Meanwhile, Sméagol crawled into the bed, and wrapped his arms around Lea, who was still crying heavily. He stroked her hair, and caressed her back. "It's alright, Precious," he whispered sweetly. "It's alright. Sméagol's here. Sméagol's here, my precious."
"And, me, too," said Gollum.
"I'm sorry," Lea wept.
"Why is it sorry?" asked Gollum. "Why does it apologize when it did nothing wrong?"
"This is why people leave me. When I show them this side of me, this really ugly side, they don't want me anymore, and I can't blame them. I wouldn't wanna be around me, either, not after this. I'm sorry I dumped it on you."
"My precious." Gollum played with Lea's hair. "We've seen much worse. We've said much worse. We've done much worse."
"But, it wasn't your fault. That ring made you do all that stuff. You had so little control over your actions."
"And, so did you, Precious. We can handle your dark side."
"Yes, Precious," Sméagol agreed. "We won't turn against you. We still loves you."
"But, what if you have to see this side of me all the time?" asked Lea.
"Then, we be there to help you feel better again. We accepts you as you are."
"Yes," Gollum agreed, "we loves you very much. We never give up on you, Precious, and we fights anyone who hurts you."
"Me, too, Sweetie," Bri said as she tiptoed back into the bedroom, and crawled into bed with Lea and Sméagol. "No matter what happens, no matter how bad things get, or what people say about you, we will never, ever give up on you. We're your friends for life."
"Forever," added Gollum.
"Yes, forever," Bri agreed.
"What did Val say?" asked Sméagol.
Bri grabbed her phone, and showed Sméagol Val's post.
Sméagol read the post to himself, and tears formed in his eyes. "Bless us and splash us," he said breathlessly, "it's so cruel."
"Yeah, it is."
"And, I'm getting hate messages from her friends," Lea sniffled.
"You're getting hate messages?" Bri inquired. "What are people saying to you?"
"They're calling me a slut, saying I'm disgusting and ugly and fat and a horrible person, and..." Lea began to cry again.
"And, what?"
"That I should never have been born... and that I should kill myself."
"What?" Gollum grumbled angrily.
"Oh, no, Honey," Bri said sadly, hugging her best friend. "I'm so sorry."
Sméagol burst into tears.
"What's wrong, Sméagol?"
"We knows how it feels," Sméagol sniffled, "when people wants us dead."
"Awww, I know, Honey." Bri reached over Lea's head, and patted Sméagol's head.
"It hurts us. Very much, it hurts us."
"It does hurt," Bri agreed. "Nobody should ever want that for anyone else. Nobody should ever, ever wish that on someone, no matter how much they dislike them, and you, Sméagol... and Gollum... you did not deserve that. Neither does Lea."
"It feels like it," Lea wept. "It feels like I do."
"I know, Sweetie, but you don't."
"I feel like I did something really bad."
"But, you didn't."
"Val said I stole Ivan from her. She said I knew she liked him, and I still went after him."
"But, you didn't know. You couldn't have, unless she said something to you."
"I don't even remember now. Maybe she did tell me, but I didn't hear her, because I liked him too much to care."
"No, Lea, I know you. You would never do that to someone you care about, and you really cared about Val. And, besides, she never, ever said anything to me about it, ever. I think she just pulled that out of her ass to hurt you, because she knows you believe the bad things people say about you. But, none of it is true, Lea, none of it. I know that, when it's been drilled in your head your whole life by many, many people, it's hard not to believe it, but it is not true. Nothing these stupid, ignorant people say about you is true."
"Yes, Precious," Gollum agreed, "false. They will cheat you, hurt you, lie."
"You said it, Gollum," said Bri. "They're a bunch of assholes, and I will never understand how or why they could treat her this way. Look at the damage it's done. Now, she hates herself, because she believes what they're saying." Bri caressed Lea's head. "She can't see how beautiful and special she is. They blinded her with lies."
"It's not fair," Sméagol said sadly. "Poor Lea."
"No, it's not fair," Bri agreed. "People can be so cruel."
"Thanks, guys," said Lea. "Hey, how did you guys manage to show up just in the nick of time?"
"Well, I saw the post," said Bri, "and I had a really strong gut feeling something was wrong. I was getting ready to call Sméagol to tell him you needed us. He called me first, because he had that same feeling, even though he didn't see the post."
"You guys saved my life," Lea said breathlessly.
"Awww, my precious," Sméagol said sweetly, rubbing Lea's head, "we could never let anything happen to you, our friend."
"We can't bear the thought of losing you," said Gollum.
"Yeah," Bri agreed. "See how loved you are, Sweetie."
"I love you guys so freaking much," Lea said sleepily.
"We loves you, too, Precious," Sméagol said sweetly.
Lea nuzzled up to her friends as they wrapped her in a warm group hug