Just then, Sméagol and Damian returned with two buckets of fish.
"Boy," said Damian, "Sméagol is the best fisherman I've ever known."
"You two caught a lot of fish, didn't you?" said Bri.
Damian laughed. "Actually, Sméagol caught most of them."
"Wow, way to go, Sméagol!"
"So, what are you gonna do with the fish?" asked Lea.
"I'm gonna keep a bucket, and give the other to him."
"You wanna run home, and drop off the fish?" Bri suggested. "Lea and I wanna talk to Sméagol for a few minutes."
"I'll go with you, so we can drop our fish off, too," said Aini.
"Sure," said Damian. "We'll be back in a few minutes, guys."
Aini helped Damian carry the fish buckets to the truck, and they drove off.
Sméagol turned to Bri and Lea, who both had very serious expressions on their faces. "What?" he asked.
"We know, Sméagol," said Bri.
"You knows? You knows what?"
"Aini told us everything," said Lea, "about the ring, Gollum, everything that happened, all of it."
"Oh." Sméagol suddenly felt very nervous. He turned his head, fearing that he may have lost his new friends.
"Hey." Before he could walk away, Bri took his hand. "Don't go. It's okay, Sméagol. We're not mad."
"You don't hates us?"
"No," said Lea. "We get it. You had no control over what happened. I know what that's like. Not to your extreme, but I do know how it feels to have little control over something."
"And, I know how it feels to be so consumed in addiction that it's all you know, and how hard it is to fight it."
"Some of my Autistic behaviors have caused some crap in my life. The thing is, though, I have so little control over them."
"What are they, Precious?" asked Sméagol.
"Well... I'm super sensitive, for one. I get my feelings hurt very easily. That's always been a huge problem in relationships, because people get so mad at me for it. I don't pick up on social cues very well. Like, for example, I can't always tell when someone's just joking. I get upset at what they say, because I think they're serious. Not being able to see their facial expressions makes it even harder."
"She's also visually impaired," added Bri.
"Yeah. And, I also have shutdowns and meltdowns, and my meltdowns are pretty ugly. When I have a shutdown, my thoughts and feelings implode within me, and I can barely move or speak. My body feels like it weighs a thousand pounds, and since my thoughts and feelings are all over the place, I can't tell you what's bothering me, until I sort through, you know, all my thoughts and feelings. If someone tries to press me for information, I get really snappy and bitchy. When I have a meltdown, it's more outward, because all my thoughts and feelings explode. I can't form coherent sentences, or tell you what's bothering me. Again, I have to take my time before I can explain what's wrong. People have gotten mad at me for that stuff, too, and they've also given me hell about my sensory issues. I've had people blow me off or ditch me, because they don't wanna look after me, since I can't do certain things by myself, because of not being able to see well enough. I've had so many people turn on me, because of all my issues, lost so many friends and relationships, and got bullied heavily for it."
"And, she's still getting bullied."
"People think all my issues can be 'fixed,' and they have all these opinions of what I need to do. They treat me like a walking disease."
"Same here. I was abused growing up, so I turned to food for comfort. I would eat constantly, and it became an addiction called Binge Eating Disorder. I gained a lot of weight, and I was heavily bullied in school. Then, when I was about thirteen years old, I developed Bulimia, which is where you binge and purge your food. One day, I ate so much food that I literally couldn't breathe from being so full, so... I threw it up. That became an immediate addiction. I also dabbled in Anorexia from time to time, which is where you starve yourself. But, Bulimia was my main eating disorder. It got to a point where I would binge and purge ten to twenty times a day. On top of that, I was also addicted to self-harming, cutting and punching myself, and I was very suicidal. But, I was convinced that nothing bad would happen to me, that I was a 'safe' purger, and my body would be fine. I was too far into my eating disorder to even think of stopping. It was my comfort. But, I became too sick to even stand for more than ten minutes, or I would pass out. There were days when I was too sick to even get out of bed. Then, a few years ago, I was diagnosed with Gastroparesis, which means my body doesn't digest food properly, and I can't poop on my own anymore. I was also told that I might not live past forty or fifty, because of the damage I had done to my body. Then, I was told I couldn't have children." Bri's eyes filled with tears. "And, that destroyed me, because ever since I was little, all I ever wanted was to be a wife and a mom."
Sméagol began to get a little emotional himself.
"And..." Bri reached in her mouth, and took out her dentures. "I lost my teeth, too, from throwing up so much acid. These are dentures." She put them back in her mouth. "Then, one day, I was in the bathroom, purging again, and I was using a toothbrush to gag myself. I was holding the end with the bristles, so I could grip the toothbrush, because you know, I was a 'safe' purger, blah blah blah. But... somehow, my throat closed, and grabbed a hold of the toothbrush."
Sméagol's jaw dropped.
"I started to pass out, and I just knew I was gonna die. I already knew I was gonna die young, so I figured this was how I was gonna go. I don't remember how long it lasted, maybe twenty seconds, but for the first ten seconds, I accepted that I was gonna die. I was okay with it. Then, my life flashed before my eyes. All the abuse, my eating disorder, how it started, why it started, everything. My whole life flashed before my eyes. Then, the last few seconds, I had a very clear vision that I still remember like it was yesterday, of Damian walking in, and finding me dead on the bathroom floor with a toothbrush in my throat and puke everywhere." Tears poured out of Bri's eyes. "And, I decided I wanted to live, so I prayed to God, 'please, Heavenly Father, let me live." So, by some miracle, I was able to stick my entire hand down my throat, and grab the toothbrush."
Sméagol was speechless.
"What we're trying to say to you, Sméagol... and Gollum... to both of you," Bri said as she put her hand on Sméagol's shoulder, "we get it. Granted, neither of us have it as bad as you, and neither of us went through all the shit you did. I didn't choose to have an eating disorder, but I chose to purge that first time. That was all it took for me to become addicted. You, on the other hand, didn't have a choice. The ring sucked you in the minute it popped out of the water."
"And, my Autism never made me do the things the ring made you do," Lea added.
"The point is, we are not gonna turn on you. We both love you, and we don't think any less of you. In our eyes, you are still the sweet angel we met the other night, the angel that was so sweet to Lea when she broke down, and the beautiful angel that sang that beautiful, heartbreaking song. You are still our friend."
Sméagol smiled with tears in his eyes. "Thank you."
"Come here, Sweetie." Bri pulled Sméagol into a big hug, and Lea joined in.
"Thank you so much," Sméagol sniffled.
"And, Gollum, I wanna tell you something, too," said Bri. "Are you listening?"
"Yes," Gollum replied.
Bri pulled him close, and spoke into his ear in a cute, loving, sweet voice. "We want you to know that you are just as sweet and special and beautiful and worth it as Sméagol, and you deserve love and happiness and all the good things, and we love you so much, and you will never, ever, ever lose us, because you're so wonderful and special and amazing and strong and talented and adorable and precious, and you're our best friend forever, too, along with Sméagol, and we love you both so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so freaking much, because you're both awesome and beautiful and amazing and so worth it, and we know you can fight your addiction to the ring, because you are the real precious, not the ring, and we will fight anyone who tries to hurt you or be mean to you, because we love you so freaking much, and we will always love you forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever..." She jokingly hesitated. Then, she hugged him again, and kissed his cheek. "We love you, Sméagol, and we love you, Gollum. You're both awesome."
Lea grinned. "Bri does this a lot. I love her long-winded rambles. But in all seriousness, she said everything I was thinking. We really love you, both of you, a lot."
Tears poured out of Gollum's eyes. "We loves you, too, Precious!" he cried.
"Yes, we does," Sméagol agreed. "We loves you very much."
They all cuddled up into one big group hug.