Hopper

Brandon's Decision

The next few days were getting used to that- Brandon ended up naming the unicorn Elly, and we were becoming a formidable duo. Brandon was getting more comfortable with his situation and I could tell that he felt safe with me. He took me everywhere around the house with him. He looked like he was starting to feel better and was having a pretty great time. He really loved coloring and watching his shows and Jenny seemed to enjoy giving him attention. It was a good match- and the demons, thoughts, and germs were getting less and less, and the giants stayed away.

One morning, Jenny waited in bed until Brandon woke up. He was in a grumpy mood, the night before was a battle for Elly and I, so some enemies snuck through. Jenny noticed he was grumpy and tickled him in bed. That got him smiling- he had actually done a lot of that the last few days, which is one of his most powerful weapons against his demons.

Jenny began talking about how the last ten days were fun and she wanted to know how he felt. I could tell he was conflicted- he looked like he had a ton of fun but he was anxious a lot too. He told her that he liked it, which was quiet both by the pacifier still in his mouth and the embarrassment that he was still feeling. She asked if they could keep doing this and gave him puppy dog eyes. Brandon thought about it for a while but then nodded yes.

Jenny got so excited, hugging Brandon. She got up quickly and headed to the closet. Excitedly, she grabbed some clothes of the hangers. Brandon had gotten used to the routine and climbed up on the make shift changing table. She changed his diaper and put him in a onesie. She then put on a pair of bib overalls and fuzzy socks on him. She told him that they needed to go get some things from her parents house now that the quarantine was over- he looked at her nervously but she grabbed his hand and they left the room.

I walked over to the door, waiting until I heard the front door shut. I was nervous for Brandon because I could tell that he was anxious but was reassured when I remembered her parents were on vacation. Elly and I decided to get up and explore. We walked out into the dining room area- this was really our first time exploring the house- as the only time we left the room was with Brandon. We had improved our climbing skills, so we were able to get on top of cupboards, cabinets, and shelves- with some clever puzzle solving skills.
On the surface, there wasn't anything unusual about the place. The booster seat, bottles, sippy cups, bibs, and toys all indicated that there was a toddler that lived here- it wasn't until you realized Brandon wasn't a child would there be questions. We noticed a loose vent behind the couch, after exploring for a while, we found a screw driver in the closet.

Undoing, one of the corner screws, we were able to pry back the cover and climb in. This system let us navigate the rooms- we would need to remove some of the screws from the outside before we could exit from the vent. There were only three doors in the apartment: the bedroom, bathroom, and front door. We also realized that we were able to navigate around the apartment, using the vents.

This would be useful in recruiting help- but we weren't sure how much time we had so we didn't explore much. Just enough to find the path to the outdoor vent. We noticed that we were in a fairly large city- being able to see tall buildings in the distance, and businesses right beyond the parking lot. Learning the navigation was a huge help.

We got back to the apartment, and heard voices. They were already home! I was not going to let this be the reason we would be put into retirement. Luckily, Brandon was on the couch sleeping. There were a bunch of boxes in front of the bedroom vent, but we heard Jenny inside the bedroom. So Elly and I quickly got out of the vent in the living room- Elly laid among the toys in the living room- I climbed up the couch and went into Brandon's arms, after placing the pacifier that fell out of his mouth back in it.

Jenny walked in and out of the room many times and when Brandon woke up, she wouldn't let him in his room. That meant we ended up watching TV for a while. Finally, she called Brandon into his room- I was astonished when he walked in. I thought they went back to her parents house for his clothes- but it was obvious it was for other stuff instead.