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Chapter 4
Richard looked out the window and said, “Holy cow, I just saw him put his wings back into his back. I didn‘t know that Brady was a freakish creature.”
“You don‘t want to know what the true anatomy of these creatures is, Dad,” said Ronald as he opened the door for everyone. “They say that when you see the true face of one of those creatures, you literally have cardiac arrest and die. They don‘t even have a name for those creatures yet. They‘re called simply Underground Creatures.” Ron opened the door and gasped.
Without saying a word, Rebecca just hugged Ronald, crying into his arms, and Ronald suddenly felt sadly. “Oh, God, you have no idea what I‘ve been through Ron!
Ron could tell that Rebecca had never known the love of a sibling, and since he loved her like a sister, he could give that to her. Haggai hugged Rebecca also. Everyone went in. “It‘s going to be ok, dear,” said Ron as he closed the door behind everyone and hugged his cousin again. “She‘s not going to hurt you anymore. I promise.”
“You guys talking about Dawn?”
“Yes,” said Rebecca, crying as she sat down on the couch.
Ronald hurried to the kitchen and got Rebecca some ‗Kleenex‘ tissues. Then he went back to the living room and handed them to Rebecca. However, Rebecca decided it was better to wash her face. She said, “I‘m going to wash my face,” as she got up from the couch, and walked out of the living room, into the hallway, and walked straight into the hallway bathroom, right beside what used to be Ricky‘s room, and closed the door behind her, as everyone looked at her, saddened.
Ron said, “What happened? My Rebecca‘s depressed!”
“We‘ve been through hell and back with Jessica and Dawn,” said Drew as he sat where Rebecca was sitting.
“This makes me wonder: Does Aunt Jessica love Rebecca?” said Ron.
“No,” Haggai answered, “she doesn‘t. In fact, she never has. That‘s why Rebecca has to stay away from her mother, because although Mrs. Riley has never abused her younger daughter physically, she continuously abuses her daughter verbally precisely because of Dawn.”
Drew was shocked. He didn‘t know any of this. “Are you serious?” “Yes, Mr. Riley, unfortunately, I am serious.”
Rebecca had just finished washing her face and she came out of the bathroom and closed the door behind her. “What‘s going on?” Everybody was silent.
“Haggai just revealed to us that your mother has never loved you,” answered Ron.
“Like I didn‘t know that,” said Rebecca and sat beside her father.
“Anyway, this is what we‘re going to do, all right?” said Haggai. “First of all, you‘re going to do a quit-claim deed on your house, Mr. Riley,” he said to Drew, “and give it to your wife, so there are no problems between you during the divorce proceedings.”
“But Mom will fight for my custody,” said Rebecca, worried.
“That‘s just it, Rebecca. Your dad will offer your mom the house in exchange of your custody,” said Haggai.
Everybody gasped.
“She won‘t accept!” said Drew.
“Oh, yes, she will. If I knew that she wouldn‘t accept, I wouldn‘t even be suggesting
this.”