THE DEVIL'S SHADOW
V. STICK
"YOU'RE GETTING STRONGER."

➖

HELL'S KITCHEN, 1989

THE SKY was dark and gloomy, the clouds dark grey, ready to start pouring down rain again after it had just rained less than 20 minutes ago. The sky made it seem like it was a sad day, a day that so many people felt on another level.

Both Ariel and Matthew felt that. It was the day of Jack's funeral, which had ended not long ago. The rain had belted down on them near the end of the funeral, which had cut it shorter than the usual time it'd go for.

Many tears had been spilt that day, more than someone could have thought possible. The two best friends were waiting to be picked up by Tony who had been away on business, so they could be taken home. Ariel's parents had decided to let the two spend the rest of the day with Tony to try to cheer them up just a little bit.

The sound of footsteps against the concrete could be heard from behind the two 9 year old's, as they sat by Jack's grave quietly. A hand rested on one of their shoulders, catching their attention quite quickly.

Upon looking up, Ariel found her uncle kneeling there behind them. A sad smile tugged at her lips at the sight of him, but she still got up nonetheless to hug him excitedly.

Without any arguments, Matthew rose from where he was sitting in front of his father's grave. Ariel reaches out for his hand, which he took a hold of tighter than one could imagine and followed them to the black SUV Tony had been brought in.

They all climbed into the back seat, with Tony telling Happy to take them to his and Ariel's happy place. It was the local ice creamy that they visited very regularly, to the point that you could classify it as their second home.

Upon pulling up to the destination, Ariel let a small smile tug at her lips. With Matthew's expression however, a muscle had not contracted to change even the smallest part of his expression.

Tony looked over at the two, noticing the two completely different expressions on both of their faces. Ariel was somewhat happy, while Matthew was still upset. But that was completely normal, as the young boy had just lost his father.

"Come on, let's go get some ice cream," said Tony.

Ariel nodded her head, following him into the shop with Matthew sadly following behind her after they climbed out of the black SUV. The doorbell rang out when Tony pushed the door open, and Matthew let out a small groan, covering his ears at the sound of the high frequencies running through his inner ear.

The three of them sat at the regular booth that Ariel and Tony would sit at, with Ariel and Matthew across from Tony. The three sat there quietly, waiting for the waitress to come over and take their orders.

Eventually, the waitress made her way over, smiling at the regular customers with a genuine smile. She had a note pad and pen in her hand, ready to take their orders.

"Hi, I'm Lisa. What would you like today?" asked Lisa.

Tony turned to the two of them, raising an eyebrow at them to indicate them to tell the waitress what they wanted. Ariel just grinned, looking up at the waitress.

"Could I please have a large vanilla thick shake and two scoops of rainbow ice cream with sprinkles?" asked Ariel.

"With manners like that, I'm sure you could get anything you wanted in this world," replied Lisa.

A grin graced her lips as she wrote down Ariel's order. The compliment made Ariel smile wider, only making Tony let out a small chuckle at his niece.

"And for the young man?" asked Lisa.

Everyone glanced at Matthew, waiting for him to order something. When he was quiet, Ariel looked up at the waitress with a small smile.

"He'll have a large chocolate thick shake, and two scoops of chocolate ice cream with sprinkles."

Lisa wrote the order down on the note pad, smiling over at Tony who then ordered a large chocolate thick shake also. The waitress then disappeared, leaving the three of them alone yet again.

Ariel sat there silently, like the two boys accompanying her. However, the wheels in her head were spinning with ideas on ways to keep Matthew close to her. She knew that he would more than likely be sent to an orphanage home, and that was the last thing she wanted. Not now. Not ever.

Then something clicked in her head. She glanced up at Tony.

"Couldn't you adopt him, Uncle Tony?"

If his expression didn't show his bewilderment, he wasn't sure what would. The billionaire looked down at little Matthew, reconnecting all the dots of his life. He'd had it pretty rough from the start, he didn't deserve any of this.

"Peanut," He had to choose his words carefully.

Ariel looked up at her uncle with the most innocent face, not even faking it one bit. She waited patiently for him to figure out how he was supposed to word his response. Was he really about to let down one of the most important people in his life?

"It might come as a shock to you, Peanut, but I'm legally not allowed to take possession of Matthew. I have to follow a lot of laws, have a lot of rights and fill out a lot of applications before I can adopt him."

Ariel frowned at her Uncle Tony. She didn't understand why he wouldn't just go through with it to adopt Matthew and make her happy.

She just kept silent, knowing that her mouth would speak without permission and then get her into trouble. Tony let out a sigh, knowing that she was now even more upset that there was nothing they could do.

The waitress came back with their orders, placing them down in front them. They started eating their ice cream, even Matt had picked up his spoon to start eating some.

"Do you like it?" asked Ariel.

Matthew nodded his head with a small smile. The first real smile since his father was shot. It made Ariel grin in delight at the fact that something made him happy on the most dreadful day of his life. Which was only going to get worse, and wipe that smile off his face.

Ariel sat beside Matthew as he laid in the bed at the local orphanage. His glasses on the bedside table beside the bed, while he was squirming around, panting. She wasn't one hundred sure on what he was hearing, because it was enhanced so abnormally that he could probably hear something three blocks away.

Ariel heard footsteps down the hallway, and faint talking. She couldn't exactly make out what they were saying, but she could hear tap, tap, tap. Was that a blind man also?

"Here we are," said one of the nuns.

"Make the check out to cash. I'll take it from here," said an unfamiliar voice.

The door opened, and an unrecognisable man stepped into the room. He was in fact blind, as the cane and the glasses gave it away. He was wearing a weirdly green coloured jacket with a shirt the same colour under it, and a pair of cargo looking pants. He ignored her presence.

"They think you're getting worse. But you're not, are you kid?" said the man.

He had a rough voice, that wasn't so deep. Ariel just knew that his voice would get annoying if he spoke a lot. She was hoping this man wasn't taking care of Matthew, because then she wouldn't be able to see him as much as she pleased.

Ariel watched the strange man pull his keys from his pocket and then throw them at Matthew. She let out a shriek, thinking that Matthew didn't know they were approaching him. However, Matthew caught them before they could with complete ease.

"You're getting stronger," stated the man.

Who was this man?

"You must be Ariel. I've heard so much about you," said the man.

"What are you doing here?" snapped Ariel. "Who are you?"

"My name is Stick, and I've taken custody of Matty."

"Like hell you will. He won't even like you."

"Try me," replied the man, grinning at her.

➖AUTHORS NOTE:
Here you gooooo! What'd you think? There's gonna be a time skip in a few chapters. Keep an eye out.

EDITED: 15/11/18