stares.
The sleeping demon kicked the chair of the one in front of her, grinning at the sour face of the male with glasses that turned around.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdCEs4dxtoj
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He was as equally mutated as the woman. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF9AkvRaMzY
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His teeth jutted out in the same way, and his arms had that freakish length to them that hers did. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZRRDN1ejD
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While her skin was black like majority of the demons here, his was white with stained fingers and long swipe down the middle of his face that was strapped into a Cradle.
"Called my name yet, Specky?"
"Not yet" the male sighed in annoyance and turned back around "go back to sleep. You were better when you weren't talking."
The woman smiled at the demon's retort and kicked his chair again, just to annoy him.
She only stopped when a door opened at the end of the room and a demon stepped out with another shamefully walking away.
"CICILIA ROBERTSON!" the voice boomed through the air.
The woman to my right looked hopefully at the chanter on my left who didn't move to the name.
"Really?" she groaned out, flopping back over the chair until a hand shit up into the air and pointed to her "TAKE HER! HEY! TAKE HER NEXT!"
"Will you shut up?!" the man hissed to her as he spun back around "do you want to make this worse for us?"
"Come on" she chuckled "what are they going to do? Separate us?"
She laughed at her own suggestion while scanning the crowded room.
She did have a point. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfjkeeVFVJa
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No-one wanted a confrontation with a rowdy demon, let alone one surrounded by others who were already on short fuses from sleep deprivation or hunger.
Who knows how long they had been here for to make them fall asleep without having to worry about being called while they were so unaware of thier surroundings.
"AMANDA FIELDS!"
"Amanda" the woman snorted, looking to the chanter who still didn't move "again? Seriously?"
"TOKEN FINLAY!"
The man in front of us grumbled and got to his feet with a stretch. The woman clapped loudly for him and leant over to yank on his tail that he growled at her about.
"Don't be long!" she jeered to him when he started shuffling past others to reach the aisle leading forwards.
I watched the male shuffle away, then quickly turned my attention to the mumble to avoid the loud woman's eyes.
If I talked to the chanter, it would stop her and give me some beautiful silence.
"The doll" I pointed out "what's it for?"
"Being good" she nodded enthusiastically as she kept stroking its face "Bean needs her sister. Her sister is very good."
Sister? Was she projecting onto the doll, or was she just delusional?
"You're barely mutated."
She nodded again, rocking in her chair.
At least she wasnt chanting anymore.
"BRANCH TRYSTANO."
The woman's head snapped up briefly before dropping back down.
"How come you are here then?"
She looked to me and actually stopped soothing the doll. Her hands just gripped it, not too tightly, while she stared at it.
"Touched a nerve?" the other whispered with laughter in her voice.
"Hey" I reached out to her and placed a hand on the side of her chair "I saved another human from drowning. Look how that ended up."
"Drowning, huh?" the other snorted "your flaming though."
"Well, that's because..."
"TEDDY GRIFFIN."
I felt something clench inside me at my name being called, and rose from my seat.
"Hold that thought, hey?" the woman shook her head when I moved from her, flashing a meek smile back at her.
The chanter was quiet when I moved past her towards the aisle. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPZcU8zF5mb
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I felt my tail be tugged before noticing she had a grip on it.
"Bean" she held out her doll for me "take her."
"Oh, no" I grimaced back at it "I couldn't...."
"BEAN!" she whined, shaking it at me now "she'll keep you safe!"
"Urgh, take the damn doll!" the other woman groaned out as she threw her head back.
"Uh, thank you" I mumbled as I quickly snatched it up and made the chanter smile as I rushed up the aisle to the human woman waiting by her door.
What on earth did I need this thing for?114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzLF9tByY7f
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It felt crispy under my fingers and had a strange herb smell to it.
It would be bad to throw it out, seeing as it meant so much to that demon back there.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYBmgMx5Lzv
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Once I was out, I would return her Bean back to her, safe and sound.
I didn't want it. It held no physical or emotional significance to me.
The scent of the woman hit me before anything else.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGVT0Fn290H
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Soft peaches and creamy vanilla wafted in the air when I focused on her curling orange hair held back in a ponytail.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNKa1c8ERnR
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She stood there with a stance that looked unsure of what to do. Her blue chunky heels matched her dress that came to her knees. The only other colour in it was the golden necklace resting between her breasts.
I shouldn't be staring there. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡneHaoy0qFt
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Did it make me look like a pervert looking at her necklace in that placement?
At least she had some sort of personality about her that this place didn't. The perfume she wore strangely settled my nervousness and made me pass over my form and the doll without hesitation.
I sat down in the seat pushed against the opposite a white table between us. It was comfortable and padded, but when my hands curled around the edges, my fingers found the gouges cut into the plastic and the threads where the pleather had been patched with fabric tape.
My tail slipped through easily. This chair was designed for demons; molded for thier larger bodies. Her chair looked so small compared to mine.
There was a monitor on the left of the table and a photo on the right with a healthy plant in its own little cup.
My eyes wandered to the back wall while the human's fingers tapped on the keyboard and her eyes skimmed my form.
The items there were unsettling. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVnyFbRRbrB
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A board of eartags hung to the left of the wall. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUNVsKKbzXD
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Each was sorted by colour in thier own rows. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRkfAX3wIPk
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Deep green was at the bottom. Dark yellow hung above that. Light red filled the second row, and light orange took the top.
They were all blank but ready to be used. Each one hung from the top of the tag that would be bent around to form a loop.
Looking at thier rectangular shape pointed into a tip at the bottom made my muscles seize up again.
Those things were for identifying cattle. The fact there were so many here was clear they had another purpose.
To the right of the wall was shelving filled with jars containing icecream sticks and cotton balls. Blue foam bricks sat on thier own shelf in an arranged pyramid; markers placed out on the bottom shelf.
And in the middle was the human woman, staring at me.
Had she said something? Asked a question maybe?
"The spelling on the form is correct?" she prompted with a tap to the sheet facing me.
I burned with embarrasment and found no errors.
I knew how to spell my own name. I wasn't that shocked to forget something so important.
"Did I do something wrong by saving Darcy?" I spoke up now that I was away from the eyes and ears of the others "I feel like I'm being punished for it."
"Oh, honey, no" she smiled and reached a hand over to lightly touch the top of mine still resting on the sheet "it's just my job to make sure you are being looked after where you are. We don't want you to be living somewhere that makes you upset now, would we?"
Maybe she spoke to a lot of demon children as part of her job? The way she explained it to me made it feel like I was being babied.
Did I want to be babied? I didn't want to be thrown into harsh reality because I was old enough to face it. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡakRt5mZSPy
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I felt mocked, but also humbled to be spoken to this way.
"Now, your full name is Teddy Bear, right?"
"That's what Sprig wanted to call me. But she mainly goes by Teddy."
The human woman nodded and made more notes.
"Am I...." I hesitated now and rubbed my fingers along the gouges in the seat "am I being sent to isolation?"
The woman looked up and let out a short laugh.
"Darling!" she chortled "heavens, no! You haven't reached that level to have those sorts of thoughts now!"
She shook her head with a smile as she kept tapping away.
"As much as it seems like it, I'm not the bad guy here. I'm like a little extra guidance sent from above."
I looked up at her slender finger pointing to the roof, then to her blankly.
"But you are a human."
"And you are a demon" she smiled back "how very observant of you. The human's name is Julia, by the way."
She finally finished tapping, pressing the final keys with dramatic flourish, before opening a drawer in her desk and pulling out a box of gloves she started to pull on.
Why did she have those?
My dignity felt threatened at the sound of the rubber snapping when she stretched it over her hands.
Julia pushed up from her seat to walk over to me and tilt my head back on my seat.
"Open and say 'ah'" she instructed.
I frowned and opened my mouth wide. Her rubber fingers found thier way inside to run over each curve of my teeth and lift my gums to inspect the entirety of my mouth.
"Only slight modifications to the pallette" Julia spoke, flicking the gloves off into a bin beneath the desk she ignored "I will need you to undress to your underwear now."
I was stunned at the request and remained frozen in my seat.
"To do my job properly, I need to see how far the mutations have spread" she explained "i am not requesting a genital exam, Mr Griffin."
This felt so wrong.
I checked the door and started to unbutton my shirt enough so I could slip it over my head.
I loosened my shoes and kicked them to the side with my socks before my pants made thier way down.
Why did this feel so forbidden? 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVafGcnt7uX
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It was only a checkup, yet I felt like I had just been given directions to present it all for this stranger who just stood there and watched.
I wanted my clothes back on. This wasn't right.
"Hmm" Julia hummed as she circled around me "alterations along the spine and ribcage. Luminescence is visible in all limbs."
Her eyes prodded while her mouth tutted over my hunched body she tapped to straighten.
She was so small compared to me. I was like a damn lightpole shining over this human taking in every inch of me.
"Get dressed" she spoke, walking to the board of tags to look up at them "have your altercations lasted more than a week?"
I had my hands around my pants when our eyes met again.
"Yes."
"And the retraction of them has been stunted? It's usually not this slow?"
"Not usually" I grunted out, slipping back into my seat to focus back on my feet "its been bothering me a lot more too."
"Perhaps because it involved someone you have a relationship with?" she offered "traumatizing things tend to stay with us longer than things that set us off in the heat of the moment."
Julia knew exactly what she was talking about. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡicz8OLB2uh
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No doubt she had my file on her screen there that she had been adding to. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGzgNlVu7N
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The way she spoke about it all wasn't from someone making assumptions. She knew what had happened when I had first formed that file when I faced that courtroom.
"The situation isn't bad enough to be an orange case" Julia wondered aloud at the board she ran her fingers over "and you are too altered to be in the lower tiers. I think you'll be a red case today."
I watched her fingers pluck down the first red tag and test the durability of the plastic by flexing the loop she formed a few times.
As she flexed, she went back to the drawer to pull out a metal tool that looked like curved tongs. The ends of each side were pointed into peaks that perfectly lined up when Julia slipped her fingers through the handles.
I pushed back into my seat and even forced myself from it to grip the other side when she reached me.
She gave me a belittling look, and smirked at the tongs she snapped.
"It's going to be a slight pinch" she spoke and held out a hand to me that I moved from to creep around towards the desk "just in one ear and that's it."
"I don't want to" I whimpered at the tongs now.
I didn't care how pathetic I looked or sounded. Nothing about this situation made me feel like I was being taken seriously here at all.
"The more you work yourself up, the more it'll progress" she warned me "and then I'll have to upgrade your tag to the top one."
Her hands found me again to push me into my seat. The cold metal of the tongs touched my arm briefly to sear against it, making me shrink into the pleather like a scared little boy. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtFmtNtP42W
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I was even holding onto my tail for comfort I couldn't get elsewhere.
"You can do the honours and write your name on it" Julia tried to lighten the tension by placing the tag down on the desk and taking a marker from the shelf for me "First name only."
I was still wary of her position beside me when I leant over the desk to start on my name.
"Very neat handwriting" she complimented over my shoulder when I looped the d's of my name "someone taught you well."
I smiled and felt the trickle of praise pump at my ego that was soon replaced by searing fire that turned to devouring acid.
Julia had used the distraction to clamp down on the side of my ear and pierce it with the metal prongs.
She threw all her force behind it while I bellowed out and went to tear her away before she could retreat.
Blood dripped over my hand I held to the gouge now there.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFdLryvwxOB
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It felt like my whole ear was being dissolved in acid that leaked from it, throbbing the pain through me.
Julia took the tag i had splattered with my blood and pushed the plastic through the hole. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdi2QkPanar
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I wailed when the plastic edges sawed along the exposed gouge; the noise snapping down my eardrums when she forced it closed.
"All done" she cheerfully tapped my shoulder, only to chuckle at my quivering lip and pouring eyes.
"Now, those horns" she pointed and pulled out a thin wire twisted to two tiny wooden handles she gripped.
"This isn't going to hurt too, is it?" I grimaced when she stood behind me and looped it around the tallest branching antler at the top.
"Not at all."
"You said the last one was a pinch but it wasn't" I huffed back when I felt the tugging on my head start.
It didn't hurt. It was only annoying having my head yanked with each sawing motion she did to cut through the sturdy antler.
This was much better than the piercing I was still clutching. The hot blood still trickled between my fingers.
"No demon has horns like this" Julia grunted as she sawed "by cutting them back, it'll give time for your natural ones to take shape."
"I'll be glad for that" I agreed "they do get in the way."
"I bet" she laughed, tossing the first branch onto her desk.
I sat there patiently while she segmented and sawed away the antlers. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcT1LxSznhG
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By breaking them up, it made it easier for her, she said. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrbnZl9HtDH
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I didn't know what for, but no doubt they had some purpose she wasn't telling me about. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJo9Xpixn6B
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I didn't care. Humans could do whatever they wanted with the dumb things; I would just regrow them anyway.
Humans were odd. They wanted things that we had, but didn't want to gain them the easy way. They always wanted to fight for everything.
In a way, they were just like male demons fighting over the same girl; desperately brainless.
I chuckled at the thought while my horns were reduced to stumps.
Julia handed me a wipe to clean the blood from my hands and ear. It also burned, but no nearly as bad as the piercing itself.
I saw a drop had also seeped into the doll on the desk. I scrubbed it with the wipe that also pulled up the layers of dirt caked onto it.
Disgusted, I kept scrubbing it to the light yellow cloth it had been previously. The blackness must have been years of coddling the little doll from the anxious demon. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxySlo0Ps6s
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The only stain it had in it was the drop of blood that had sunk in around its little bead eye.
"I think we are done here" Julia smiled to me, pushing aside the antler pieces on her desk "for now, I highly reccomend you get your own phone so we can send you updates on when to visit us next for another examination and to have the tag altered. You should also head to a demon-friendly bank to open an account since there are still no records of you having one. And while you are there, look into a job run on a wage. You have no work history here at all. I'm assuming you get cash in hand?"
I stayed silent and nodded.
"Work is work, but to the higher ups, money that goes into a bank account is the only work that counts. From the damage on your skin, I can guess it's manual labour?"
I didn't say anything. Able didn't need to be in more trouble because I let my guard down and admitted to what was being implied.
"Lots of demons have this type of work, Mr Griffin" Julia lowered her voice and scribbled something down to slide to me "there's an old lady who works a dressmaking shop on the corner. She's always looking for tough hands who can help with the lifting of the fabric and overall cutting. She has a few workers, but I think someone like you could help her. Her name is Islet and she pays by the hour; honest work."
I pocketed the card with a heavy weight on my shoulders. The doll slipped in straight after.
I didn't want to leave Able like this. I knew how much work she still had to do. She couldn't do it with the little help she had. And now that her whole process had been exposed, she couldn't hire more help without being worried they would report her and shut her down for good.
And what about River? What if he returned while I was working for this other lady? 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWPqkktDlNr
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Would he come looking for me at this other shop when he had his friends and freedom with Able?
I didn't want it to look like I had abandoned all hope of him returning. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgBLoiqPVUr
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After everything we had been through, leaving Able now felt like I was abandoning her when she needed me the most.
"Let your employer know the next shift will be the last one" Julia spoke "I'm not saying, I'm telling. A young man like you deserves a good life, and doing cheap labor work is not the way to get it. Sure, its off the books, but think about how it's going to come back around to bite you later. I'm surprised it hasn't already."
I had no choice now. My time with Able was ending. The next time I saw her would be to break the news. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡafieKE5T3z
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I wonder how she would take it? 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmW1sijVkPe
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I felt so guilty leaving her, knowing she still had so much do in her short life she had left.
She would live and die on that sunflower field. She wasn't the type of woman to just give up.
"I will speak to Islet and let her know about your situation. She's a kind woman, she will take good care of you. And because you are a demon, she will be compensated for taking you on for a certain amount of time."
Paid to have me. Now that did sound like they were being bribed. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW2WTftzQs4
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How would I know this woman truly wanted me and not the money tied to my name?
"I want to be a florist though" I spoke up "I want to open my own shop. I don't think dressmaking will get me there."
Julia tapped on her computer and looked around it to me.
"That's a lifeline I'm handing you, Teddy. In life, we can't have what we want straight away. Sometimes we have to work a few odd jobs before we can achieve that. This will give you retail skills at least for that ambition of yours, hmm?"
"Yeah" I sighed back and stood up.
"Get that phone and then that bank account open, OK? You're twenty-five; big things are going to start coming your way once you are connected to the rest of the world, Teddy!"
I forced a smile at her enthusiasm and left the room.
Eyes followed me when I quickly walked back to where the anxious demon still was. The loud one was now gone, leaving her sitting on the end chair alone.
Her eyes lit up when she saw me, and I pulled out her doll with a smile.
"It helped me a lot" I beemed to her reaching hands "thank you."
She looked down at it and pointed to the clean cloth her thumb started smoothing over.
"Bean had a clean" I explained "when I had a trim. She was very good."
The anxious demon grinned up at me and I felt my happiness swell.
The doll meant nothing to me, but to her, the kind deed meant the world.
She was so oblivious to what was waiting for her. Who knew what kind of life she had to make her so dependant on that lump of cloth. She had no idea of the pain that was waiting her at the end of those tongs.
"Everything will be alright" I lied.
She smiled and was comforted by the false truth without hesitation.
"I know" she nodded and went back to doting over her doll "I've been good."
I left the demon to collect my belt at the metal detector and wander back to the front foyer where families were still gathered.
Everything within me felt lighter when I saw Mum and Dad sitting on the benches with Lavender. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzdIS21RRwJ
114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaeMfjyI1uL
Thier faces lit up when they saw me, and I rushed over to them to hug them tightly, sobbing at the pain running through me.
"Lets get you home, Teddy" Dad soothed with a kiss between my sawn horns.
"No matter what this says, you are still our family" Mum added with a light touch to my orange ear tag.
"And we still love you" Lavender nuzzled her head against my glowing face.
I felt the weight of thier words and I cried. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPtnL5h2qI
114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡchKN8RUdMY
Not because it hurt, but because of how true it all was.
