Second Chances: An Unexpected Angel

Chapter 25

Meanwhile, Hayley had just come home from work, carrying her lunch in a plastic bag. She had stopped at Subway on the way home. "Hey, Cheyenne!" she called. "I'm home!"

No answer.

"Cheyenne?!"

Still no answer.

She put down her sub sandwich, and went upstairs to see if I was asleep. She peeped her head into my room. "Cheyenne? Sweetheart?" She didn't see me in my bed, but she saw that my laptop was open with Logan's message still up. She tiptoed over, and read the message to herself. "You son-of-a-bitch," she mumbled angrily as she clicked on his profile to see the pictures he posted with his new girlfriend. Then, she turned around, and saw that the Sméagol doll was also gone, and suddenly realized where I was. She sprinted out of the house. She found me in the field, next to the pond, sitting with what she thought was my Sméagol doll at first glance. Then, she looked again. He was sitting upright on his own, and appeared taller than the doll or than what he was in the movies. She was very confused and amazed at the same time. What was happening? She thought. Was this the real Sméagol? Was he really talking to my baby sister? She slowly approached us. "Hey, Cheyenne," she greeted cheerfully, relieved to see that I seemed to be okay.

I looked up at my sister. "Oh, hey, Hayley."

"I thought you might be here after that message from Logan."

"You saw it?"

"Oh, yeah, and I honestly wanna kick his ass right now."

"Sorry I didn't take my phone with me this time. I didn't––"

"It's okay, Sweetie."

"Who's this?" asked Sméagol.

"This is my big sister, Hayley," I replied.

Hayley sat down with us. "Hi, Sméagol. I'm Hayley. It's so nice to meet you." She extended her hand to Sméagol.

Sméagol reached out, took hold of Hayley's hand, and shook it gently. "Very nice to meet you, too, Precious."

"Wow, you are very polite."

Sméagol smiled warmly at Hayley. "Sméagol likes your sister, Cheyenne, very much. So precious she is."

"Awww, yeah, she's very precious to me." She hugged me. "I wuv her so much."

"Why does people hates her so much?"

"Because, they're stupid," Hayley said resentfully, "and they're so ignorant. They look at her, and see nothing but brokenness and everything 'wrong' about her. She's had to deal with this shit her whole life. People come into her life, make her think they actually care about her, and then, they turn on her, all because she's different."

"They betrays her?"

"Yeah, big time."

"Sméagol knows how that feels."

Hayley gave Sméagol a sympathetic smile. "I know you do. Your whole family turned on you when you found the ring."

"They did, yes," Sméagol said sadly.

"They didn't even try to help you."

"No."

"That's because they're cowards, Sméagol, and unfortunately, this world is full of them. That's what happened to Cheyenne. People ran away when things got tough."

"When I showed them the ugly side of Autism," I said, "they abandoned me."

"Not just that," said Hayley, "but people also bullied her... badly."

"Yes," said Sméagol. "Cheyenne tells Sméagol about nasty bullieses."

"Yeah, they were pretty nasty to her."

"Makes Sméagol very sad, it does."

"It makes me sad, too, and mad. She's a good person, one of the best people I know, and people only choose to see everything wrong with her, which, by the way, there's nothing wrong with her. She's just built differently. She sees things differently, thinks differently, communicates with people differently, does things differently, and she feels everything so deeply. They don't see that, though. They only see someone who's messed up and weird. They don't see her for the talented, caring, funny, intelligent, good person she is. Maybe I'm biased because I'm her sister, but it's the honest truth. That's why she connected with you. She can relate to your pain. Not to your extreme, but she knows what it feels like to be betrayed, abandoned, bullied, and even abused. She knows what it's like to be judged for something she has no control over. And, she didn't look at you, and see an evil, corrupted being. She looked at you, and saw a sweet, kind, innocent soul. She sees nothing but beauty when she looks at you." Hayley sighed heavily. "And, her stupid ex-boyfriend just tossed her aside like she was nothing but trash, like so many others."

Sméagol's eyes filled with tears as he gave me another big hug. "Poor Cheyenne," he sniffled.

"Awwww," Hayley cooed, "Sméagol, you're so sweet."

"Sméagol so sad for nice Cheyenne."

"Awww, me, too."