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15th December 1965
“There we are… is that everything?”
“It should be, yes. Are you a hundred percent sure that you’ve grabbed everything, Harley?”
The boy said nothing, only looking down at the floor and kicking his feet.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” the driver mumbled, closing the trunk of the car. “C’mon, kid.”
“Ah ah, let me say my goodbyes,” Elliot said. “I don’t want to send Harley off without a proper farewell. Harley?”
Harley just scoffed, folding his arms. Elliot offered his hand out for Harley to shake, but he didn’t take it.
“For the short time I’ve known you, Harley, I can say you’ve been a wonderful student,” Elliot began. “Unfortunately you just… lack the morals I feel are necessary for this program. It was never a competition between you children. I just wish you’d have been a little more kinder to your peers. Gotten to know them a bit more. Bruno and Leith were incredibly eager to get to know you, yet you never seemed to reciprocate it.”
“Bruno’s an asshole,” Harley snapped. “Leith’s somewhat tolerable, sure, but Bruno just refuses to listen to me. Always has to be the one in charge… ugh, he disgusts me.”
“Harley. Please, I wasn’t expecting you and Bruno to be best friends, but you could have at least attempted to somewhat tolerate him. Bruno wasn’t listening to you because of how unethical your ideas were. You can’t rip open a live rat to test how slowly you can make it die, Harley. What purpose could that possibly serve?”
“I don’t know why you’re kicking me out,” Harley hissed. “You fucking traitor. And at Christmas, too?! You couldn’t have waited until the new year?!”
“Harley you’ve never liked Christmas. And quite frankly, I didn’t want you spoiling it for those who do. I saw how you made fun of poor Stella last year. You’re part of the reason she left the program in floods of tears,” Elliot said, his eyes narrowing and his hands now behind his back. “I don’t want your actions to result in another child going home crying, especially at such a special time of the year.”
“So you’re sending me home to a family that doesn’t want me instead of maybe just isolating me here?”
“Your family do want you, Harley.”
“NO THEY DON’T! I JOINED THIS PROGRAM FOR A REASON! I GOT SO ATTACHED TO YOU FOR A REASON! HOW FUCKING DENSE ARE YOU, LUDWIG?!”
Elliot hesitated, before sighing. “Harley. Maybe if you think about your ways and how you treat others a little, perhaps I will let you back into the program,” Elliot said. “But for now, I’m sorry, but you can’t be here.”
There were tears pricking at the corners of Harley’s eyes, the boy’s fists clenched and his body trembling, likely a mixture of rage and the cold being the cause.
“I hate you. So much,” Harley mumbled. “I’d finally found somewhere I thought I belonged, and you kick me right back to the damn curb. Fuck you, Elliot. I hope your Christmas is horrible.”
“Merry Christmas, Harley. Send me a letter once you feel you’re ready to come back.”
“Oh, I won’t. You can count on that. You clearly never want to see me again, so I’ll spare you the pain and not write to you ever again. How about that?”
“Harley-“
“FUCK OFF, ELLIOT! I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE EVER AGAIN! GO! IF YOU WANT ME GONE THAT BADLY, JUST GO AND NEVER TALK TO ME EVER AGAIN!”
Elliot’s ears began to ring, and regret began to flood his mind as Harley opened the back door of the car and slipped inside, snapping his seatbelt into place. Elliot placed a hand on the door, and muttered, “Please let me know how your holidays go, Harley.”
“I won’t. I hope yours go as awfully as they can. Merry Christmas. Please don’t call me.”
And before Elliot could say another word, Harley grabbed the car door and slammed it shut. Elliot swallowed hard, before asking the driver, “I assume you’ll be taking him straight home?”
“Yes. Neither of his parents will be home, however.”
“Well try and get them there as soon as possible. I don’t want Harley going home to being alone.”
“IT WOULDN’T MATTER IF THEY WERE THERE OR NOT!” Harley’s voice yelled from inside the car. “THEY’RE GONNA BE PISSED AT ME AND IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!”
“I will try and make sure Mr and Mrs Sawyer do not give Master Sawyer too much grief,” the driver said. “At least for tonight.”
“Thank you… I, ah, made a little present for him,” Elliot stammered. “It should be in the trunk. Just a Christmas present so he knows I’ll be thinking of him during the holidays. Make sure he gets it.”
“I will. Pleasure meeting you, Mr Ludwig.”
“Likewise. Have a safe journey home. Mind the ice.”
“Will do.”
Elliot shook the hand of the driver, who then got into the car, which quickly made its way through Playtime’s gates and down the long stretch of road to the highway. Elliot stood in the car park, watching the car for as long as he could, feeling tears in his eyes.
Something in him wanted to chase after the car. To scream and yell and explain that he’d changed his mind, that he knew sending Harley home was wrong and to express his regrets. But he simply stood frozen still, his breathing heavy and his head pounding.
“Oh Harley… my poor boy… I’m so sorry I failed you…”
~~~~~
“Mr Ludwig?”
Leith had appeared in the doorway of Elliot’s office. Elliot looked up from his paperwork, asking, “Leith? What on earth are you still doing up? It’s almost midnight.”
“Yeah, I… wanted to ask about… about Harley…” Elliot sighed, dipping his fountain pen back into the ink pot to his left.
“What is it?”
“Well, uhm… I just wanted to ask if he’s coming back… after Christmas…” Leith mumbled.
“I don’t know, Leith. I’ll reach out to him afterwards and see how he is doing. But I don’t know. I cannot give you an answer right now. Please go to bed.”
“Y-Yes sir. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Leith.”
Leith left, closing the door behind him with a soft click. Elliot placed his pen down, burying his face in his hands. Poppy had been sat watching the ordeal from her little pedestal near the desk, and she said, “I think you should give Harley a second chance, father.”
“I will try, my angel. But I can’t promise that he will want to come back,” Elliot muttered. “You should be asleep too.”
“I can practically hear your thoughts, father,” Poppy replied. “Why would you let him go if you didn’t want to?”
“I was thinking what was best for the others. Not just him. He was ruining it for everyone else, and I would rather remove the problem over those suffering from it.”
“So close to Christmas was rather cruel.”
“I know, darling. You… don’t understand. But you will someday. Come along. Let’s go to bed. I assume you wish to sleep in my room? You don’t seem too eager to rest there on your usual pedestal.”
“No, it’s very cold tonight. I miss when you used to let me sleep in your bed with you whenever I had a nightmare.”
Elliot chuckled, standing up and lifting Poppy into his arms.
“Well, you can’t sleep in my bed. If I roll over onto you I will crush you. You’re far too delicate to risk it,” Elliot explained. “You can sleep in the armchair, my darling.”
“Alright. I can accept that.”
“Thank you, sweetheart. Come along. It’s much too late for a girl your age to still be awake.”