Welcome To The Family

Chapter Fourteen

Miss Hendricks waits at the bottom of the basement stairs with the Raves. Babe joins the silent crowd. A black-eyed portrait of Beckett replaces Babes. Beckett, who's upside down, his head covered by the black burlap sack.

"He's surprisingly quiet." Says Babe. Loud muffled screams come from underneath the cloth.

"He wouldn't stop talking, so we decided to silence him." Niko Raves looks up at her husband, "Thankfully, we had a gag lying around."

"We should begin." Jason Raves changes the conversation. "We'll give you a little boost this time." He removes the 3-inch gold zig-zag pendant from his necklace.

"We didn't want to intervene but, we want to reunite you two." Niko removes the obsidian triangle pendant from hers. Both Raves begin to rub their charms in a circular motion with their thumbs—their neck decorations shimmer.

"Thank you." Miss Hendricks smiles. She soothes him and grabs the knife and paper like before. Pricking his fingertip causes Beckett to thrashes around in his shackles. "Relax, it'll all be over soon." She soothes him, and then just as he calms, she pricks his palm with the blade. Once again, she dips her finger in the pooling blood, and finger paints a circle on the forehead of both paintings.

She unfolds the aged parchment and begins to read from the inked paragraph. The lightbulb above Beckett's feet fills with the spirit of Aaron.

"Pluto audiat clamorem meum,"

Babe is frozen. He's paralyzed with the satisfaction of revenge. Finally, his insane childhood bully who made his life a complete hellscape will get what he deserves.

"switch animabus illorum,"

Empathy, as he was in this situation just yesterday. Feeling like a rat realizing it's trapped.

"et cor meum tuum est."

Hope, that Miss Hendricks would get her son back and that he'd be able to handle anything once this is all over.

The black eyes from Beckett's portrait fill with the blue eyes from Aarons. The light begins to flicker then the bulb explodes. Everyone reacts to protect themselves from the shards of glass. They lower their arms to see the glass has suspended mid-air. A simple "Woah." Slips through Babe's dropped jaw. The blue eyes remain on Beckett's portrait, and the paint on Aaron's painting begins to bubble. They all look at each other. Babe moves forward to Beckett's body and removes the sack. Beckett's eyes flutter open. They are the same blue as the painting.

"Thank you, Brother." Aaron looks towards his mother, whose eyes are watering. "Hi, mom. Everest."

"That's our safe word." She runs over and hugs his head. "I can't believe it's you."

Epilogue:

After the celebration of Aaron's return, Miss Hendricks re-gifts him his necklace. Miss Hendricks legally adopts his vessel from the Garde Foster Home and, with the help of a DNA test, it is confirmed that Babe is indeed eighteen years old. With his papers in order, Babe legally adopts Yani. Fishing, family dinners, and wholesome times filled the rest of the summer. Aaron's father managed to pop in, ecstatic to reunite with his son.

Come autumn, Miss Hendricks gifts the fifty-thousand dollars in the box to Babe. Like the leaves, it's time for him to get a venture out into the wind. He moves away to Boston with Yani and Ella to finally begin his life.

THE END.