Burning It Down, All the Way to Bat Country

Matt’s POV

I woke up the next morning to something poking me in the face, I swatted at the offending object and cracked my eyes open when I heard the little giggle.

“Ugh, Trin, what’s up?”
“Daddy, you said you would take me to school this morning.” I groaned and nodded, rolling out of bed, making sure I didn’t wake Steph up.
“Alright doll, gimmie five minutes and we’ll leave ok?” She nodded and skipped out of the room. I smiled and quickly got dressed, walking down to the kitchen where I knew she would be waiting.
“Alright, you ready to go?”
“Not really, but let’s go anyway.” We walked out to the, nothing was said on the short ride to HBHS.
“Ok sweetheart, I’ll be here to pick you up at 2:30.” She nodded and kissed my cheek before getting out of the car,
“Alright, I love you daddy.”
“Love you too baby, I’ll see you later.” She waved as she shut the door, and I waited until I saw her friends run up to her before I left. What the hell was I going to do? The lawyers I had were shit. I smacked my forehead as I remembered what had a happened a year ago. Somehow Jasey’s ex had found out about Aja and tried to get custody, but Jimmy found this amazing lawyer who managed to prove that Jasey was being abused and that Aja would die if he was allowed to take her. I sighed as I pulled out my phone and called Jimmy,

“What’s up Matt?”
“Hey do you still have the number of that lawyer who won Aja’s case?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Can you give him a call for me? I’m not going to take any chances with this custody battle.”
“Sure man, I’ll see you at home.”
“Bye.” I ended the call and put the phone on the dash, making the drive home in silence. Five minutes later and I was getting out of the car, walking inside. I was met by Jimmy in the kitchen,

“Alright, so I called the lawyer for you, his name is Daniel Peterson by the way. He said he can get you in whenever you need; he doesn’t have any pressing cases at the moment. I booked you guys for 3:15, this is the address.” He said, handing me a piece of paper. I really hope this guy could help me, I can’t lose my daughter. Jimmy managed to read the look on my face and put a hand on my shoulder,
“Hey, don’t worry. Daniel is the best, you know he is. We’re gonna win this thing.”

Trinity’s POV

I was sitting in World History with Mistey, trying to pay attention. We were all sitting in the back row taking notes on what the teacher was droning on about. I felt Blaike poke my shoulder and I turned to face her,
“Sweetie, it’s gonna be ok. You know that you’re dad isn’t gonna let Derek take you back.” I nodded weakly and put my head on my desk, dropping all pretence of paying attention. My head snapped up when a ruler came crashing down on my desk,

“Miss Sanders, I would appreciate it you would at least pretend to pay attention to what I’m trying to teach you.”
“Well I’m sorry Ms. Edwards, but maybe if you made it interesting we would pay attention instead of sleeping.” I sniped back; I was under way too much stress to deal with this bullshit. Her eyebrows shot up into her ugly curled bangs and she pursed her lips in disapproval, which she really shouldn’t have done, because she’s unattractive anyway, and that just made her look like a wrinkly fish.

“Well then Miss Sanders, since you want it interesting, why don’t you make it interesting.” I gaped at her, unable to speak. She waved me up to the front of the room.
“Go on then, we’re working on the World War Two unit. I’m trying to explain Hitler to your fellow degenerates, let’s see if you can do any better.” I gulped and walked to the front of the room, going over the information in my head.

“Ok, so I think we all know who Hitler is, and if you don’t, then I suggest you climb out from under the rock you’ve been living under, and go to the library. So let’s do this my way. Does anyone actually have any questions about Hitler?” I waited, no one raised a hand.
“Ok, does anyone have any questions about why he did what he did?” One of the jocks raised his hand,
“Yeah, what’s your question?”
“What was his deal man? Why would he want to kill all those people?”

“Do you like emo kids, stoners, the kids who don’t look like you?”
“Not really, I think they should be in a different school.” A lot of the kids in the class starting making noises of protest and this, and Blaze and Evan got up, ready to stir something up, but I quickly got everyone’s attention back doing this really loud whistle that my dad had taught me.

“Guys! Don’t get mad him, I asked a question, he answered honestly. And while I think his answer was bullshit, I did ask, and all he did was answer. So in answer to your question, Hitler felt much of the same dislike that you did, but he let it fester, permeate his mind until the very thought of people who weren’t like him living around him was too much to bear. Unfortunately he was in a position to do something about this immense hatred that he felt. Everyone feels hate and anger and resentment, but some people don’t have the mental capacity to deal with it. No one but Hitler knows exactly why he decided to kill millions of innocent people, but I’m pretty sure we can say that he did it because, well, he was crazy. Did that answer your question?” He nodded and I took the next one. The rest of the 90 minute class period went like this, and by the time I was done we had covered all the material in the unit. I was walking out of class with Blaze and Evan in front of me and the girls next to me when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I whipped around and saw Terrence, one of the big jocks who always seemed interested but confused in class. He was a pretty nice guy, never made fun of us but never defended us either.

“I just wanted to say you did a really good job, I actually understood what was going on in the class today.” I smiled warmly, pleased that I had done something right,
“Good, I’m glad. Now if we could just get Ms. Bitch to teach like that everyday we’d be golden.” He laughed and nodded,
“I know huh? She’s like a million years old and hasn’t been married; maybe she just needs to get laid. Anyway, good job, I’ll see you around.” I nodded and walked away with my friends, who thankfully waited until lunch to question me about my little convo with Terrence.

“So what the hell was that?”
“He just said I did a good job. You know how he always looks interested in class, but he also looks really confused? The teachers aren’t explaining the material in a way that makes sense to us. The stuff that we’re learning isn’t boring, the way they’re teaching it is. Which is really unfortunate, because that’s where we lose people who are smart, they just need a different explanation.”
“That actually makes sense. Like, I really love History, but listening to Mrs. Edwards makes me want to rip out my eardrums with a spoon!” Sarah exclaimed, making us all laugh.

Sarah pouted at us and threw a tater tot at Mistey, who happens to be a ninja, and caught it in her mouth. Blaze grinned and threw another one, but Blaze has crappy aim and a really hard throw, so it flew past Mistey and hit one of the stoners in the face. We all laughed as he stared at it, probably trying to figure out where it came from. We had decided to eat outside under our tree that day, and for some reason Blaike had decided to climb it. She was now eating skittles and drinking Mountain Dew, perched on a branch 12 feet up in the air. I smiled as I studied my friends, and thought about my family, the people who had so easily accepted me into their lives. I knew that I couldn’t leave them, even if Derek and Jennifer didn’t kill me the sheer pain of separation would. I was broken out of my trance by the obnoxious ringing of the bell, telling us we had five minutes to get to class. The rest of the passed quickly, and before I knew it I was waiting outside with Mistey and Blaze. Sarah, Evan and Blaike had gone home on the bus that day.

“Girl, relax. Everything is going to be FINE ok? Who do you know that goes up against Avenged Sevenfold and comes out on top?” I nodded shakily and smiled, giving her a quick hug as my dad pulled up. Blaze pulled me into a hug, kissing the top of my head,
“It’s going to be ok little sister.” I smiled and walked over to my dad’s car, waving as I got in.

“Hey sweetheart, how was school?”
“It was good; I ended up running my World History class.” He laughed and nodded, pulling out of the school parking lot. We made the rest of the journey in relative silence, the only noise coming from the car’s speakers. We pulled up in front of an expensive looking building about ten minutes later, and I looked nervously at what I was wearing as we got out of the car.

“Daddy, are you sure I’m dressed right?” I finally noticed that he was wearing a black button down shirt, dark wash jeans, and dress shoes.
“You look fine sweetheart, just like a sixteen year old girl should.” I had known we were meeting with the lawyers today, so I had dialed down what I usually wore, picking out black skinny jeans, a sapphire blue top, and my black suede boots. We walked into the shiny marble lobby that somehow managed to look welcoming and professional at the same time. We walked up to receptionist, who smiled warmly and gave us the signal to hold on a second, clicking some things on her computer before she spoke,

“Welcome to Brown, Peterson, and Richards. How can I help you today?”
“Matthew Sanders, I have an appointment at 3:15 with Daniel Peterson.” She nodded, clicking on her computer some more,
“Ah yes, here you are. Go ahead and have a seat, I’ll let Mr. Peterson know you’re here. Can I offer you something to drink?”
“No, thank you.” She nodded and led us over to some plush looking chairs,
“Alright then, Mr. Peterson will be right with you.” She stated, walking down a hall, presumably to let Mr. Peterson know that we had arrived. A scant five minutes later and a man in a charcoal grey Armani suit; which he had smartly paired with a crisp white shirt and a dark blue tie. The excellent cut of the suit emphasized his broad shoulders and trim waist. He was about 6’2”, and built like my dad. I stood up with my dad as the man stood in front of us, shaking my dad’s hand firmly,

“Matt Sanders I presume? I’m Daniel Peterson. Good to see you again.” Wait, what? The man turned to me and smiled, I smiled nervously and moved closer to my dad, the power of this man just radiated off of him and quite frankly, it was a bit intimidating.
“You must be Trinity then?” I nodded slowly, shaking his proffered hand.
“Well, come with me, we’ll get things started.” We followed the man back into his office, which had a large desk, some chairs, and a couch. He motioned for us to take a seat on the couch while he sat across from us on one of the chairs.
“Alright Trinity, tell me your story.” I took a deep breath before telling him everything, starting with my mom’s death, and ending with yesterday, when we saw Derek.

“Do you have the document?” My dad pulled it out of the small folder he had brought with him, handing it over. Daniel quickly read through it, nodding to himself every so often.
“This appears to be a rather open and shut case, I actually know the attorney who witnessed this. It does appear however, that the Ashland’s have obtained new legal counsel. That won’t be a problem though, the lawyer that they have is a sniveling little fool with a god complex. You have nothing to worry about Trinity, I don’t know a judge in the system who would put you back in a home where you obviously being hurt. Do you have physical proof of the abuse? Any pictures or maybe a diary?”

“I have pictures at home, I’m sorry; I didn’t think to bring them with me.” I said, feeling stupid.
“Oh no honey, it’s ok. Our next appointment is this Friday, so be sure to bring them with you then, ok?” I nodded and we all stood up,
“Alright then. I’ll see you again on Friday, in the meantime I’m going to file a temporary restraining order against Derek and Jennifer, and if you run into them, don’t talk to them, don’t look at them, don’t even acknowledge that they exist ok?”
“Alright, thank you so much Daniel.” My dad said, shaking his hand before turning to me. As I looked between him and Mr. Peterson, I couldn’t help but think that Derek and Jennifer didn’t stand a chance.