Unknown Visit

The officer, Mr. Boom, called to let me talk to Elerna. It had been so long, but she just handed it to Chris, her brother. Mr. Boom said that Elerna would talk to me personally next time we saw each other.

When I talked to Chris, I had to tell him the entire story of what happened. How I didn't mean to kill their mother. He sounded like he was going to cry, but agreed to come to live with us. Mr. Boom talked to me about taking all four, Elerna and her siblings, to my house within the next day.

Mikey walked downstairs as I turned off my phone, and I smiled.

"She's coming back. Elerna's coming back, Mikey. Aren't you happy?" I asked, a tear rolling down my cheek. Oh how I missed her.

"When?" He asked.

"Tomorrow. Around noon, I think." I sighed, "I'm going to tell her and her siblings the entire story of what happened about their mother."

"We all know she was beating Frank and you. Calm down." Mikey patted my back, and I shook my head.

"But what if they don't believe me?"

"Then you have Frank, Avon, and I. And a bunch of police officers like Mr. Boom." I smiled at Mikey, and gave him a hug.

"How can somebody so nice like a girl with the biggest attitude of all time?" And Mikey shrugged. "It's my secret."

I laughed, and walked into the basement where Avon, Frank, and Mikey had finally finished the rooms. This would be it. The last chance I got to see Elerna, ever.

~Next Day, Noon~

Mr. Boom's car pulled into the driveway, and I stood on my porch with my parents, who were waving as they saw Elerna in the front; Mikey, who was smiling; Frank, who was running behind the car; and Avon, who opened the doors so Elerna and her siblings could get out of the car.

Frank and Avon took their things, not much, and took it to the basement. Mikey waved at Elerna, who smiled back slightly, and helped the other boys. My father gave Elerna a hug, not caring about the looks she got from the younger kids, and my father just smiled. Then they walked into the house as well.

"Hey, Elerna." I greeted from the porch, Mr. Boom rolled down one of the windows to his car..

"Here you are, kids. Call me if there are any problems." Then drove away.

"Hi. Um... this is Chris, Sky, and Joey. Chris, Sky, and Joey... this is Rayne, and she has a lot of explaining to do." She glared at me, one out of thousands.

"Come on in, we've actually rebuilt the basement for you all. Because you're staying here for a while, I hope."

"So why did you kill our mother?" Chris asked. He was similar to Elerna, to the point.

"It was an accident like I told you over the phone, Chris." We sat down at my kitchen table. "Frank and I woke up to your mother banging on my bedroom door, and she just barged in. I didn't know why, and she started screaming 'where are my kids.' I got scared, and Frank protected me like Elerna said in her note."

I pulled out the note that read:

Dear Frank,
You better take care of Rayne for me, or else!
Elerna

"You see, Frank took care of me for taking your mother's hits for me. Frank come here." I called, and he came upstairs.

"Yes?" I turned my finger in a circle, and he pulled off his shirt, turned around, and showed the bruises. Everyone gasped, and Elerna looked away.

"You see? Proof that he protected me like you wanted, Elerna. So he did that, but he couldn't take any more of it. So I grabbed my dagger, and I aimed at her arm. She shouldn't have moved, then she'd still be alive. But when she did move, it went right through her body." Joey's hands clenched.

"Why did you throw it?"

"I was protecting Frank and myself. Elerna knew about me getting stalked, and she was the first person who agreed about me getting a weapon. I used it to protect myself like I would use it for. I'm sorry for killing your mother, but it wasn't something I wanted to do willingly."

There was a pause, and everyone stopped talking. It felt like time itself ended.

"So, you were protecting yourself, is that it?" Sky whispered, and I nodded.

"Yes, and I'd turn back time if I could and would've stopped myself from doing that. The only thing I ever knew about your mom was when she came to my house, with a cigarette, and started hitting me. That's how I knew she was brutal. Elerna hid her personal life well." I stopped for a second. "Do you understand why I did that? Are you still upset with me to the point where you're willing to kill me?"

Sky and Joey shook their head. "We understand."

"Understood." Chris muttered, and I smiled a little.

"Elerna?" I whispered, and we looked at each other.

"She was our mother, and we may have hated her, but we did get upset about her death. I'm never going to fully forgive you, but I know that it was protection, and I was one out of the four people who said that you needed to protect yourself." She smiled a bit. "I forgive you, though."

As she said 'forgive' I jumped out of my chair and hugged her, tears were falling freely down my face.

"I missed you, Elerna. Mikey's really missed you as well." I whispered in her ear, and Mikey walked up the steps.

"Yea, I miss you Elerna." He chuckled, nervously. "It's no fun without you. Just Geeky business all over my shoes."

We all laughed, and Geeky ran into the room. Sky 'awed', Joey squealed in joy, and Chris laughed.

"Is that a dog?" Sky cooed, and started petting Geeky.

"Yes, that's Geeky. The smartest dog in this house." And I looked at Elerna.

"He's the only dog in this house."

"No! He's not." I told her, and opened the basement door.

"Come on, admit it. You think Geeky is the most adorable dog in the world."

"Fine, he's cute." Elerna sighed. "But he's so weird."

"Hope you like your present. Your siblings will, too." And up came a black cat, followed by a husky puppy. "The cat is Mush, and the dog is Laya. They're abandoned animals, runaways like you guys. So, I got them last night. Hope you like them."

Elerna smiled as Mush jumped onto her lap, Laya ran around with Geeky, Joey, Sky, Chris, Mikey, and Frank. Just like kids.

"Maybe we'll have a better life here." Elerna whispered.

"I hope you do. Because I'm not letting you leave again." And we watched the others goof off with the dogs.