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    Yellow guy's face was frozen in a look of disgust and horror as he watched the traumatizing imagery of the family devouring the chicken. Yellow Guy thought that the family was planning on eating him, but he could never imagine that they would force him to be their mother. Yellow also questioned why they picked him to be the mother, he had no skills in being a mother whatsoever.

   The family was almost done devouring the chicken when Lily noticed that Yellow didn't have any chicken.

     “Mother, aren't you hungry? Don't you want to have some chicken with your family?” Lily asked Yellow Guy, her face halfway between her normal and creepy mouth.
“Oh, how could I forget? Sweetie, here have some chicken for you.” The father said that with his mask still on, he grabbed a chicken leg and held it in front of the Yellow guy's mouth. Even though he was still wearing the mask, Yellow Guy could tell there was a creepy smile behind it. The other members of the family joined in holding up pieces of chicken in front of Yellow Guy's face, trying to get him to eat.

   Yellow guy was hungry; he hadn't eaten all day, but he wasn't going to eat something that was in the grubby mitts of Lily and Todney. Who knows where their hands were before? Yellow guy quickly grabbed the piece of chicken the father was holding and swatted away everyone else's. He takes one bite of the greasy chicken and almost immediately tries not to spit it out.

“What's wrong, Mummy? Don't you like chicken? It was always your favorite dinner,” Todney said, noticing Yellow's face.
    “Nothing's wrong. I'm just on a diet, you know. Got to stay healthy to see the family grow,” Yellow responded nervously, unsure of how the family would respond to that.
“Oh, Mother, we understand, but let's just hope your diet includes the family tea,” Lily said happily as Todney giggled.

   Holy crap they actually listen to me. Yellow thought to himself when the realization finally came. He is their mother, and a mother's job is to give orders and everyone has to respect and listen to it or get punished with a time out. Yellow guy got an idea that he was ready to take full advantage of. They wanted him to be their mother. But they never said what kind of mother they wanted him to be. If their last mother was the sweet woman they claimed she was.

Maybe it was time to switch things around and show them a different parenting Style.

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“Now children, why don't we head off to bed I gave you a reward of chicken so maybe we can all go to bed a little early so we can have more family bonding time tomorrow.” Yellow guy said confidently. Before Lily or Todney could protest the father spoke up.
“Kids let's listen to your mother she did something nice for us so this is the least we can do.” The father said in a Stern tone Looking at Yellow Guy to make sure the kids followed through with the command.
“Your father's right You kids need to listen more after I went out of my way to get you something that made you happy but if disrespect is what I'm going to get from you, maybe there are other ways I can get you to listen.” Yellow guy said in a strict tone but it weirdly made him feel better. He didn't know if this was his Twisted way of getting revenge on the Family or anger from how he was raised by his father and the other people around him. But was it really fair to do those things to two kids who did nothing wrong (In the moment)?

The twins immediately knew what he was implying and they quickly apologized before scampering off to bed as the bigger brother slowly slumped off. This kind of concerned Yellow Guy and caused him to wonder if physical harm was used to punish the kids, they didn't have any physical marks so maybe they were spanked. Knowing that made Yellow kind of sad and he felt kind of bad for them before he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Maybe we should head off to bed too.” The father said In a more happy town with that same creepy smile. That's why Yellow went with his plan of being a bad mom but maybe he could get away with being a bad wife if he played his cards right.

Yellow was putting the twins to bed trying to show that he was irritated trying to subtly give the idea that doing things for the twins was an annoying task that he did not take pleasure in. The twins apologized once again for disrespecting their mother and asked him to check the closet for any monsters.

“You two are too old to still be afraid of monsters so grow up and quit being babies about it! But I don't think the monster would be in your closet it would probably hide somewhere else like the vents. Anyways good night sleep tight and make sure the bed bugs don't bite.” Yellow said before slamming the door, letting out a sigh loud enough for the twins to hear. Satisfied with his work, Yellow walked to the master bedroom.

The bedroom was surprisingly well kept and the father was sitting on the bed tapping it waiting for Yellow Guy to join. Yellow practically froze in place at the idea that the father might have creepy ideas before that thought was interrupted by the feeling of being picked up. Turns out the big brother was standing behind the door and picked up Yellow Guy. The big brother gave him a tight hug then he plopped Yellow on the bed.

“Ummm. Huh, What?” Was all yellow could stutter.
“How sweet, he still gives his mother good night hugs and helps her settle into bed such a good boy.” The father said in a delightful tone much to Yellow's dismay realizing this was a common interaction.
“Oh of course. Well, good night I guess.” Yellow said awkwardly, waving his hand good night as the big brother walked out of the bedroom and presumably to his room.
“So maybe I could read to you this story I really like and I think you would enjoy it too.” The father suggested with a shy tone.
“ I'm too tired. Good night see you in the morning.” Yellow responded callously to the father's emotions and turned over going to sleep.

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The next morning started slightly earlier than expected. Yellow did manage to get some sleep but he woke up at around 5:30 when he felt a warm feeling around him that started to grow a little too hot to handle. He woke up to see the father's arms wrapped around his torso. How long has the sky been snuggled up to me? Yellow guy thought to himself as he pushed him away and got out of bed now even more determined to start the day and to see if maybe he could slip out. He tiptoed to the door and opened it up and immediately had to stop himself from screaming.

The big brother was standing in front of the door and in his pajamas. Either the brother had a nightmare and came to their room to just stand in front of the door or he went back into his room changed into his pajamas, and stood in front of the door all night. Yellow had no idea what the brother's deal was, the giant freak was so expressionless and only spoke in weird grunts.

“Good morning. I just got up to start making breakfast bright and early.” Yellow Guy said awkwardly still startled by The unwanted company.
“Grunt” Hello grunt was all the brother could say.
“So pancakes? That sounds like pancakes to me, let's have pancakes!” Yellow guy swiftly said.

The big brother was surprisingly helpful. Yellow Guy was short And there didn't appear to be a stepladder anywhere so Yellow Guy pointed at what he needed hoping that the bigger brother Would get it for him. But the big brother just picked up Yellow and held him in front of the item so he could grab it. How clingy or close of a relationship did the brother have with his mother? Yellow Guy thought to himself, but that did lead to an interesting thought.

When he looks back at the family portrait even before his face was put on top of it the mother's height was around the same height as him. So how did a short woman and an even tinier man come together to make such a giant child? Also, when did the mother disappear and how long was it before Lily and Todney enacted their plan? If she had died then her face wouldn't have been scratched out from the family portrait because then that would be ruining a precious family Heirloom. If they really were grieving over the death of a loved one then why haven't they kidnapped other people to be grandparents? A grandma was part of the family portrait but no grandpa. Was the mother the only breaking point for them? If someone else in their family died would Yellow Guy still be here but playing a different role in the family? Yellow guy cringed at that last thought, he was already struggling to process the family making him the mother but he couldn't handle the thought of playing any other role.

Everything was going all right until Yellow Guy turned on the oven and flinched at the sound of the sizzling pan heating up the batter. Yellow never liked using the oven, whenever he and Red would make it he would always do the ingredients and Red would do all of the stuff with the oven. That memory made Yellow back up and look to the big brother for assistance.

“You finish the pancakes and I'll set the table and wake up the rest of the family,” Yellow said pointing at the stove. Luckily the big brother listened.
Even though it was still pretty early, Yellow knew that waking your children up at an early hour and then calling them slobs without immediately getting up is something that a bad parent would do. Normally that job was reserved for the father but he couldn't see why he couldn't have a go at it. Yellow tried to think of ways parents would rudely wake up their kids and then he thought of Duck. Duck was always watching reality TV when Groton and Harvest was on and recently one of the shows that kept coming up were shows about big families that were Christian, dysfunctional, but mostly both. Yellow found the perfect way to be a passive-aggressive mom and immediately went toward the laundry room.

He grabbed the laundry basket full of dirty towels and the vacuum cleaner and began his plan. He turned on the vacuum but it had an awful smell. He looked inside the vacuum to see if it needed to be emptied but the inside was pretty clean so what about the vacuum was making that smell. He started to walk around the house with the vacuum turned on and when he went by the twin's door he started to slam a few times against the door but not enough to make the twins actually open it, as well as taking his sweet time around the room as well. Then he grabbed the laundry basket full of towels and chucked it at their door once again making a loud thought before stomping off back to the kitchen where he smelled coffee.

Apparently, while he was gone the big brother not only finished making the pancakes but also made the family coffee ( looks like Yellow found the favorite child). He grabbed a long spoon and began to loudly stir clinging the spoon against the edges and making sure it echoed throughout the house. A few minutes later the twins walked in. They kind of looks like deprived it was hard to tell because they had no eyebrows or major facial expressions but it was still pretty obvious that they didn't wake up naturally.

“You're up so early this morning you know you could have slept in a little more, I didn't need help with anything around the house.” Yellow guy said sarcastically.
“Morning Mummy, those pancakes smell yummy,” Lily said before yawning.
“Well, they better be yummy because I got up pretty early to make it for these people who are my loving family who are always willing to help. You should be more like your big brother.” Yellow said abruptly trying to hide a smirk from Lily's rhyme.
“Anyways, where is your father? He is seriously still sleeping.” Yellow Guy said again not giving anyone a chance to speak.
“Well Father is still asleep but he's been working a lot so maybe we could give him a little break,” Todney said trying to stay calm and hoping that would keep their mother calm.
“Fine! That man works one small office job and I have to take care of the whole house, he deserves all of our pity and the luxury of sleeping in. He could totally run the house so much better if Mother wasn't here, don't you think?” Yellow Guy said almost shouting at the two but not loud enough to make them start crying. The Twins were almost shocked at the response. They were hurt by those words but they didn't want to say anything for fear that more shouting would be on the way.
“Sorry Mummy, we didn't mean to upset you we'll eat breakfast right away, sorry we didn't help you,” Lily said, tugging her brother's arm to go sit at the table.
“No no it's fine it's not my fault you guys wanted to be lazy this morning.” Yellow guy said before realizing that he might have got a little too caught up in the moment. He didn't know how to give the “Mom” look yet so he knew that the twins might interject so he took off one of his shoes and held it almost aiming at their heads. The twins immediately flinched and didn't utter another word, this made Yellow Guy upset because of the implications. Yellow would never actually hurt the twins and he did feel bad about saying that stuff to them but at this point his standards are so low he would rather get knocked out and wake up in a dumpster naked with a note saying “ For the love of God don't come back”, Yellow just had to stick it out and play the long game and then whenever things got tough he could just gaslight them.

After that one-sided argument, he finally sat down and started to eat the pancakes with the kids. The pancakes tasted fine but every bite tasted like a different ingredient had gone bad but it wasn't sure which one. This life was going against so many morals he had about respecting others and literally any other morals about how to treat a human with decency but he wanted the family to know that they picked the wrong person to play mother in their sick fantasy.

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    Breakfast was very quiet. Yellow didn't have the mental energy to talk to anyone, and the twins were too nervous from the previous interaction to bring up a conversation. Soon, the father came in dressed up and ready to go to work, and he actually had a smile on his face, not a creepy one, just a genuine one. Yellow Guy grabbed more pancakes and stuffed them into his face so he could have a reason not to interact with the father.

“Good morning my lovely family and my beautiful wife!” The father said almost sounded like he was on a sitcom of some sort.
“Good morning, Father, how did you sleep?” Lilly said happy to talk to any parent who didn't want to shut down a conversation with a stupid argument.

  “I actually slept really well, for the first night in a while, I didn't feel lonely or cold or empty. It's so happy that we're all finally reconnected as a wonderful family.” The father said almost casually. But he kept looking at Yellow, hoping that he would add something to the conversation.

   Did this man seriously just trauma-dump on his children like that? Yellow thought to himself. Like, if you want to mention this stuff and say you finally got a good night's sleep is all right, but leave out the angsty stuff about feeling lonely, your kids don't need to hear about that! Does he dump trauma like this often? Maybe this was the reason why the twins got someone: to get him to shut up about missing his wife.

   In Yellow's anger, he started to chew faster and accidentally swallowed the pancakes in his mouth, now realizing that he had barely enough pancakes to pretend like he couldn't engage in the conversation because his mouth was full. His unlikely savior came to him when he felt a tap on his shoulder, and he turned around to see his big brother sitting there holding a napkin up to him with syrup dripping down his mouth.

Yellow cringed at the idea of wiping the brother's face like that, but then he realized that this was another opportunity to not talk to the father.

  “Oh wow, that's a lot of syrup on your face, let me get that for you,” Yellow said, grabbing the napkin and starting to wipe down the brother's face. To stall for time, he purposely spread it more around the brother's face so he could spend more time wiping it down.
   Yellow had no idea if this was making the big brother just as uncomfortable as he was, but it was also kind of scary to think that he was completely enjoying this. But also, where the hell did he get syrup? He didn't see any on the table or in any of the cupboards, so does this family just hide things from each other, or was he just super unobservant this morning?

Even though it was just 15 seconds, it felt like forever, and when he was finally done, he noticed the last pancake on the tray was gone, and the father was already walking out the door with it in his hands.

“Goodbye, everyone, I'll be back by the end of work. you have a nice day,” The father said with one last attempt to try and get Yellow to interact with him like a wife.
“Okay, goodbye. I'll be here with the kids, bye, see you later,” Yellow said, trying to sound as disengaged as possible.

The father finally left, and when breakfast was done, Yellow was looking at Lily and Todney, hoping that they had something to do today.

“So, do you kids have school today or what?” Yellow asked, hoping they would respond with a yes.
  “Nope, no school, but that's okay because you said we could spend the day with family bonding,” Lily said happily.
“Hooray! A day full of games, treats, and hugs.” Todney said, adding on to Lily's previous statement.

   “Oh yeah, I did promise you guys that, well okay, what do you guys want to do first?” Yellow said, deciding to let the twins have a good day so that later on he could use that as guilt if they ever act up later.

The Twins and Big Brother had a big group hug with yellow in the middle. The hug was tight and a little unnerving before he could hear Lily whisper something to him.

“Our mother has finally come home, and she will stay with us forever because we will never let her go,” Lily whispered ominously before the grip tightened, making Yellow struggle to breathe. This made Yellow too afraid to protest, and he realized that getting this family to despise him would take longer than he expected.

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The hug was still going and Yellow thought his eyes were going to pop out in a few seconds. Luckily the hug did end and Yellow could feel the blood flow back to his hands but then he felt something sticky. He touched the top of his head and saw that during the group hug some syrup from the brother's mouth fell on the Yellow guy's head and into his hair. What's worse was that it was right by one of the red bows which was already starting to come loose from him wearing it to bed. Yellow guy didn't know how to handle hair,
“Oh, my mother your hair is a little messy. I know what activity we can do first, mother-daughter hair braiding!” Lily said with excitement grabbing Yellow's hand.
“Wait what about the other two?” Yellow said trying to keep up his Pace with Lily so he wasn't being dragged.
“Don't worry Todny is coming too and Big Brother is going to set up some board games,” Lily responded trying to be reassuring to Yellow.

Yellow knew that it did not take long to set up a board game compared to braiding hair. He knew that the big brother was most likely going to be watching him from a distance to make sure he didn't make a run for it. They were inside the twin's room, Lily was digging through a small drawer in her vanity pulling out different things from Little hairspray bottles to accessories. Each thing she pulled out made Yellow more nervous Because now he didn't just have to worry about what he was going to do with Lily's hair, he had to worry about what Lily was going to do to his hair. Everything was set in place and Lily gave Yellow a smile, not an evil smile but a genuine one.

“All right everything's set up, I'm so excited to be doing this with you again Mother it's been quite a while,” Lily said with excitement.
“Lily it looks like mummy's hair is a little messy can I help get it out of her hair?” Todney said noticing Yellow wipe some of the syrup on the dress.
“Of course, you can talk to me I still have some hairspray I need to get in the bathroom,” Lily replied As she walked out of the room completely ignoring the rest of the little spray bottles on the vanity that she took out of the drawer.

How much hairspray did Lily need? are they planning on waterboarding me with the Hairspray? Yellow thought to himself now panicking a little. Yellow hated Hairspray was always too smelly, too close to his face, and it leaves behind a weird texture in your hair that doesn't go away for a while. Not to mention Yellow would always squeeze his eyes shut and hold his breath to make sure he didn't inhale any of the fumes. One time when they were getting ready to go to Duck's funeral Red was in a hurry and didn't grab the kid's Hairspray and didn't warn Yellow to close his eyes. The stinging sensation would have been worse if he didn't have this chef's hat that he buried his face into and at that point, Red started to fix up little details in his own suit to not notice Yellow pudding the chef's hat back on.

Yellow felt a small hand grab one of his pigtails. He wanted to swat at the hand but he realized it was just Todney trying to remove one of the bows from his hair.

“Lily will be back any minute so I'm making sure Mummy's hair is nice and ready!” Todney said feeling the need to be more included. Yellow was confused why he was talking like that but he would rather think of anything else than the reality of those words.
“I'm back Toddny, Thank you for helping Mother get ready. We can work on her hair together!”
“Hooray!” They both said in unison.

Yellow didn't want to look he could feel them removing the bows and brushing his hair, the sound of Hairspray with the occasional sound of shuffling and giggling. Sometimes one of the twins would leave the room to do who knows what while the other one sat there either hugging or fiddling with Yellow's hair. Yellow was nervous to speak up but then he pondered thinking that maybe it would be better if he got knocked out again so the twins could do his hair but he wasn't that desperate. Soon the twins announced that they were done and Yellow opened his eyes. His hair was similar to the two pigtails but they were a little fancier and instead of red bows There was a rubber band with a little charm on it and a scrunchie. Yellow didn't mind the little accessories, he even thought they were a little cute. But they would be cuter if they weren't done by the people who were holding him captive.

“You should go show grandma your luck I bet she'd love it,” Lily said proud of her work.
“Okay but are you sure you didn't go a little too crazy with the Hairspray?” Yellow said touching his hair which now felt like plastic but his hand was swatted away.
“Of course we put hairspray on mummy. We're going to play so many games, we don't want your hair to get messed up and bother you while you're making dinner,” Todney answered as if the question was obvious.
“Come on now stop lollygagging and go show grandma,” Lily said a little more intensely practically pushing yellow out of the door.

Yellow walked down the hallway seeing exactly what he expected. The brother was standing there watching him intently making sure he didn't leave. When you made it into the living room he saw the Grandma sitting in her wheelchair watching the TV that wasn't even turned on. Whatever hallucinogenic grandma was on he hoped she would share with him so he didn't have to look at the twin's face that looks like they're wearing someone else's skin. But before he could think about popping the question the grandma looked at him. This threw Yellow off and did not know how to respond to this so he just pointed to his hair and gave an awkward smile.

The grandma gave what Yellow thought looked like a smile and reached out one of her hands. This made Yellow Flinch a little because he was still on edge but he was surprised. He felt two fingers pinch his cheek as the grandma was admiring his look. The pinch wasn't hard just odd. Then they both heard the sound of dice rolling around on a table and Grandma got straight to ringing her bells shrieking that it was time to play.

Yellow covered his ears but they were still a little sore from the new bone earrings that were pierced into his ears the previous night. The family did their chant as usual but this time Yellow didn't chant with them. Yellow wasn't sure where his breaking point was and he didn't want to stick around long enough for him to lose it and let Stockholm take over. If he wanted answers then he would have to make sure that the twins were out of his hair so he could talk with a certain tree.

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It was the same family game from yesterday. Yellow was playing with Mother's peace which was now his peace. The rules were confusing and it was hard to tell which rules were official and which rules they just made up. Yellow learned his lesson and every time they made it to the family spiral or the family graveyard he didn't congratulate them In fear of them doing the same thing they did to him yesterday. Yellow didn't win the game for a stupid reason. Apparently halfway through the game Lily and Todney formed an alliance and when they worked together they both won because they kept “family values” in mind, which was dumb. After all, they never said that was a thing you could do when the rules.

There was just always another game to play but Yellow didn't mind because every game they played distracted Lily from asking Yellow to braid her hair. It was finally lunch time and Yellow checked the pantry for bread. Yellow was very confused by the bread, it was gluten-free white bread and he couldn't tell if the black dots were mold or sesame seeds either way a sandwich is a sandwich. He used the closest thing he could find to peanut butter which was Macadamia butter, Yellow didn't even know that kind existed. They only had raspberry and blueberry jam so Yellow asked the twins what they wanted.

“Hey what do you two want on your sandwiches?” Yellow asked
“I would like my sandwich with blueberry jam and raisins please,” Lily said very casually.
“And I would like raspberry jam and pickles on my sandwich as well,” Todney replied just as casually as his sister.
“O-okay then,” Yellow said, almost disgusted by their answers knowing that they were being serious.

Yellow maid their sandwiches. He didn't know what the big brother wanted so he just made Macadamia and raspberry sandwiches. Yellow made sure to cut all three of the sandwiches down instead of a cross. Except for his sandwich we just made the same thing for the brother he made sure to cut his own sandwich across. When you put the sandwiches on the table and called the kids over to sit down the big brother was not happy with his sandwich. The big brother made a low Rumble and quickly picked up the yellow guy taking him to the kitchen and giving him the blueberry jam. Apparently, the big brother likes his sandwich with just blueberry jam. Yellow was going to intervene and tell him that he should have been there to help but he hasn't seen this big of a reaction from something so small to him. So Yellow made the blueberry jam sandwich and just to be safe yellow cut it into fours. When they came back to the table the twins hadn't taken a single bite out of their sandwiches. Yellow thought they were just being polite and waiting till all the family was sitting down but that wasn't the case.

“Mother, I think you forgot something important,” Lily said looking at the sandwich as if the answer was obvious.
“What's wrong? I put everything you wanted on it.” Yellow said, still confused.
“Isn't it obvious Mummy? You forgot to cut the crust off, very silly of you.” Todney said pushing the sandwich closer to Yellow for him to fix. Yellow was very displeased with how they were talking to him.

“Excuse me, young man. Did you seriously just use an attitude with me?” Yellow said glaring at the twins, but he wasn't done yet.
“What's wrong with the crust? It's just crust! I already went through your request to make your weird abomination that you call a sandwich recipe and I get sass from both of you. Why don't you be more like your brother, he's eating his sandwich with the crust on what's stopping you. Now you two can be big kids about this and eat the sandwiches yourself or you can just have your mama cut off the crust because her babies think it's icky! Now which one is it going to be you two?” Yellow said viciously. He looked at the twins with anger and they looked back at each other.

“We're sorry Mummy will eat the sandwiches,” Todney said sheepishly.

Another meal where the family sat in silence because of a one-sided argument with Yellow. He gave himself a mental high five as he watched the both of them cowardly eat their sandwiches. Since there was a sandwich that the brother didn't need, Yellow put that in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge for tomorrow. Everything was going well according to Yellow's plan. The rest of the day was pretty normal. The kids were watching some home movies while Yellow was doing house chores. Yellow wasn't used to doing so many chores because there weren't many things to do back home. And every time he finished something it would just make the rest of the house look worse meaning there was another thing for Yellow to do.

He wanted to sit down and watch the TV and hopefully put on some cartoons but he needed this time to be alone so the others would think that he wouldn't escape. At one point the phone rang and Yellow yelled at Lily to go get it, it was the father calling but Yellow still didn't want to talk to him so he just told Lily to tell the father that their mother was busy and luckily that worked. Lily told Yellow that the father was calling to tell them that he was bringing home takeout which made Yellow happy because that meant he didn't have to cook dinner.

Yellow took another look around the kitchen and realized that if he were to cook dinner he would have to spend more time cleaning out the oven and other appliances which was a drawer he wanted to put on the back burner for a little while. While Yellow was dusting off an old picture he glanced outside to see the father was walking to the house. Yellow dropped the feather duster and ran into the master bedroom where he pretended to nap. He heard the door open followed by a loud “Honey I'm home!” by the father. Yellow got shivers down his spine when he heard the door knowing how easy it would have been for him to stand by it and run out the moment it opened and how it felt like he missed out on an opportunity but he knew he just dodged a bullet because they would have tracked him down and brought him back. Then Yellow froze when he heard tiny footsteps coming to the door.

“Hello, honey are you in here?” The father said
Yellow barely moved, only making a small grown to let the father know his presence was unwelcomed.
“Hi, there you are. I just came in here to tell you I'm home and I brought back some chicken.” The father said hoping that would convince Yellow to get out of bed.
“But if you want to sleep you can do that. I'll see you at bedtime.” The father said. Yellow could hear the Hope drain from his voice As the door slowly closed with a loud Creek and the joyful sound of skipping down the hallway was replaced with slow and depressing creeks in the floorboards. Yellow was trying to bury every feeling of guilt had because he knew that man didn't deserve it.

When you could tell dinner started he looked in the wardrobe but when he looked at the dresses he couldn't tell which one was meant to be worn during the day and which one was a nightgown. He didn't care and just decided to wear the same dress to sleep. He was trying to look around and gather information but he couldn't find anything.

No documents, no wedding photos, not even a birth certificate could be found in the bedroom. Yellow decided to sneak out to the restroom to wash up but during that time the father had already managed to change into his pajamas and get into bed and read a book just like the night before. Yellow didn't want to know if the family had cleaned up from dinner or not or if he had even done anything to help at all. Yellow looked around for the brother but couldn't see him he took that as a good sign and just got in bed, The father was too busy reading to talk to Yellow but he decided to give the father one last sting before they went to sleep.

“Honey,” Yellow said
“Yes, darling what is it!” The father replied very excited that his wife was talking to him. Yellow turned over looking into the father's hope-filled eyes and said one of the worst things that a husband wouldn't want to hear after a long day of work.
“Honey, would you love me if I was a worm?” Yellow said, trying to sound as genuine as possible. The father was disappointed as the light in his eyes disappeared and he let out a low sigh.
“Good night hun. See you in the morning.” The father said turning off the lights and falling asleep.

Yellow had to put a hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing. He didn't plan on ignoring him the whole day just to say that but he was glad that those were the only words that the father would hear him speak that day. There was no way Yellow could sleep. He was just too happy that it worked and he was also a little hungry but he tried to get some sleep. Things might not have gone as planned but they still worked out for him and he was able to go to sleep happy that these people’s day was worse because of him.

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Yellow woke up late Into the Night with his stomach grumbling for food. Yellow was looking around the room, his eyes still adjusting in the dark. Even though the blankets were thin and a little scratchy he still felt very sweaty and hot. He wanted to turn on any form of air conditioning but he was scared that if he did he would get hit with a wave of dust and alert everybody.

Yellow slowly made his way out of the bed, ensuring that the floorboards creaked too much, and walked to the kitchen. Normally yellow would turn on a light to walk down a dark hallway but he couldn't for fear of learning anybody. For some reason, walking around someone else's house at night is more intense and stressful than walking around in Yellow’s hallway at his home. Because Yellow would normally fear what monster could hide in the shadows. Now he feared what easily breakable item could be just out of sight that he could easily trip on. Walking down the hallway at night made everything look more expensive, more precious, and more breakable.

Yellow finally made it to the kitchen and took a deep breath calming himself down. He almost coughed in that air because he felt a big hand rest on his shoulder causing him to flinch. It was just Big Brother's hand, he was in his pajamas with a comically small sleeping cap on his head.

“What are you doing up this late?” Yellow said, trying not to sound scared.
The big brother only responded with a grunt and rubbed his belly a little, it was obvious he was hungry.
“Just down here for a midnight snack? Well, so am I. We can eat together.” Yellow said.

They walked into the kitchen and Yellow was trying to look for a snack but was interrupted by the sound of a jar opening. He looked up to see the big brother had grabbed the cookie jar and started to open the fridge for milk.

“You don't need milk right now, you aren't going to have that many cookies,” Yellow said, knowing that if he let Big Brother have milk he was most definitely going to make Yellow wipe his mouth again.

The big brother put the milk away, carried the jars to the table, and opened it up, it was filled to the top with cookies. Yellow wasn't sure if they were homemade or store-bought but he didn't care. The cookies were thankfully chocolate chip and when Yellow took a bite he could feel all the crumbs fall onto his dress.

So far the big brother was the calmest one in the family, sure he was a little clingy but it didn't feel as creepy compared to the rest of the family members. It was a little odd that he didn't have a name. Sure names like father and Grandma are something you wouldn't find on a birth certificate but those are titles. Yellow wondered if the family didn't treat the big brother right and used him more like a servant or a bodyguard than a member of the family.

Yellow almost felt sorry for the guy, it's very clear that he was attached to his original mother and didn't handle her disappearance or death well. Yellow thought that maybe he could do something nice for the big brother.

“Hey there sport,” Yellow said, getting the Big Brothers' attention.
“I noticed that no one around here really ever calls you by your name. Do you have one?” Yellow asked, watching the big brother look down in shame.
“Well, how about I give you a name?” Yellow said confidently.
“How about uuummmm….” Yellow said, trying to think of a name.
“Terrence! What about Terrence, do you like it?” Yellow said blurting out the first name he could think of.

Before Yellow could think of something else he felt himself being lifted into a tight embrace. Turns out the big brother (Now known as Terrence) really liked the name and gave Yellow a big hug as appreciation. Yellow felt a rush of exhilaration he hadn't felt in a while. He can't remember why but that feeling of naming something that he cared about was very familiar and very heartwarming to him. It was just a name but it felt special. Yellow returned the hug and padded Terrance back to calm him down because he was practically jumping and Yellow didn't want to slip out of the hold.

“All right Terrence I think our midnight snack is over and we should probably head back to bed,” Yellow said as Terrence finally calmed down from excitement.

Terence proceeded to carry Yellow to bed and when he opened the door to the bedroom they saw the father there looking a little upset.

“Oh, there you are sweetie. When I woke up and saw you weren't there I got a little scared but I'm happy to see that you're back.” The father said, wiping a tear off of his cheek. Terrance and Yellow got closer to the bed when they heard two pairs of footsteps run closer to their room.
“We both had nightmares, can we sleep in your room, Mummy,” Todney said, holding Lily's hand.
“Of course, you can! Why don't all of you kids sleep here with us tonight. ”The father said, very happy to have more people to spend time with.

Yellow wanted to say something in protest but it was too late. Terrence had laid him down in bed and Lily and Todney climbed on top to get to the other half of the bed. They all snuggled around Yellow, getting nice and comfortable. Yellow wanted to squirm and wiggle out but he stopped and realized that he remembered a similar situation like this. Sometimes when Yellow had a nightmare he would go into Red's bed and ask if he could sleep with him. It wouldn't take much until Red finally agreed but by that point, Duck would have already woken up and insisted that he would also sleep in Red's bed. It would always end with him and Duck sleeping in Red's arms Until morning time and Duck would deny everything.

Yellow wondered if Red and Duck were snuggling together because they missed him or if they were just pretending that he wasn't gone. Those memories comforted Yellow to the point where he almost forgot where he was. It soothed Yellow to sleep, and he was practically happy not to be alone.

There was nothing to fear, nothing to worry about, no bad guy. Just a happy family protecting each other from nightmares and comforting them after a long day.

Chapter Text

The next morning had come and Yellow woke up feeling the warm embrace being replaced with the cold emptiness of the thin sheets covering him. The family was already up and left Yellow alone. Yellow could smell coffee but nothing else, it was clear they hadn't made breakfast and we're most likely suspecting him to make it. Yellow let out a loud sigh before hopping off of the bed and walking into the kitchen to see the father sitting down on the kitchen table with a newspaper and drinking coffee. The twins were sitting on the couch watching cartoons and eating cereal. The grandma was sitting in her wheelchair looking impatient. Terrence was nowhere to be seen which was odd because it always felt like he was stalking Yellow.

“Good morning honey! I hope you slept well, I've started to make coffee but I would love some of your wonderful bacon this morning.” The father said putting down his newspaper to look at Yellow.
“All right, I'll make you some bacon. Where is it stored?” Yellow asked
“It's in the freezer dear. There should be a plastic bag with a paper towel that has the bacon wrapped around it.” The father responded

Yellow Followed the father's instructions without much of a fight. He opened up the freezer and it wasn't filled with a bunch of meat or popsicles or basically anything you'd find in a freezer. Instead, it was just a bunch of processed Meats and some TV dinners that looked like they expired a year ago. But looking through he did find some dinosaur chicken nuggets which made him happy. But it was very clear that the family wasn't used to cooking for themselves and most likely relied on the mother to make everything for them, which would explain all of the processed and pre-made meals. Eventually Yellow found the plastic bag with a napkin in it that the father was talking about. He opened it up and stuck his hand inside but immediately screamed and Chuck the bag across the room, he felt something hairy.

“What's wrong sweetie, is everything okay?” The father said in a concerned tone
“I sucked my hand in the bag you said had the bacon in it and it was hairy! What was that?!” Yellow yelled, getting the twin's attention.
“Oh, Mommy you must have found Nipples, our pet hamster that died a couple of months ago,” Todney said nonchalantly
“Why is it in the freezer and not buried?” Yellow said looking around the room for any kind of weapon.
“I guess we just simply forgot. We move the bacon around and put the hamster in there.” Lily said, callous to Yellow panic.
“Well, then can the both of you come here and get the bacon out for me? I'm not sticking my hand in there just to find another dead pet you forgot about.” Yellow said pointing at the freezer
“Yes, Mother,” Lily said.

The twins got up and thankfully got rid of the hamster. Yellow says they dug around and were able to grab the bacon. Yellow was glad that he didn't have to look at the hamster. Knowing how the Twins were there was no way that hamsters lived two long and happy years. It probably died in a way that was so traumatic that Yellow couldn't even picture it. It was very clear that they didn't hold pets of the same standard in the family dynamic. Yellow often saw himself as the pet with his clump.

When the hamster was removed and they brought out the bacon Yellow was pleased that it had no mold on it and started to cook right away. He put the bacon in the pan and let it sit for a little bit. When the bacon started to cook it started to sizzle which made Yellow very nervous. He wasn't a mom who had the power to ignore burning grease even if it touched them. Yellow was way too afraid to flip it over so we turned the heat down and waited for the bacon to stop sizzling. But that just made everyone else impatient and they started questioning Yellow on why the bacon wasn't done yet. Luckily Terrence had just woken up and walked into the kitchen.

“Good morning Terrence! Do you think you can finish the bacon for me? I need to grab something real quick. Thank you, dear.” Yellow said, handing Terrence the spatula and walking into the hallway.

Yellow walked into the restroom and got a good look at himself in the mirror. He looked gross. His hair looked nodded and awkward, his dress was stained, and he hadn't taken a bath or a shower for a while. He felt so uncomfortable knowing that if he wanted to freshen up he would have to use one of their showers or bathtub. Yellow looked around his surroundings and saw a bunch of stickers on the wall that were half scraped off. The toothpaste was crusting all over the sink and the bathtub looked like it hadn't been clean for a long time. But before he could think even longer he was called back.

“Honey! Breakfast is on the table, I'm waiting for you.” The father yelled.
“Coming!” Yellow responded.

Yellow made his way to the table and saw the bacon sitting there on a plate. The father was waiting for him to sit down and eat.

“So sweetie, why'd you have to run off in such a hurry? You don't want your bacon to get cold?” The father asked.
“No reason. I just wanted to wash off some sweat from last night's cuddle puddle.” Yellow responded, hoping that would be a justified answer.
“Well all right then.” The father said as Yellow let out a sigh of relief.
“Well there's some laundry you need to do today, your dress is absolutely muddled and gross.” The father said.
“Oh, are we going out today?” Yellow said, taking a bite out of the bacon.
“No, it's nothing like that. It's just that no proper wife should let herself get to such a disgusting manner.” He said, eyeing Yellow eating the bacon without showing any manners.
“Besides dear, if my colleagues show up after a hard and long day of work how do you think they would respond to seeing my wife with a stained dress and a messy house? All I ask is that you make the house and yourself look presentable, which shouldn't be too hard because you've always been able to do it. Why get stubborn now?” The father said.

Yellow was at a loss for words at what you just heard. Who the heck does this guy think he is? Yellow was shocked at how sexist this guy was. Yellow was beginning to question how the original mother was able to make it past the first date. let alone getting married and having kids.

“I will take that into account… dear,” Yellow said wanting to punch the father in the face.
“All right then. I'm off to do some errands and finish up some stuff at work. You know what you have to do love. Goodbye.” The father said, leaning closer to Yellow, hoping for a little kiss on the cheek.
“Yep, I'll go start on that laundry! Okay well bye. Go finish up that work if it's so important.” Yellow said with his mouth full of bacon. There was no way he was going to give that man any kind of affection, especially after that. Yellow wouldn't even do an awkward pat on the head. He just ate his bacon loudly and walked out of the kitchen.

Soon the father left the house and Yellow went into the closet to look for one of the outfits. Yellow knew that the household wouldn't let him wear something more masculine so he was stuck with the dresses in the cabinet. Yellow didn't mind wearing dresses, it was just the fact that those were the only options that made it wrong. He picked a white dress that was covered with green and yellow flowers. It was nice and light so yellow had no trouble putting it on. Yellow took out his pigtails but he knew he couldn't do his hair in another Style so he took a piece of cloth that was similar to the floral dress and tied it around his head. It felt a little awkward but he hoped it was feminine enough so the family wouldn't bother him about it.

At this point, Yellow was aware that he could spend forever like this and he needed not to grow attached to them. He already gave one of them a name and started to feel slightly comfortable. He had to find a way to get out of there before he grew complacent. If he could just get some time alone around the house that wasn't in the bedroom He could find some more pieces to help him escape. The first place he knew he should look for was the tree. And this time he actually had an idea of how he was going to get there alone.

Chapter Text

Yellow went back to the kitchen to see that no one put away their plates or cleaned up the crumbs off the floor. It wasn't like they were unaware of the mess either. Yellow looked at the twins sitting in front of the couch watching cartoons on top of pillows. Because the couch was covered in the crumbs of their cereal, they even left their dirty napkins and bowls on the coffee table.

   Terrence was sitting at the table finishing the last bacon pieces with lightly glazed syrup. Where Terrance got the syrup Yellow still has no idea and isn't in the mood to question anything. 

“Kids! Do any of you mind telling me what the problem in this room is?” Yellow said, crossing his arms. 

  “We aren't sure what you're talking about Mother,” Lily said confused 

“Yeah, Mummy. Sister and I don't know what the problem is.” Todney added on.

   “The problem is this place is a mess, a pigsty, and a buffet for any rats or other creatures to get in. So you kids have a choice to make. Either you clean up the kitchen and be decent people or let me drag you around the house and yell at you to clean it up.” Yellow said, tapping his foot.

The twins looked at each other as they pondered for a response. Yellow made himself look more impatient so they would hurry up. Right before Lily could say something Todney said his response. 

“But Mummy we only made a small mess and shouldn't you clean up your own mess?” Todney innocently asked as Lily facepalmed. Yellow knew Todney didn't mean anything offensive by it, but Yellow also knew that a toxic mom would take offense to that. And Yellow still had some steam to blow off from how the father treated him. 

“Excuse me, young man!” Yellow shouted, the twins knew they were in for it now.

  “What a rude thing to say to your mother. All I ask is that you do one small thing while I clean the rest of the house. But I'm sorry if that is still too much for you. We had a fun day yesterday. Was that just a ruse so that you guys have an excuse to be lazy?” Yellow was running out of things to say But then he looked at Lily and got an idea on what to say next. on what to say next. 

  “And you Lily. I understand this kind of behavior from your brother, but you. One day you'll have a husband and he wouldn't take kindly to a wife that doesn't do things when they're told to.” Yellow knew he was being a straight-up hypocrite and he could see their wonky eyes were filled with hurt. It made him feel very bad for them but he couldn't show that. 

“Just remember I am the parent and you are the children, you do as I say when you're told! Got it?” Yellow said enraged. 

  “We understand mother.” The twin said in unison, as they held their heads down. 

Yellow walked into the next room and when he could hear the sounds of the dishes being placed under water he let a few tears slip. Yellow had no idea where he got those words from. It felt like someone was reading off of a script and whispering the lines into his ear but he didn't know whose voice it was. 

He heard a door close to him slowly creak open. Yellow went to investigate when he saw it was the room that had the giant Family Tree in it. Yellow remembered why he wanted the twins to clean the kitchen. It was so we could slip in completely undetected. 

Yellow walked into the room and it looked the same when he first saw it. Pictures crossed out, broken up floorboards, and the light casting beams down to reflect all of the dust in the air.

Yellow looked up to see all of the fresh leaves still on the tree. Yellow was a little relieved that Red's blood was still holding the tree up. 

“Hello there ma'am. You look nice in that outfit.” The tree said much to Yellow surprise. 

   “Thanks, I guess. I was actually here to get some information.” Yellow said not sure if he could trust the tree just yet.

“Well if you want information on yourself I can't help you there. You don't have enough family history yet.” The tree said 

    “What do you mean? I'm the mom, shouldn't I have a pretty big history?” Yellow questions.

“Well you're the second mom and only been here for a few days. You don't even have a standalone photo, How do you expect me to have any history on you.” The tree answered almost like the question was obvious. 

     “Wait, a second Mom. But the way they talk to me they act like I always been their mother.” Yellow said rethinking all of the conversations he's had with them. 

“Well they can refer and talk to you however they please. My job is to give out facts. That means to me you are the second wife, the second mother, and this is the second time you've come in here.” The tree said. 

“So can you give me information on the First Mom?” Yellow asked.

    “Of course I can.” The tree said with a smirk. He rummaged around his leaves and branches to pull up a very old picture of a very old Victorian woman. 

“Here you go, is this the lady you're looking for?” The tree asked smugly. Yellow took one look at the picture and it was literally the first mom that was documented in the family tree. 

      “No not the very first mom. The mom before me.” Yellow said, realizing the tree was toying with him.

“I can but I don't know which mom you're talking about. You need to be more specific hun, There's a lot of moms before you.” The tree replied.

     “Well, then how can I be more specific?” Yellow said, starting to get fed up with the tree's tricks.

“You could tell me the name of the husband first.” The tree said 

   “The father,” Yellow responded. 

“Sorry sweetie that won't work, unless you are one of his kids that won't work.”

   “Well, you said you only cared about facts so how are you 100% sure I'm officially the second wife,” Yellow said. 

“It's simple I have your marriage certificate.” He said bringing down a piece of paper and holding it just above Yellow's head. 

      “I don't remember signing any papers,” Yellow said, trying to reach the paper that was just out of his grasp. 

“Sorry, but I'm not done using it yet. Come back in a couple of weeks when I have some history on you and I have fully gone over the papers.” The tree said yanking the paper up and putting it in his leaves.

      “Can I add anything to my history?” Yellow asked, perking The tree's interest. 

“Well of course you can hun. You can even take away pieces as well.” The tree responded. 

      “Can you stop calling me hun and sweetie please?” Yellow said politely 

“Of course you can pal! While we're on history would you like me to add that you have some distaste for your husband?” Tree said enthusiastically.

    “Will he ever come and check the files?” Yellow asked nervously.

“No not really. The last time they went through the files was just a couple of weeks before you showed up. I doubt they won't check the files for a while. So is that a yes on the distaste for your husband under your history?” The tree said 

   “Absolutely,” Yellow responded.

Yellow waved goodbye to the tree closing the door behind him. All Yellow would have to do now is get some names. He couldn't just go up to them and ask for their first and last names, that would be too suspicious.

And he couldn't wait a couple of weeks to look at the marriage certificate. Yellow was going to have to think fast about how he was going to get the information out of the tree and the family. 

Chapter Text

    Yellow walked out of the room and into the hallway. He stopped when he noticed the warm air by the window. It was open with golden raise beaming down on him, begging him to follow. Yellow towards the window but stopped when he felt a shadow looming over him.

   Before he could turn around he was picked up and held tightly. Terrence had scooped Yellow up and hugged him close to his body. 

“Mother, it's really chilly. the window was letting in a draft.” Lily said, closing the window. 

“Yeah Mummy, I don't want you to catch a cold because then you'll be too weak to make dinner and your voice will be too sore to order chicken,” Todney added.

  Yellow could feel Todney hug his leg. He couldn't even protest this because Terrence was hugging him so tight and squashed Yellow's head into his chest. Yellow was able to get a glimpse at Lily, she was closing the window. He noticed that she put a lock on the window as well to make sure it wouldn't be opened again and closed the curtains to get rid of that light.

      If only Yellow could have reacted faster, he could have simply hopped out of the window and ran home. The hug didn't even feel like a hug anymore; it felt like a weighted blanket. The moment he wiggled out of it, he would immediately get cold and want to go back in, no matter how much the blanket would crush him. 

When Terrence finally loosened, Yellow was able to breathe properly. He patted Terrence's shoulder so he could be put down.

“Hey calm down I'm still here I was just sweeping some leaves that got into the hallway,” Yellow said as he adjusted himself.

    “Mother, big brother was just cold and a hug never hurt anyone,” Lily said

“ I beg to differ, ” Yellow mumbled to himself. 

    “What was that Mummy?” Todney asked.

“Nothing! When's your father getting home?” Yellow responded.

    “In about 20 minutes mother, and I took the liberty of bringing out some chicken for you to cook,” Lily said.

Yellow walked into the kitchen and sure enough, the chicken was on the countertop and it was starting to fall. Yellow wasn't going to validate Lily for taking initiative, he was still playing favorites with Terrence. A clean pan was on the stove and there was a cutting board on the side all set up for him. Yellow has had chicken before and he did his best to remember what place he needed to cut and what bits were the fat.

He didn't know how to cook the chicken, though. He normally just eats it raw because it has no negative side effects on him. Yellow wondered if the family could eat raw meat but chose not to, but he was too scared to test that out. So, with all of the pieces cut, he put them in the pan and started cooking. 

   About 10 minutes went by and Yellow realized how inexperienced he was. He put the whole chicken leg in the pan and started to turn it every few seconds when he heard it make a noise. He didn't even wash the chicken and didn't throw away the bits he cut out and accidentally poured them in with the other bits.

   And when he thought he was done with a piece of chicken he cut it open a little bit only to see it was still pink on the inside. Yellow did put on an apron just in case anything went wrong. luckily the mess stayed on the counters and didn't go on to him. When he was handling a piece of chicken he accidentally burned his finger on the pan. It wasn't a bad burn but it did startle him and he went into the hallway to grab a Band-Aid. That's when he heard the door open. 

“Sweetie I'm home!” The father shouted 

   “Damnit,”  Yellow said to himself. 

“Hello! Where's my family at?” 

   “Hello, welcome back,” Yellow said, trying to sound enthusiastic.

  Yellow walked out of the hallway and stopped in the door frame. He smoothed out his apron which was white with ruffles at the end and adjusted his bandana. He had his hand with the burnt finger behind his back and gave an awkward wave and smile. The father looked at him like he was a valuable work of art and ran up to him with his arms open wide. This caught Yellow by surprise and he flinched. 

“Oh, honey you look so adorable like that!” The father yelled, squeezing Yellow. 

“Huh.” That was all yellow could say. The hug wasn't tight but Yellow wasn't comfortable with this kind of affection and tried to squirm away. 

“So cute! So cute! SOOO CUTE!” The father squealed as he gave Yellow a little kiss on his neck. “Just like our first anniversary.”

“Anniversary?” Yellow stopped squirming so we could listen.

“Yes sweetie, our anniversary was amazing. You did such a good job setting it up. I still remember the roses, the movies, and the cute little cards you would get me.” The father said, starting to pinch and squish Yellow cheeks. “I'm glad you changed dresses when I asked you to and maybe you could have done it sooner so I could spend more time hugging you because you're just so cute and adorable!” The father shouted. 

Yellow was trying to figure out how to get out. The sudden love bombing made him embarrassed. They tried to push away but the father thought that this was a game and hugged him harder saying more sappy things. Yellow was thinking about accepting his fate when he saw Terrence and the twins walk in which gave him a brilliant idea. 

“Hey guys, group hug!”

“Wait what?” The father said but it was too late.

Terrence and the twins had circled around yellow and the father. Terrence picked all four of them up and sat down on the ground. Since Yellow and the father were in different arms they were separated from each other and Lily and Todney were in between them happily hugging their parents. Yellow watched the father calm down. He thought about how he was going to get out of this one but then he remembered the chicken. 

“Hey guys do you smell something burning?” Yellow asked loud enough so everyone could hear. 

“Oh, I think I left the chicken in the oven. I better take it off before it gets completely burnt.” Yellow guy wiggled out of the group hug to run to the stove. 

Yellow moves the chicken around. He turned off the stove when he went to grab a band-Aid and when he looked at the chicken. It looked a little undercooked. The family didn't notice because they were setting up the table and grabbing their drinks. 

“You did a good job setting up the table, Terrence,” Yellow said, padding Terrence's arm. 

The chicken was placed down on the table and the family began to eat. Yellow had to look away because their faces opened up the same way they did the first night he was there. Yellow nibbled his chicken while the family devoured it.

   The father even put his chicken mask back on and when they were finished they would chant for a second course making Yellow stand up and grab the rest of the chicken. They ate the entire chicken in one sitting and they didn't even look tired. Yellow was shocked, he just finished his first serving and he looked over at Terrence to see some maple syrup poured on the chicken. Terrence poked Yellow's shoulder and held out a napkin. Yellow reluctantly grabs the napkin and wipes down his face. 

“Okay everyone, let's clear these dishes and start washing… them.”  Before Yellow could finish his sentence the family had already dashed away to do their activities. 

     Yellow cleared the table and put the dishes in the sink but it wasn't washing them. He was too drained for any more chores. He went into the bedroom and closed the door. Yellow thought about what the father said about the anniversary. Throwing an anniversary party would be the perfect way to get names without raising suspicion. The father seemed so enthusiastic about it so that's exactly what Yellow was going to give him. 

Chapter Text

Y'all better like this Chapter! 

   Yellow was trying to fall asleep but he felt something touching his hair. The rag he tied around his head was taken off and he felt a hand toying with his hair. It was the father. He wasn't admiring Yellow's hair, he was judging it. 

“Why did you ever cut your hair short? It was so pretty when it was long.” The father said 

  “Well I went to the salon and a short hairstyle was all the rage there,” Yellow said thinking of an excuse. 

“You don't go to the salon. Well not after you had kids. And I found out how much of my paycheck you spent there.” The father responded. 

Yellow realized he ticked off the father. Yellow had to reevaluate what he was saying and pick his words more carefully. 

   “Sorry, I meant I saw it in a magazine. I think I saw the magazine while watching TV or I got it from Lily's room,” Yellow said, continuing to pile on an extra lie. 

“You should at least take a shower and put in some shampoo. I had a conversation with you about  looking presentable this morning.”

  “Well maybe if you went to the store and bought some hair care products instead of greasy food then maybe I'll consider taking a shower over getting breakfast ready,” Yellow said, getting more fed up with the father. 

“Sweetie, if we needed  shampoo and conditioner you should have told me about it and I would have bought some.” The father said, starting to calm down. 

“So I guess if I was a worm you wouldn't love me. A bald slimy little worm that crawls around in the dirt. Is that what you think I am?” Yellow responded with anger. 

   “Oh, we are not starting this again.” The father turned off the light. “Good night honey.” The father sat down in the bed and turned away from Yellow. 

“Night,” Yellow responded by copying the father's actions.

Yellow laid in bed for a few minutes when he heard the father Shuffle closer to him and his hand moved closer to hold Yellow's hand. Yellow didn't fight this time so he opened his hand to let the father hold it. 

“I'm sorry I yelled at you.” The father whispered as he squeezed Yellow's hand lightly. It was clear he was half awake. 

 I hope you choke on a chicken bone. Was what Yellow wanted to say to the father but instead, he just squeezed the father's hand harder until he tried to let go. 

“A salon wouldn't be a bad anniversary gift,” Yellow said in a soft tone knowing that the father was practically asleep. 

The father mumbled something close to an agreement and inched away from Yellow as they both went to sleep. 

Chapter Text

   Yellow got up early. He was ready to start his plan, to set up an anniversary party. Yellow has seen black and white sitcoms and he knows a common trope used is that the husband will forget the anniversary. 

   Yellow was in the kitchen and was making pancakes. Most of them were regular circles but he made a few of them heart-shaped. Not for the father but for Terrence, Yellow was still playing favorites. If there were any chocolate chips or sprinkles yellow would use them but only for Terrance’s pancakes. 

Breakfast was done and the twins entered the kitchen. Once again their eyes had bags under them. It was clear they did not sleep well again. 

“Why do you both look so tired? It's a beautiful morning, you should be filled with energy.” Yellow said enthusiastically. 

  “Sorry mother. We heard you  and father squabbling last night and that made us nervous.” Lily said, rubbing her eye. 

“Were you two eavesdropping on our private conversation? Because that's very rude.” Yellow responded, wagging his finger in disapproval.

  “It's not our fault Mommy.We heard your voice get big and loud and Father's voice getting mean and scary.” Todney said.

Yellow was thinking of a response when Terrence walked in.

“Good morning Terrence, it looks like you slept wonderfully last night.” Yellow said, walking over to Terrence and hugging his arm. “Do you know if your father is still asleep?”

Terrence grunted and nodded his head.

“Good to hear. And thank you for checking in on that.”  Yellow gave Terrence a high five. 

   “All three of us checked on our father. In fact it was my idea to do so but since we heard you two fighting.” Lily said, trying to get some attention. 

“No one likes a credit hog Lily.” Yellow gave Terrence another hug. “Now come sit down and eat these delicious pancakes I made for all of you.”

Everyone was sitting down and eating their pancakes. Yellow looked over at Terrence to see how he liked his pancakes. He swore he saw  a small smile form on Terrence's face. Occasionally one of the twins would snatch something away from Terrence without asking.

It would be small things like napkins, or ,whipped cream, or orange juice. Terrence didn't even try to look to Yellow for help, he just accepted his fate and let the twins push him around. 

“Hey guys I have a little secret I need your help with.” Yellow said, to get everyone's attention. 

   “What's the secret mother?” Lily was enthusiastic to be included.

“Well I would like to throw an anniversary party for your father and I. And I need all three of you to do a special job for me. Are you up to the task?” Yellow leaned in and whispered.

   “Well do our best mommy.” Todney whispered back.

  “Great.I need all three of you to make anniversary cards for us and put your full name on it, and that includes your last name.You're old enough to know how to spell on your own right?” Yellow said, praying that they're spelling wasn't as bad when they spelled Family. 

   “Of course we can spell mother. Do you want us to draw anything on the card as well? I'm pretty good at drawing.” Lily said with confidence.

“Well most importantly I want your last names on the card, but I guess you can draw a few flowers, or cakes or something.” Yellow said, trying to undermine Lily's Talent. 

   “What are you all talking about?”

It was the father, he just entered the kitchen. All four of them began to playfully shush each other while giggling to themselves. 

“Nothing.” The twin said in unison while still giggling. 

The father noticed a heart-shaped pancake in the center of the table. He went to grab it when yellow slept away his hand. 

“That's not your pancake, that's his pancake.” Yellow pointed to Terrance who grabbed it and started to put more syrup on it. 

   “Well then where's mine?” The father said, a little disappointed.

“Right there, I picked it out specifically for you.” Yellow said, pointing at a plate with two slightly burnt pancakes.

  “Well at least you were thinking of me, I hope.” The father gulped anxiously

“I was,” Yellow said with a malicious grin.”

It was a very delightful breakfast. Lilly and Tony were happy. Terrence enjoyed getting his face wiped down by Yellow. 

  He still didn't know where Terrence was getting  the mysterious syrup coming from.  And the father was slowly eating his pancakes, it was clear he still felt sorry for the fight they had last night but Yellow paid no mind to him. 

“Well I'm off to the store now, and to run other errands. And don't worry sweetie, I'll be sure to pick up the shampoo and conditioner for you.” The father put his plate by the sink as an extra measure and waved goodbye. 

“Goodbye father.” The twins said in unison.

When the door closed all four of them returned to laughing.

“Did we do a good job keeping the secret Mommy?” Todney asked.

“You all sure did, but remember you need to do the secret and not just keep it.” Yellow winked, making Lily and Todney laugh even more. 

   Yellow was getting scared. This morning went a little too well and he wasn't sure how much of an act he was putting up. The thought that he was getting comfortable with Terrence and not just using him as a ploy to make Lily and Todney mad Yellow queasy.

   The one thing Yellow didn't want was to  play mother to their weird fantasy. Yellow's brain was practically torturing him by playing different scenarios about accepting his fate. He wanted to scream and punch every family member in the face, but he couldn't. 

Yellow wasn't scared about surviving the family life. He was scared about living the family life. 

Chapter Text

   After breakfast Yellow and the twins did the dishes. The twins didn't complain at all, probably because Yellow didn't yell at them for once. Yellow was determined to set up a good anniversary party, hoping that the father will trust him enough to let him go to a salon or somewhere outside.

   Yellow was so determined that a wave of ideas flooded him. The one thing he struggled with was the things that happened at an anniversary. He knew that an anniversary was like a birthday party but for two people and a bit quieter. 

   Do they both cook the meal or do they go out to a restaurant?Do they just drink wine all day or just at dinner? Is it supposed to be a secret and they both try and outdo each other? All of these questions surrounded Yellow's head. He wanted the anniversary party to go well. His Saving Grace came when he heard the TV being switched on. 

   The grandma had turned on the TV to a reality TV show about anniversaries. Yellow sat down on the opposite side of the couch from where grandma was. It was a little hard for Yellow to take seriously. The men felt like oblivious idiots and the woman fought over the dumbest things.

   Yellow and Duck have been in more meaningful fights compared to those petty women. When the ladies weren't being mean to each other they were being rude to their husbands. Yellow wondered if it was normal for married couples to be mean to each other.

   The couples had some moments where they were nice to each other but they were only doing that to make their anniversary party look better and to make the other women jealous. Was Yellow just like them? 

    Yellow didn't want to watch TV anymore. He already had enough ideas for his plan. In the bedroom Yellow was getting dressed. He put on a dark blue long sleeve dress that was very frilly. Yellow hat immediate regret when the dress felt very itchy. He wanted to take it off when he heard a knock at the door. 

“Hello Mother. Do you mind doing my hair?” Lily was holding a hairbrush and a headband. 

   “Lily, can you give me a minute? I need to do…Um.” Yellow turned his back on Lily. 

“Of course. Here let me help you.” Lily started to walk towards Yellow. 

   “Help me with what?” Yellow winch when he heard a  zipper go down his back, bringing the Itchy dress closer to him. 

“That dress looks very nice on you, mother. Now you're ready to do my hair. Hooray.” Lily dragged him towards the bed and sat down in front of his lap. 

   Yellow felt like he was trapped in an itchy straitjacket. He wanted to undo the zipper but since it was down his back he couldn't reach it. Yellow started to brush Lily's hair when he remembered something else. Mothers and fathers aren't really nice with kids' hair.

  He was already upset at Lily for locking him in a sensory nightmare so he took out his frustrations in her hair. Yellow did not hold back he made sure that every inch of her hair was brushed and when he got to the smallest knot he would yank the brush as hard as he could. 

“Ow! Mother that hurts.” Lily wined

   “Stop being so dramatic. I'm barely even touching you.” Yellow lied as he grabbed chunks of her hair like he was strangling the life out of it.

“Ow! Mother please. I think you're ripping out some of my hair.”

Yellow looked at the brush to see a lot of blonde hair pushed into it. “No I'm not!” He quickly grabbed some of the hair out and tossed it behind him. 

At this point Lily started to squirm and move around, desperate to get out of Yellow's grip. Yellow knew that this was enough and he turned the brush on its flat side and lightly hit her head. 

    “Stop moving around so much I'm about to do your hair. You act like I'm about to take out your scalp, calm down.” Yellow put the brush down and grab the rubber band. He didn't know the first thing about braiding hair so he just messed with it a little bit and wrapped the hair tie around the bottom part of her hair. 

“There we go you're done.” Yellow finally let Lily stand up to look at her hair. 

    “But mother, this isn't done well.” Lily almost sounded scared to  finish her sentence. 

“What do you mean? It's fine.” Yellow picked up the brush. “Unless you want to go for round two?”

   “No thank you, this is fine.” Lily scampered out of the room.

  Yellow was relieved that that was over when he realized he was still wearing the Itchy dress. He spent the next hour desperately trying to get that dress off. The sleeves were too tight to push up and when he tried scratching it only pushed the texture deeper into the skin.

  He tried to reach the zipper but it was very tiny and his arms couldn't move back that far for a long time. He grabbed the dress by the ends and started to pull it up. He felt exposed doing that. Eventually yellow started to claw in scratch at it, trying to rip the Frills off.

With enough talking he was able to rip it enough that he could squeeze out. Yellow immediately went to the other dress with the yellow and green flowers and put it back on.

He was so happy yet completely exhausted. The fabric felt calming but he still felt exposed because of how flowy it was. 

   Yellow wanted to be in a cozy little box with no outside sounds or lights. He felt very overstimulated and it didn't help that his mind was racing with thoughts and ideas, and that he got overwhelmed by them. Yellow grabbed a fuzzy brown blanket from the closet and laid it down on the floor.

   Then Yellow lay down on the edge of the blanket and grabbed its side. Yellow rolled over, taking the blanket with him until he rolled all the way under the bed. His body was now completely rolled up in the blanket and he grabbed a pillow to lay his head on. Yellow felt like a cozy burrito and he could feel his body relax.

  Yellow often did this at his old home. Sometimes everything gets too much for Yellow to handle. He didn't want people to be around him but he still wanted to feel close to something. If he wasn't under the bed he would go into the closet.

  He would always make sure to do it when he was alone. Not because he was embarrassed  by his methods of calming down. He did it when he was alone because having a person there would ruin the experience. This was his time to be alone. 

Yellow felt so relaxed that he ended up falling asleep. He still had more time to plan for the anniversary and he had enough ideas. For now it was time for him to take a break.

Chapter Text

Yellow was still napping underneath the bed. He didn't expect himself to fall asleep, but his exhaustion was able to overtake his fears on the Family. Yellow’s fear caught up with him in a dream. 

DREAM

The room was bright; both the walls and the tile were white. Yellow was standing by a bed with a lady holding a small bundle, and out pops a head. Yellow gets a closer look to see that it was an adorable baby. He thought the baby looked like a tool. But he couldn't remember, and it made him feel like a fool. The lady looked at the baby she would raise and started showering it in praise. 

“She is beautiful, kind, and Keen. She will work with us using the high-tech machine.”

Yellow listened to the babies' babbles and coos. So reached out his hand with nothing to lose. As much as Yellow wanted this moment to be nice. The baby bit down like a cat hunting mice. Yellow screamed and ran around, blood sprayed everywhere. But the lady and the baby didn't seem to care. Yellow let out a whale of Horror. But that just made them look even border. Yellow tripped and fell, his hands still bleeding out like hell. He was lying down in a puddle of red when he felt something pat his head.

He looked up and just to his luck, it was his old friends Red and Duck. 

   “What are you doing on that scratchy red rug? I could have squashed you like a pesky bug.” The Ducks spat.

“All right, you two, enough with that. We have a special present just for you.” He placed down the gift, that had a bow with a golden hue. 

  “What a cute wooden house, but wouldn't this be better for someone with a mouse?” Yellow looked around to see what was new. 

“Oh, you must be joking.” Duck started poking. “We are far too big, like an ox. To fit in, we must get inside our box.”

  “It's simple to find. Just look for the one with your name.”

Yellow looked around again and saw they all looked the same. Red and Duck were already gone, but Yellow wasn't alone for long. The father was standing in the corner with a big smile. Yellow parade to go back to the room with the white tile. Yellow started to get manic, which spiraled into a full panic. To his confusion, some boxes faded from his hands like an illusion. Yellow wanted to run but was stopped when he heard the fun. He looked down at the house that was well lit. If only he could find a box that would fit. He could hear everyone shout. 

“The party will end at 9:00!” 

Now Yellow was more afraid of being left behind. But the father walked closer to secure his doubt. 

“Why struggle in all of these chains when you know I'll always control your reins.”

End DREAM

Yellow slowly woke up, sweating and in a completely different room. The family was staring at him while Terrence stood by his side. Without saying a word, the father pushed the phone to Yellow. The twins gave him a pamphlet with Grolton's Family Deal.

“Stop staring at it mother. Hurry up and start dialing. I'm hungry.” Lily pointed at the number.

  “You guys want chicken again?” Yellow looked over to the father.

    “Sweetie, you look so cute sleeping under the bed. I couldn't wake you. I even tapped your nose, but you were out like a light. It was very precious.” The father said, sounding like he was teasing Yellow. “Eventually, big brother carried you out of the bedroom and in here. Seeing you all snuggled up in the blankets kind of made you look like…”

“A worm?” Yellow raised an eyebrow. 

  “Just hurry up and make the call. Make the call woman I'm hungry!” The father started chanting with the rest of the family.

Chapter Text

  At this point, Yellow had to act now. He couldn't fall asleep because he had spent the day napping and wasn't tired. The father had gone to sleep early, so that gave Yellow some time to talk to the twins about their cards.

  He picked inside of the twin's bedroom door to see if Lily and Todney were still awake. Lily was sitting on her bed rocking one of her baby dolls while talking and bashing together two toy army soldiers, giving them little commands on what to do next. Yellow rolled his eyes and went into their room without knocking. 

“Hey, kids. Are your cards done?”

   “Just about mother.” Lily chucked the doll on the floor to give her mother her undivided attention. 

“Great! Can I see them?”

   “You can't, Mommy. we hid them.” Todney tossed his toy soldiers to the toy box but missed. 

“Why did you hide them?” 

   “Because they're supposed to be a secret,” Lily responded.
“Well, did you at least put your last name on the card?” Yellow hoped he could get his answers quicker.

“That's the part we haven't done yet, Mommy,” Todney said.

    “What if Father went through our rooms and saw those cards? If it had  his last name on it, he would know that those cards are for him, and the surprise would be ruined.” Lily added.

“So when are you putting the names on the cards?” Yellow was getting frustrated.

   “When the anniversary is ready.” The twins said in unison.

“Fine. That's fine. You two can just head on to sleep. If I trip on your dumb doll’s head, I will throw it at you with full force. Good night.” Yellow shut the door. He had to get his anger out on them with another empty threat. 

Yellow started getting ready for the anniversary. He went into the bathroom and grabbed all of the toilet paper. He opened a small linen closet that had all the family board games and some arts and crafts.

   He grabbed the little crafts bucket and went back to the kitchen. He took the toilet paper and started to roll it around his hand until it looked like a flower, then he pressed in the center part to make it look like a rose. Yellow was making rose origami with toilet paper and used red and pink markers to tip the edges with dye. He grabbed the construction paper and started to cut it into thin champagne glasses that looked similar to the ones he saw on TV.

It was hard because he was working in the dark, but soon a light shined on the paper. 

Yellow thought the father had caught him, but he was relieved when he saw Terrence standing in the hallway, holding a flashlight in his hand. They looked at each other for a moment, then Yellow realized Terrence was trying to help.

Yellow whispered “thank you” to Terrence and moved his hand to let Terrence know to sit closer. 

They both sat at the table. Terrence continued holding the light while Yellow was making paper hearts, another basic craft. Trying to keep as quiet as possible, they didn't speak to each other. If something was too far away for Yellow to grab, he would point at it, and Terrence would get it for him. 

Yellow was curious if Terrence was able to speak. He can make some noise with Grunts and moans. His body language is very good at letting people know what he wants or needs, but no one ever seems to have a conversation with Terrence. He was very affectionate towards Yellow with all of his hugs but not with the rest of the family. Yellow had never seen Terrence hug his siblings or his father. The father doesn't even attempt to interact with Terrence one-on-one.

 Maybe a quiet life was the safest life for Terrence. 

Yellow was so caught up in his thoughts that when he went to grab a jar of buttons, he accidentally knocked it off of the table. The jar crashed down on the floor, and buttons poured out. Right when Yellow was about to react, Terrence covered Yellow's mouth. He turned off the flashlight, and they both stood there, completely frozen, waiting.

Fortunately, nobody woke up to investigate. Yellow looked at Terrence, ready for his hand to be removed from his mouth, but he was shocked when he saw that Terrence wasn't looking back at him. He was looking at the floor where the jar had broken. 

The jar had a little note attached on a string around the lid. Terrence had walked off to the kitchen while Yellow got a closer look at the note. It was a small white piece of paper with pink lace wrapped around its edges. When he flipped it over, there was a small note that read.

 “You'll be a great big brother!”

-Mom

Yellow didn't know what to do. The whole time he was here, he had been looking for evidence of the original mother, and the only thing he could find was a note wrapped around a button jar. Terrence had come back holding a dustpan and a broom with a depressed look on his face.

Terrence started to slowly sweep up the jar bit by bit, Yellow could almost hear a quiet sobbing noise coming from him. That's when Yellow realized that this was one of the few things left from the original Mother. When their mother disappeared, the father must have been Furious and probably threw everything away. And Terrence probably didn't have a say on what he got to keep.

The jar might not have been used for buttons, but he had to put it in a place where the father wouldn't find it, and the kid's arts and crafts closet. 

Yellow felt awful seeing Terrence throw away something that was very personal to him. Terrence got up with the jar in the dustpan and decided to walk to the trash. Yellow saw some of the light reflect through the broken glass and create colors on the wall. 

“Terrence, stop.” Yellow put his hand on the flashlight. “Look.” Yellow gestured towards the wall, and Terrence saw the little light show the glass was making. \

“Seeing that gave me a brilliant idea. You don't need to throw it away; give it to me, I'll make something out of it.”

Terrence walked away from the trash can and placed the dustpan in front of Yellow. He immediately got to work putting glue around the sharper tips and taking red yarn and tying the pieces together. 

“Hey Terrence, pass me some buttons on the floor. Pick whichever ones you want; I trust you.” Yellow said, pointing at the buttons on the floor. 

     Yellow spent another hour working on his project, making sure that Terrence's gift from his mother wouldn't go in vain.

Eventually, both Yellow and Terrence got really tired, and Yellow was practically done. Terrence noticed how tired Yellow was and picked him up. He carried him in the main bedroom and placed Yellow down on the bed. Not before giving Yellow one last hug. 

“Good night, Terrence. You've been such a great help lately.” Yellow laid down in the bed and started to fall asleep. He was glad that he was able to make decorations and also make an anniversary gift for the father. But Yellow was happy that Terrence could finally have something that he didn't need to get rid of. Yellow had made a friend and possibly an ally that can help the both of them escape. 

Chapter Text

Yellow was cozy under the covers when he felt something shake him awake. He opened his eyes to see that Terrence was gently trying to shake his body to not disturb the father who was still sleeping.

   “Morning, Terrence,” Yellow said, rubbing his eyes. “Why'd you wake me up so early?”
Terence held out a pocket watch to show Yellow the time. It was 7:40. That caused Yellow to panic.
   “Oh my goodness. Thanks for waking me up. I have to make breakfast before your father gets up. Can you help me?” Yellow through on a light pink robe to make sure the father didn't see him wearing the same dress as yesterday.

     Terrence looked at the father for a few seconds before nodding. Yellow and Terrence made their way into the kitchen. While Terrence got a fancy white tablecloth out of the closet, Yellow grabbed some leftover bacon.
He planned to make bacon and eggs and put them in the shape of a smiley face. Sure, it wasn't the most romantic breakfast, but it's still special.

    “Thanks for getting the table ready and cleaning it up from last night. Can you please help me with the eggs?” Yellow said, sliding a small bowl with two eggs to Terrance. “You don't have to worry about making it perfect. I'm sure with your father's standards, he wouldn't mind a shell or two.”

Yellow made sure that he grabbed the right bag of bacon when he looked over to see how Terrance was doing with the eggs. Terrence was able to crack the eggs with just one hand.

   “Wow. You're a lot better at this, and I thought.” Yellow said in amazement. “Where did you learn how to do that?” Yellow remembered when Red and Duck used to cook most of their meals, and how Red could barely crack an egg properly with both hands.
Terrence looked down and played with the straps of his suspenders.

“Well, whoever you learn from, you learned from the best.” Yellow gave him a warm smile as Terrence hugged them.

  After everything was ready, Yellow could hear the rest of the family get up for the day. The first to come down were the twins. They were wearing similar pajamas with matching fuzzy slippers.

It looks like they had the first good night's sleep since Yellow got here. Then the father came downstairs. He was dressed and ready for the day. All four of them sat down around the table as yellow brought in their food, placing down each plate. He saved the father's plate for last.

     “Here you go. I saved the best for last.” Yellow placed the bacon and eggs in front of the father. The bacon didn't turn out quite as Yellow as planned, and the yolks of the eggs were a little runny. The plate looked more like it was crying than smiling.
“Oh, thank you, sweetie.” The father was confused. “This looks delicious.” The father was looking at it up and down, checking if it was poisonous.

Yellow was a little embarrassed at how breakfast turned out. For once, he was trying to do something nice that wasn't the bare minimum or passive-aggressive.

    “I'm sorry if it looks bad.” Yellow apologized. “It was supposed to be a smiley face, not a crying face.”
“Sweetie, it's fine.” The father grabbed his fork and stuck a mouthful of bacon and eggs in his mouth. “I even think it's kind of…” The father was cut off by Yellow.
    “I just wanted to start off the day with something special for the special day.” Yellow interrupted.
The father choked on the bacon. “Special day?”
    “Yes, special day. I even made you a gift myself. But it's probably not as good as your gift.” Yellow said dramatically.
“Well, I'm sure that's not the case. Well, I'm just going to go to work early today.” The father ran over to his bag. “You know, lots of paperwork just piles up on you when you least expect it. Okay, bye, sweetheart.” The father rushed out the door, forgetting to fix his tie.
    “Idiot,” Yellow mumbled to himself.
“What was that, mother?”
    “Nothing, Lily. Now finish your breakfast.” Yellow said.
“We did, Mother. You just gave us bread.” Lily responded.
     “Well, you better clean up your dishes before I make you toast, and not the breakfast kind.” Yellow threatens them.
“Okay, Mummy.” Todney grabbed the dishes as Lily followed in silence.

The twins did the dishes while Yellow and Terrance got to start on the laundry. Terrence had managed to spill more mysterious Brown syrup on the tablecloth, and Yellow wanted to reuse that for the anniversary party. That was done, and Yellow had everyone lined up.

“Okay, everyone!” Yellow announced. “Today is our anniversary, and I want this house sparkling clean. That means no roughhousing, lollygagging, or slacking on the job. Do I make myself clear?”
     “Yes, mother, but one thing,” Lily said
“Go on, you can say it,” Yellow said in a calm tone.

“Why are you so focused on getting the whole house clean? Isn't this your anniversary? Shouldn't you just set up that?” Lily almost sounded scared saying that sentence. Todney nodded in agreement.

“Excuse me. Your father spends his whole day working, so the least we can do is have him come home to a clean house.” Yellow was still wearing the pink robe.

“Sorry, mother.” Lily grabbed Todney's hand. “We’ll start cleaning.” Lily and Todney walk to the broom closet.

    “Good! Because of the time it took me to explain that to you, we lost valuable seconds on cleaning. Now your father is even closer to getting home.” Yellow shouted. “I still need to take a shower in a bathtub that needs to be cleaned by you, too.”
Yellow stormed off to the other room, leaving Terrence to do a random chore of his choosing.

    He walked into the bedroom and grabbed the plastic bag with the shampoo in it. It was a cheap brand and looked like it was branded towards kids. Yellow bet the father wasn't used to buying his wife any hygiene products, no matter how personal it was. He laied down on the bed and waited to hear Lily and Todney scrub away in the bathroom.

This anniversary plan had better work.

Chapter Text

While Yellow was in the shower, he ensured he wasn't putting in too much shampoo. He wanted his hair to smell good, but he didn't want to make it nice and soft. Yellow would rather have the father complain about his hair than complement it.

     He remembered seeing a hat on top of the dresser, so maybe he could wear that, instead of having Lily and Todney do his hair again. Yellow got under the shower and washed off. When he touched his hair, he felt some bubbles left behind from the shampoo. 

“Dang it,” Yellow said, realizing that he didn't wash all the shampoo out of his hair. 

  There were only two options. Option one involves him getting back in the shower, getting his whole body wet again. And option two, he would stick his head in the old sink that had crusted bits of toothpaste in it.

...

Yellow went for the sink. 

When yellow was finished using the sink, he put on a long, light pink dress with ruffles at the ends of the sleeves. It felt pretty similar to a nightgown, but Yellow threw on an apron to make it less obvious. 

    Yellow walked out into the hallway and looked at the grandfather clock. It was 3:00, and the father would be home at 5:00. He had no idea so much time had passed. He looked over at the twins, and they were a mess.

     There was dirt all over their face and clothes, muddy footprints had been tracked inside the house, and on the table, there were flowers. Yellow looks back at the twins to see them sitting there watching cartoons, completely oblivious to the mess around them. 

“What happened?” Yellow got the twins' attention. “I was gone for a while, getting myself clean. How did you two manage to get so dirty?”

    “Hello, Mother,” Lily said. “Todney and I were excited for your anniversary party, so we went out to the garden and picked you some flowers.”

  “But the really pretty flowers were in the back,” Todney added. “And our boots were so big that if we went in there, we would have stepped on the other flowers, so we had to go back inside to get her regular shoes. Mummy, don't you think these flowers are beautiful?”

“Well, the flowers might be beautiful but the mess you made isn't,” Yellow responded. “You guys got to help me clean the house, NOW!” 

Lilly and Todney immediately sat up and turned off the TV. They ran to the closet and pulled out a mop, a broom, and a bucket. Yellow had a vacuum, and they were ready to clean the house. 

3:05

“We've got to clean the house now!” Yellow yelled. “I want these floors so shiny you can mistake them for ice skating rinks.”

“On it, mother,” Lily said, holding the mop. 

3:12

“Someone needs to  dust these pictures immediately.”

“Okay, Mummy.” Todney grabbed a feather duster. 

“Oh my Malcolm, these pictures are so dusty that someone would get an asthma attack just looking at them. And the same thing goes for the hallway. Lily, get on that!” Yellow shouted. 

3:31

“Terrence, would you please be a dear and put the seashells on the door knobs.” Yellow hands Terrence a box with decorative seashells in it. Yellow looks over to see something on the ground. 

“Would you look at that, a pair of shoes, and from your father,” Yellow frowns. “Why am I not surprised?”

3:47

“Todney, this is a hand towel. We need a dish towel.” Yellow points to the oven where the towel is. “And why does it have a pumpkin on it. What part of an anniversary screams pumpkins?” Yellow through the towel to the ground. “If I don't see you a dish towel with a heart, I will rip you apar-!” 

4:00

Yellow was wiping off some photos in the hallway when he heard a loud crash. “Whatever just broke better be, because YOU WERE CLEANING IT!” 

4:14

“Oh, would you look at that, another pair of your father's shoes just lying out in the open,” Yellow looked at the twins. “Don't grow up to be like your father.”

4:23

Yellow grabbed a box filled with candles and a lighter. “Lily, I need you to light every candle on this box,” Yellow said, giving Lily the box. “Put the flower-scented ones in the living room, the food-scented ones in the kitchen, and everything else in the bedroom. If I see you, Lilac Mist, next to Gingerbread Village, I will take the batteries out of the smoke alarm.”

4:30

Yellow walked into the living room to see Lily and Todney sitting on the couch. They looked exhausted. “I would love to hear the reason why the vacuuming isn't done yet.”

“Sorry, mother, when we saw you with the vacuum, we thought you were going to do that,” Lily said. This was true, Yellow had started vacuuming, but it didn't finish.

“So you just expect me to do everything. Well, fine then, sit there and be lazy,” Yellow plugged in the vacuum. “No one ever helps me anyways,” Yellow mumbled, causing the twins to give him a look of guilt 

“And why aren't these pillows fluffed?”

4:50

Yellow was fixing up small details in the house. Rapid thoughts flew around his head. Should I throw down rose petals? No that would be way too romantic. Maybe I should dim the lights, it's already brought enough in here with all the candles. Yellow could smell all the different candles. Maybe I added too much. Yellow walked past spring Daisy and Autumn Leaves as both smells fought for control in Yellow's nose. Maybe this was all just too much for Yellow. 

While Yellow was putting away the cleaning supplies, he heard the sound of a car pulling up in the driveway. Yellow's blood went cold. Every step the father took felt like a giant stomping towards him. 

“Lily, Todney, Terrence. Get in here now, your father's home.” Yellow watched all of them flood into the front room. The Twins were holding their anniversary cards. Yellow was able to breathe knowing that the cards were ready. He was wearing the same white dress with green and yellow flowers. The present, Yellow, made with Terrance the night before, was wrapped up and on the table next to the flowers that were in a vase. Everything was set up perfectly for the anniversary party. The father opened the door.

   He was holding a box in one hand and some flowers in the other. 

“Happy anniversary!” Everyone shared while Terrence clapped his hands.

“You did all of this for me? Thank you. Thank you very much.” The father went to hug Yellow. Yellow gestured for the rest of the family to join in to make sure the hugs stayed platonic. 

“Well, come on then, we don't got all night,” Yellow said. “Let's go to the table and open our presents and read our cards.”

“That sounds nice and all, but aren't we going to eat first?” The father said. 

In the time they spent cleaning up the place, Yellow completely forgot about the meal. Yellow panicked. The closest thing there was to a traditional anniversary was the paper cutouts of champagne glasses crudely hung up on the walls. Did Yellow just ruin his own plan? 

He was about to give up when he saw the father push the phone towards him. 

“Well, go on, sweetie,” The father said. “We're all waiting for you to make the call.”

“We are having fast food as our anniversary dinner?” Yellow was confused. 

“Of course we are, it's their final day of doing the family discount.”

“The final day?” Yellow said. 

Yellow started to dial the phone, thinking about what the father said. If it were really the final day, then that would mean that the family would have no use for him. They only needed him so they could qualify for the family deal, but now that's done, well, they set him free? Every dial on the phone made him think of his freedom. 

Finally, the call was finished, and Yellow could practically smell freedom. It was either freedom or Vanilla Honeydrop; either way, it smelled good.

“So, since this is the last day of the family deal, you won't be so reliant on a mother now. Right?” Yellow asked

“Oh, heavens no, sweetheart. After this family deal, other restaurants in the area are also doing the family deal. From pizzas, tacos, and Chinese takeouts, we will need you to complete the family deal,” The father said.

“At this rate, we will need you forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever.”

Yellow completely spaced out. He wasn't being freed after all. Every restaurant felt like another chain holding him down and those anniversary cards were the key to get out of here. 

Chapter Text

    Once the food arrived, the family immediately grabbed pieces of chicken to eat as fast as they could so they could grab another one. For once, Yellow was in the mood to eat as fast as the family. He wanted to open those cards to see the last name and finally get information from the tree.

The only problem was the father, he was eating really slowly. He was cutting the chicken off the bone and using a fork to eat it instead of his hands. At one point, the father put one hand over Yellow's plate and started dragging the plate closer to him. 

“Hey, I'm trying to eat that,” Yellow spat out, still determined to devour as much chicken as fast as possible. 

“Oh darling, don't you know that the best part of an anniversary is when the husband and wife share a plate and feed each other the food.”

“Since when?” Yellow looked at the rest of the family, hoping they would back him up. 

“It's always been a family tradition.” Lily chimed. 

“I agree, Lily,” Todney said. “When mummies and dads get together to do something romantic like that, it builds the strength for the whole family.” 

“Plus, mother, you worked very hard today to get the house nice and clean for father. Don't you think you deserve a break?” Lily said 

Yellow realized he wasn't going to win this argument. “Okay fine!” There was only one chicken leg left on his plate, so he knew this would be over very soon.

The father went first, he cut off a piece of the chicken and moved the fork closer to Yellow. He quickly bit off the piece of chicken like a shark on the hunt and quickly devoured it. When it was Yellow's turn to feed the father, he noticed his eyes were closed and his mouth was open, saying “ahhh”.  Yellow quickly shut up the father by shoving the chicken in his mouth, almost causing the father to choke on it. Yellow had a look of discomfort, and Malice was reflected in his eyes; he wasn't enjoying this one bit.

Once the final piece of chicken was fed to Yellow, the meal was over, and the whole family made their way to the couch to watch a movie. 

Yellow took this opportunity to grab a few blankets to wrap himself in and sit at the edge of the couch so the father couldn't hold his hand. Yellow didn't know how he was going to keep the father away from him until Terrence stepped in and sat next to Yellow, blocking him off from the father. Yellow and Terrance looked at each other and gave one another a small nod of approval. Terrence was helping him. 

The movie they watched was another home movie. It looked like a party with white streamers, balloons, and decorations lined around a dance floor. It was hard to tell what was going on in the film. It looked like two people were dancing, but one of the people was blurred, and whenever they spoke, the audio would become fuzzy and distorted, unable to pick up on the words the person was saying.

  He could tell the blurred-out person was a woman based on what she was wearing, it looked like a big, puffy white dress that matched the decorations. Yellow had no idea how long the movie would go for, and he couldn't fall asleep because if he did, he wouldn't be able to sneak out at night and talk to the tree. 

While Yellow was trying to figure out how to get out without passing out, he looked over at Terrence, who stretched out his arm and started to yawn. But Terrence wasn't yawning normally. No noise escaped his mouth, and the eye that was facing Yellow was open, constantly looking back at him and back at his own arm. Yellow realized that Terrence was trying to get him to copy his actions by pretending to yawn. So Yellow stretched out his arms as far as he could reach and tried to make his yawns as notable as possible. Until the father got notice of Yellow's pretend drowsiness. 

“Darling, are you starting to get tired?” The father asked.

  “Sorry, sweetheart, I had a pretty long day, and I don't think I can make it through this video without falling asleep,” Yellow said.

“That's quite all right, darling. The video only goes on for another 2 hours, but I guess if you're tired, I can make an exception this time.” The father grabbed the remote to turn off the TV. 

   Once the family turned off their lights and settled down to go to sleep, that's when yellow quietly slipped out of bed and tiptoed his way out of the room. He made his way into the kitchen and used the reflection from a piece of glass he had used from the broken jar as a flashlight to read the cards. He opened it up and found a first name and a last name for the father. 

“Keith Rat-eyes”

Rat-eyes? What kind of a last name is Rat-eyes? Maybe it could work for a computer password, but not someone's last name. Yellow didn't have all the time in the world to judge the idiotic last name; he just had to go to the tree and hope for the best. He made his way to the room with the family tree. Yellow was startled when he heard snoring coming from inside, but was relieved when he realized it was just the tree sleeping. Yellow walked up to the tree and knocked on its stump to wake him up. Thankfully, he woke up.

“Hey, what's going on?” The tree looked down to see Yellow standing there. “Hi there, buddy, don't you know what time it is? Shouldn't you be in bed with your husband or comforting your children from nightmares?” The tree said in a stern tone. 

“I'm here to look up the file for Keith Rat-eyes.”

“Wow, a first and last name, I'm impressed,” The tree said, ruffling his leaves around. “Here's the file that you're looking for.” The tree lifted down a file that had papers inside it. 

Yellow opened the file, and sure enough, Keith was there. As Yellow was looking down the file, he noticed that Lily and Todney were marked as his children. The grandmother was listed as his mother, and Yellow even found remnants of the original wife. Of course, her picture was a violently scratched out, and the little information under her was damaged to the point where Yellow could not properly read it. The whole family was there except for Terrance. 

“Hey, tree guy,” Yellow got the tree's attention. “Where is Terrence?”

“Who is Terrence?” The tree asked. 

Yellow remembered that Terrence was only a nickname and not the older brother's name. 

“Forget that. Can you get me the file for Mrs. Rat-eyes?” Yellow requested. 

“Yes, I can do that.” The tree ruffled his leaves, and there was a branch with another file down to Yellow. 

Yellow picked up the file and opened it. It had similar information to the father, but something was different. Lily and Todney were listed under the woman's profile as her children, and Yellow found it on Terrence's profile there, too. But instead of saying it was her child, it said something else. Underneath TERENCE's profile, it said in crude letters:

“Bastard child!”

Chapter Text

“Bastard child,” But that didn't make any sense. A family that held their value so close to them would never have a child before marriage. 

Yellow looked over the file and noticed the lines that connected Lily and Todney’s names to their fathers. The Only Name That Wasn't connected to the father in any way was Terrence. Yellow used his finger to follow the line from Terrence's name to the edge of the paper. 

“How does the line just end in nowhere?” Yellow said. The tree said nothing but looked away. 

Yellow looked back at the paper and noticed something weird about the edge, it felt thicker. He moved it around and his hands and realized that there was a fold. Yellow unfolded the piece of paper, and the line connected to an image of a man yellow didn't recognize, but underneath the picture, it said the name “Humphrey Rat-eyes”.

“Who is Humphrey Rat-eyes, and why is he connected to Terrence?” Yellow said.

“I knew you were going to ask that question, so I went ahead and got his file for you.” The tree passes the file down with one of his branches to Yellow.  

   Humphreys' file was heavy compared to the other files. Yellow opened it up to see it was filled with pages of writing in cursive. Cursive? Yellow thought to himself, then he realized what kind of paper he was looking at. Someone put a diary entry in Humphrey's file. 

“But why would someone put something like this in there?” Yellow ask the tree. 

“Why don't you read it,” The tree said. “Maybe someone had something important to get off their chest.

Yellow sat down by the tree and started reading. He looked at the top of the page to see the name and the date were scratched off but he could tell the pages were old but they had been touched recently due to the lack of dust on them. 

“Ever since I was a teenager, my parents had been getting me ready for my wedding day. They had told me such wonderful things about the men I would be engaged with, how handsome, how kind, and he had the same dream of owning two children just like me. We only met each other one month before the ceremony and when I saw him, my eyes lit up. He was truly everything my parents described. Handsome, chivalrous, and tall.”

“Tall?” Yellow said, “Since when was Keith tall?” Yellow asks the tree. 

“I don't know. But keep reading, you're in for a shock.” The tree and Yellow both gave each other a look, like two giddy girls at a sleepover. Yellow continued to read. 

      “I walked up to him, he was wearing a very sleek and dashing suit. It was clear he wanted to make a wonderful first impression on me. He seems so polite and wonderful, as we were talking, my parents pulled me aside and asked me if my future husband yet. I told them I did, and I pointed to him from across the room at a long table covered in food. My parents are confused, and they pointed to someone else who was across the table. The person they were pointing at looks like a young boy, his face had chocolate and cheese stains on it, and his suit looked like it hadn't been washed and over a year. Was he even old enough for marriage?”

“I ask myself that same question every day.” Yellow chuckled 

     “I walked over to him, He was finishing a chocolate-covered strawberry that was slowly placed in the chocolate fountain. When we were talking, he was decent enough to compliment my outfit and say nice things about my family, but he didn't seem interested in anything else about me. At one point, he noticed that they were all out of strawberries and threw a mini fit and walked over to the kitchen to demand more. That's when I slipped away and went back to talking to Humphrey. Once the party was over, I started writing to both of them. My letters to Humphrey were a lot longer than my letters to Keith. Whenever I would write to Keith, I would talk about our wedding plans, and he would send back ideas for how pretty I should look and what foods (that were his favorite) should be in the banquet. When I would write to Humphrey, I would tell him about my day, how I felt, and my concerns for the wedding. He would respond with letters of reassurance and poetry to help take my mind off his brother. I do admit that I felt sorry for Keith sometimes. I was betrothed to him, and it's my womanly duty to love him and care for him and be a good wife to him, but that was something that grew harder and harder every day. I wish so desperately that I could love him the way he loves me, but that task became far too daunting. So when the families met again, I went to Humphrey to tell him all of my woes. It was easier to love Humphrey, but that love made me feel an awful lot of guilt. We were in the bedroom together and Humphrey promised me at night that he would take away all of my worries, and boy did he fulfill on that promise.” 

Yellow didn't want to turn the page out of concern. “Ummm… There isn't anything inappropriate on the next page, is there?”

“Don't worry,” The tree said. “Those pages have been removed and properly disposed of.”

“Thank Malcolm.” Yellow turned the page. 

“And here I thought you wanted all the details.” The tree gave Yellow the side eye. 

“Just shut up and let me get back to the story.” Yellow realized the tree was teasing him once again.

     “After that wonderful night of passion, I could sleep that night guilt-free until the next morning came around. Thankfully, no one caught me gallivanting around Humphrey's room, and no one caught Humphrey with his secret mistress (me). I was still worried that Keith would find out. Luckily, Keith was too busy gushing over how cute I looked in my floral dresses to notice my wandering gaze towards his brother. The night before the wedding, I threw up. Everyone around me chalked it up to me just being nervous about the wedding, but a little voice in the back of my head kept telling me it was something more. The day of the wedding was perfect, and everything went as planned. So I assumed that my little episode last night was simply from stress, and went back to the dance floor with my new husband. 3 months later, I realized I was pregnant, both Keith and I were so happy, but then that little voice returned to the back of my head. The little voice that would make me long for Humphrey's tender embrace, but at the same time, filled me with an immense amount of guilt. I never told Keith about my feelings, how could I? He was far too exhausted from his day at work, and however tired I was, I still needed to provide dinner on the table. The baby came sooner than Keith expected, but he didn't care; he was just happy to be one step closer to having the perfect family. But something was off about Keith's treatment of the first child. He's still my baby boy, and I love him even if I know he's not our child; he's Humphries' biological son.”

   That was written on the final page. Yellow's mouth opened in shock. This made a lot of sense to Yellow. Terrence isn't just a bastard child, he isn't even the son of Keith. The wife cheated on Keith with his own brother. 

“Oh my Malcolm, that explains a lot!” Yellow shouted, “That's why Terrence is getting mistreated, that's why Terrence is so quiet, and this explains why Terrence is so tall compared to everyone else.”

“You're telling me all of this like I don't already know it.” The tree said, unamused with Yellow's revelation.

“I'm sorry, but all of those thoughts just couldn't stay in my head; someone had to hear them.”

“I understand that. But are you sure you got the people who you wouldn't want to hear  your thoughts?”

“What do you mean by that?” Yellow stopped talking when he heard a familiar tune.

“Flalalalala”  

   Upon hearing that tune, Yellow's body swayed around desperately clinging to consciousness before he gave way to his own slumber and fell to the floor with a violent thud. 

  Lily, Todney, and Keith walked in and dragged Yellow out of the room. Before they could walk out, Keith picked up the file that Yellow was holding. He took one good look at it before throwing it to the ground and stomping on it.

     “You think you can use dirt on my family to convince yourself to leave? Well, two can play at this game,” Keith kneels down to Yellow's unconscious body. “Because I have some dirt on you that would convince you to stay in a heartbeat.” Keith was holding up a file with Yellow's name on it. 

Chapter Text

    Yellow's mind and body refuse to cooperate with one another. His eyes but occasionally open to see you flashing lights before quickly retreating back into the darkness. He wasn't sure if he was looking at something from reality or if it was only a dream he had between moments of consciousness. His body would twitch and move, trying to stay physically aware of where he was, but if he moved too much, he heard Todney sing again, and he lost all of the progress he had made on moving his body. 

     Once he finally won the battle and regained consciousness, he found himself in a similar situation to when the twins first caught him. His whole body was tied to the chair as opposed to just his hands. He was wearing a large sun hat, held together by a string that tied into a bow under his chin. The string wrapped around his mouth, preventing him from shouting. He was wearing a different dress as well. It had a lot more Frills and Ruffles and was covered with different embroidered flowers. 

     Yellow looked around the best he could to see for an exit, but all he could see was the door in front of him. The door handle started to jiggle and opened up to the dark hallway as Lily, Todney, and the father walked in. The father got really close to Yellow and raised his right hand.

 Yellow flinched right before being blinded by a light on top of him. The father grabbed the beaded string and tugged on it to turn on a small overhead light to illuminate the room. 

Yellow noticed that in the father's left hand were two files. One of them was clearly the file Yellow read about the wife's affair, but he had no idea what could possibly be in the second file. He dared not ask about the file.

“Good morning, honey,” The father cleared his throat. “Or should I say good evening. Why, it seems, are beautiful children's song really put you out?”

“I sing only the best for my mummy,” Todney said.

Yellow tried to speak, but the lace around his mouth turned his words into incoherent mumbles. The father looks at Yellow's failed attempts to speak and smiles.

“Now, dear, you're probably wondering why you're here, but I think it's obvious. You were sticking your nose in the places it wasn't supposed to be.” The father said, repeatedly tapping Yellow's nose in between every word. 

“The family tree room is only meant for the whole document, so we can remember what family members gave us what, or to see if they're alive or dead,” Lily said 

“She's right you know,” The father said. “The only one who  should have full control over the documents  is the man of the house, me, the husband .”

“When Mummy and Daddy grow old together and I become Man of the House, I will get to see all of the documents I want,” Todney said as his father pats him on the head. 

     Yellow shivered at the thought of growing old with the family. Dying, not being remembered as Yellow, but being remembered only as Keith's wife. The father pulls the lace away from Yellow's mouth. Yellow is able to take a deep breath but still doesn't talk for fear of getting his mouth laced up again. 

“You really don't think I haven't noticed you've been sneaking around the house lately?” The father said. “Now that you know about the Family secret, I think it's time we let you in on one more secret. We've known everything about you.”

    Keith threw down the file and poured out dozens of photos and documents around Yellow's feet. They were all pictures of him and documents he signed with his name. Pictures of him and his friends. An Application document with his name on it. But what surprised Yellow the most was an image of him in a black suit standing next to a wrench in a white wedding dress. That's when he realized who he was looking at. 

   “I know about your old job and the little wife and family you had. It honestly looked like such a sweet life to have; it's a shame that you had to let go of it in such a cruel way,” Keith said, trying to sound sympathetic. “I pity you. No one deserves to have their family torn apart in such a sad way. Everyone deserves a loving family together that will never leave them.”

“What do you want from me?” Yellow finally worked up the nerve to speak. 

“I don't want anything from you personally,” Keith said. “This is more of an opportunity for you.”

“How was this in any way an opportunity for me?”

Lily and Todney put their hands on Yellow’s shoulders, making him flinch. 

   “It's a chance for you to have a real family again!” Keith said. “You must have been so heartbroken to return back home all alone, knowing that you spent decades of your life working so hard on the perfect family, only for it to be taken away in just a moment. But if you stay with us, we can help that pain go away.”

   The twins started to hug Yellow in a tight embrace. “Mummia's had such a sad life all alone with those two weirdos,” Todney said. “We get to have our new forever Mommy, and you get to have your new forever family forever. No hard thinking required,”  Lily added. 

   Yellow was in shock. He didn't know what to think. All this time, they knew so much about him and acted like they'd known him for so long. Memories of his old work life started to pour in. He remembers meeting Claire for the first time. How beautiful she looked in her wedding dress. Holding his daughter when she was just a newborn baby and naming her Janet. His feelings were so intense that tears started to pour out of his eyes. He missed his family so much. How could he forget those important memories? 

   “It really is your choice. We've done all the hard work of building a family, and you are the final piece. We don't need any more children or employed family members, so all you really need to do is make those phone calls for our food and wear those cute flower dresses that I… YOU love so much.” Keith said. “And with the money we'll save with all these family discounts, we will be able to save enough money to move up to a higher social class. You'll be living a better life than you were with those other ones and your old family combined.” Keith said as Yellow stayed silent. 

Keith realized that Yellow was crying and cracked a more malicious smile. 

“Kids, why don't you head out to the dining room? I think I left some fresh fruit there for you to snack on,” Keith said. 

“Okay, father.” The twins said. 

Lily and todney ran out of the room, leaving just Keith and Yellow. 

 “I can tell you still need some time to think, but that's okay,” Keith said, waiting for Lily and Todney to be out of earshot. 

  “You're going to stay here whether you like it or not,” Keith said, losing his sympathetic tone. “You need a family to function. The other ones weren't giving it to you, and the old one has disappeared. My kids need a mother. Do you seriously expect a father to do all of the housework and Parenting by myself?” 

Keith walked out of the small room and was about to close the door before he had one more thing to say to Yellow that would leave him devastated.

“One more thing, don't even think about asking the boy for help. He's not going to save you anytime soon.” Keith said, leaving Yellow alone in the room. 

Yellow didn't know what to do. So we just did the only thing he could do in that situation. He started to cry loudly because he knew if he didn't escape, this would be the last time he would be able to shriek whale before spending the rest of his life crying in silence. 

Chapter Text

Hi, I'm the writer of this story. I'm so glad that so many of you guys love my story and all the other stories I've written, so I thought you guys deserve to know a little bit about me. It'll be the perfect buffer for the last three chapters of the story because, believe me, they're Wild. 

   Here's a little bit of info about who I am. I have ADHD, dyslexia, and Sensory Processing Disorder, and I'm currently getting diagnosed for OCD and autism. I'm asexual and bisexual, which means I like men and women, but I prefer that they keep their clothes on in the relationship. For my last two years of high school, I've been taking college classes, and I used to volunteer at a daycare and kindergarten before I got my first job working at Hot Topic. My main goal in life is to become an occupational therapist and help children who are neurodivergent, just like me. 

Todney's role was going to be a bit more active. He was originally going to be a big mama's boy and always try to win over Yellow's motherly affection, but I  wanted to give Terrance more attention.

Another thing I wanted to do with Tondey was have a running gag where he kept wetting the bed, but I thought that would be too mean 

I wanted to add images to the story, but I have no idea how to add images. You can't pull an image straight from your file you have to open up your drive and then copy and paste and then the image isn't even show up at all so that sucks. 

  Yellow's sassy moments were inspired by skits I've seen from Brandon Rogers and Daz Black's side rants. Most of my research I did was watching video compilations of toxic parent TikTok. While Yellow's Mom Persona isn’t inspired by my own mom, the father is inspired by my dad. Not completely. If he were there would be a scene where Yellow would be complaining that he has a stomach ache, and the father would say, “Your diet is terrible, you should try being vegan.” (Yes, that is something my dad actually said to me while I was complaining about menstrual cramps) 

   In the chapter “Crispy Beef and Fuzzy Bacon”. The scene where there was a dead hamster in the bag was inspired by a real story from my best friend, where the exact thing happened with his Mother. 

   The chapter where we learned about the original mother, and the idea to have it be told in a diary entry, was actually my mom's idea. Thank you, Mom :)

  I wanted to make it super apparent that the father doesn't have any romantic feelings towards Yellow. That's why I gave him the flower obsession. He's more obsessed with status and saving money. 

   Yellow guy’s age. I'm not touching that argument with a 10-foot pole. He's whatever age he needs to be to serve the story. Every time I write yellow in a story, I write it differently. I'm being serious, compare the Yellow to this story to a yellow in any other story I write, he's a completely different character, but you can still tell it's him. I don't see him as an adult nor do I see him as a child. I've seen so many people go back and forth, but I just don't care. If you think it's a child, that's fine. If you think he's 38, that's all so fine. I think it's funny how no other character gets this treatment. I've seen Duck be portrayed as an Old Man and Red be betrayed like he's in his early twenties, and I've seen some people betray them to be similar ages, and no one seems to dogpile them the comments about how old they should be. 

Dumb and angsty ideas:

“What's my darkest AU?” I have a few of them. And feel free to write about these ideas if you want to, because I don't plan to use them anytime soon. : 

Yellow resorts to cannibalism to get rid of the family. This one would be interesting to write about, but I realize that if he did go down the cannibalism route, then the trauma inflicted on him would have to be things I don't want to write about. 

  Since I'm an SA and Grooming Survivor, I wanted to write a version where Yellow didn't have to worry about that. I see a lot of myself in Yellow. Just because I'm a Survivor doesn't mean I'm automatically good at writing those scenes. I think I could write one if I wanted to, but the thing is, I just don't.

  This AU would take place in Clay Hill from the pilot episode. Yellow would become Yellow Punk and try to destroy all the safety machines. One day, when Yellow Punk was diffusing one of the machines, one of them managed to coil around him and drill his skull in. Punk Yellow also had an Alter Ego thing going on, where in the daytime he was little-old-innocent Yellow, but at night time he was a rebellious Punk. It would drink the fizzy milk, and there would be a magical girl transformation. When Duck found Punk's body, he didn't believe it was Yellow, but then he started to hallucinate Yellow’s ghost hugging and crying over Punk's body. 

And again, if anyone wants to write a story with these ideas, be my guest 

  Thank you, everyone, for reading my story. I've had so much fun writing it, and I think that I'm almost done makes me feel like a mom about to watch your kid move away to college. And don't worry, once I'm done with this story, I won't leave. I have a bunch of different one-shot ideas that I would love to write and for you guys to read. 

Chapter Text

       The next few days were very rough on Yellow. He had given up on screaming for someone to let him out. The room wasn't soundproof, far from it. Every day, he could hear the family scuttle and talk throughout the house. He couldn't quite pick up on what they were saying, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to know. 

   Twice a day, Keith would enter the room with a bowl of lukewarm soup. He proceeded to spoon-feed Yellow because his hands and arms were still tied up. The soup wasn't of a high quality. Most of the time, it was Ramen that made him feel bloated afterwards. One day, the soup was poorly mashed-up tomatoes and boiled water. A pitiful attempt at tomato soup.

  The bathroom wasn't an issue, though. Yellow didn't have a bladder. In fact, he didn't know what organs he did or didn't have. He knew he had lungs. Can't drown an oil if you never breathed in the first place.

   On the third day, the twins came in to visit Yellow. They gushed about their day and what they did in school. That was a project that was due next week, and they needed the help of their mother. The twins tried to guilt-trip Yellow into feeling bad that they didn't have a mother, hoping that would convince Yellow. It never worked. Yellow would just roll his eyes. 

     Sleeping was the worst part for Yellow. Being tied to a chair for long periods of time would be very uncomfortable on its own. But yellow was wearing that same white frilly dress with red lace and flowers. The ropes were tight on the fabric, which dug into Yellow’s skin. Every time he slightly moved his arm, he could feel the lace scratch him, creating a burning sensation.

  Plus, the hat he was wearing had a thick ribbon that was tied under his chin. And that was also starting to drive him crazy. With all of that, sleep was rare. 

When Yellow was able to sleep, he could only squeeze a couple of hours in before his neck started to hurt too much, and he had to switch to slouching on the opposite side of the chair. But during those rare moments of rest, Yellow had a lot of really odd dreams. 

    Dreams where he tried to come home, but Red and Duck didn't recognize him because he looked like a girl. They would say things like. “We don't need a frilly girl stuffing the place up.” Or. “We're looking for a boy in blue overalls, not a girl with pigtails and flowers.” It was almost like they were taunting him.

   Other dreams he would have, or about Keith and the family being done with him. “Darling, you did such a good job being our mother that everyone else in the neighborhood heard about it, and they want family deals too.” Yellow would be kicked around from house to house, each one having some grotesque or horrendous feature that made it worse than the last. He would be used to get benefits for cleaning services, furniture sales, and bake sales. Yellow wasn't sure if that dream could become a reality. He hoped it wouldn't. 

    The weirdest dream he had was the final embroidered flower to his sanity. The dream started with yellow sitting at the dining table, but something was different. He was sitting in a high chair with pamphlets in front of him. Then Keith walked in holding a bucket of chicken. Yellow immediately started to panic. 

“Don't cry, little mother.” Keith put a chicken leg in Yellow's mouth to stop him from speaking.

   “Mr. Keith has enough fast food family deals to keep us fed for an entire lifetime. Lily! Todney! Bring more pamphlets, your mother's hungry!” 

Yellow finally managed to swallow the piece of chicken. “AAAAAAAAAAA” He screamed as he woke up from that awful nightmare. 

    He was back in the small, dark room in the house. But that dream that he had made him realize something. He wasn't a baby. Why was he just sitting here waiting for something to happen when he could be coming up with a plan? All that time he spent alone, and it came up with nothing. Well, that's about to change right now. 

   After an hour or so of thinking, Yellow had finally come up with a plan. Yellow started to rapidly shake his head back and forth until his hat fell off and landed on his lap. Then he tilted his head to his shoulder and started to rub it against his ear. With enough force, he was able to get the earring off his ear, and it landed in the Hat. Now all Yellow needed to do was wait for breakfast. 

Yellow waited patiently when he finally heard a knock on the door. It was Keith with another bowl of cheap ramen. 

“Good morning, honey,” Keith said. “Did you sleep well?”

   “Yes…Very well.” Yellow said with very abundant eye bags.

Keith finally noticed Yellow's hat. “Oh no, honey, you're hat fell off. Here, let me put it back on your head.” Keith picked up the hat. 

   When Keith put the hat back on, Yellow could feel the earring fall onto his hair. It was almost poking his scalp if it weren't for the dandruff that had been building up over the days he hadn't showered. Yellow was just excited that his plan was working. 

As Keith was feeding yellow his soup, there was a small thud followed by shuffling. 

“What was that?” Yellow asked. 

   “Probably giant rats,” Keith said. “Nothing to worry about, Darling.” 

“Giant rats? Since when did this house have rats?”

   “Since the mother of the house decided to step down from her maternal duties and play detective.”Keith's eyes narrowed at Yellow with anger.

“Can we both just talk? Come on, Keith.”

Keith dropped the bowl of soup, causing it to shatter on the ground before grabbing Yellow by the neck, Ruffles on his dress. 

 “That's ' Sweetie ' to you, Darling! Keith said in a threatening tone. Yellow was too stunned to talk back. “If a mother doesn't want to clean, then she shall be left in her filth. Besides, this diet is awful for a young woman, so you won't be getting dinner tonight.” 

     Keith stormed out, slamming the door behind him. Yellow was once again left alone, but this time he was ready. He could feel the earring slide down to the front of his hat; he only needed to shimmy it out. Once it fell out, the sharp tip poked his nose while he used his teeth to grab the bone dangling off it. Once it was in his mouth, he shifted his body as much as he could to get the rope close to his mouth. With the pointy side out, he used it to slowly cut the rope. 

This process took a long time. Every hour that went by, Yellow got closer to cutting the rope in half. He started to use his fingers to scratch at the rope. Moving his body around to strain the rope as much as possible. 

    It took him all day, but he finally did it. He was able to free himself from the rope. He got out of that chair and stood up in Victory. And then immediately regretting it because sitting in a chair for several days caused the blood to rush all around his body. He collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. It was night time so no one heard him because they were all asleep. 

   Trying his best to stay conscious, he heard that same thump he heard at breakfast. This time, he hit his fist on the ground in response to see what would happen. Within seconds, the thud happened again. Then he pounded his fist twice on the floor, and the sound was repeated from within the walls. 

“Can you hear me?” Yellow shouted. 

  He could hear the wall respond with two Knocks. 

“Does that mean yes?”

   Another two Knocks. 

“I'm going to take that as a yes.”

Yellow opens the door. It felt nice to breathe the house is sent again. He got tired of constantly smelling his breath. Nobody ever came to brush his teeth. 

As he was walking through the hallway, he could hear the knock sent them shuffling around the walls. He wanted to find the source of that noise. If it could respond to him, then maybe it could help him. 

     Walking through the hallways made him feel creeped out and nostalgic. The first time he snuck out, he made a bond with Terrence that soon formed into an alliance. All of the pictures on the wall felt uneasy to look at. Even his picture on the family portrait had him looking without a hundred-yard stare and a smile from ear to ear. Yellow shivered at the sight, but he had to stay focused. 

     Following the knocks and thuds led him to a closet. The closet that stored the cleaning supplies and the vacuum. It was like those items were there waiting for Yellow to use them again. He shoved those items out of the way and looked at the wall. It didn't look right. If the paint was off. It looked like a piece of cardboard with wrapping paper that had been removed, put back on again, only to be removed once more. 

    He decided to knock on the wall. It sounded thin and hollow. When Yellow knocked, there was silence. Yellow felt a little awkward knocking on some random wall like it was a door. Then two large gray hands grabbed him and pulled him into the wall. Yellow was about to scream when one of the hands covered his mouth, and he was able to look up at the person holding him. 

“Terrence!”

“SHHHH… Quiet”  

Chapter Text

“SHHHH…Quiet”

“Terrence.” Yellow looked up in shock. “You… You can talk.”

“Yes. But I don't like to. Don't want to.” Terrence lowered his head. 

   Yellow looked at Terrence‘s leg. Around his ankle, there was a shackle and a chain that connected to the wall. Terrence scratched his ankle around the chain, which left a visible imprint in his skin. He was clearly uncomfortable. 

     The room wasn't much better. If you could call it a room. There were no windows, posters, shelves with toys, and no bed. This thing that was closest to a bed was a dirty, shriveled-up air mattress and some sheets all stained with an odd brown coloring. He looked beside it to see half-empty syrup bottles stacked up in a chaotic pile by the bed. 

“Is this… Your bedroom?” Yellow stepped back to take in the horror of his surroundings. 

   “Not always. Keith made this room for me. Told me it was for Lily Todney, and I was to hide when he and mother were fighting.” Terrence hugged himself almost as if trying to box himself more into the cramped space they were already in. “But when she left, Keith still told me that this was my room and I've been sleeping in here ever since.”

Yellow walked over and put a hand on Terrence's arm. “I am so sorry you had to live like this.” 

   Yellow couldn't help but think about being trapped here in the house as well. But while he was trapped, he still had a bed to sleep in. Food was always available to him. Fun and expressive outfits stacked up in his closet, sure, they were dresses, but they were soft and comfortable. He was so busy pretending to be a terrible mom to prove a point that he forgot that he wasn't the only victim of the family. 

   “Thank you.” Terrence appreciated the gesture. 

“Why do you just have syrup bottles by your bed?”

   “When mother was still around, she always made the best pancakes, and my favorite part was the extra syrup she would put on mine. I like syrup on a lot of my food, she was the only one who didn't think it was gross like the rest of the family.” Keith bent over to pick one of the bottles up. “When I'm hungry or when I'm about to eat a meal, I'll squirt some in my mouth, and it often leaks out while I'm eating.”

“That explains quite a bit.” Yellow was relieved to know where the syrup finally came from. “ 

Yellow bent down to examine the chain around Terrence's ankle. He pulled out the same bone-shaped earring and started to jiggle it in the lock. 

“Did you always live like this? Well, living in the walls?” Yellow asked, trying to break the awkward silence.

    “No. Lily, Todney, and I all used to sleep in the same bedroom. They had their bunk bed on one side and my bed on the other side. And that's how it stayed until the past couple of months. It started with Keith pulling me out a football. He said there was too much housework to do and he needed some help. Of course, Keith never helped, and I was always exhausted. Sometimes when I was lying in my bed, too tired to do homework, I would overhear the family playing games without me.”

 “So they started excluding you when your mother disappeared.” Yellow was still tinkering with the lock when he heard a few clicks, and he knew who was almost done.

   “Well, he did exclude me in small ways. He would find reasons not to come to my games. If I ever got into a fight with Lily or Todney, he would always pick the twins' side. I think deep down he knew I wasn't his son. Deep down, I think I knew he wasn't my father.”

Yellow looked up at Terrence with a sympathetic look. Yellow loved his father even if his father wasn't perfect most of the time. He couldn't imagine being raised by a different dad, let alone one who loved his other kids more. 

     “It was only when Keith found out the truth and confronted my mother about it. I was making sure the Twins were safe in our bedroom. Lily had left her baby doll in the living room, so I went to get it for her. But when I was in the living room, I heard screaming from the bedroom.  Then I heard something break. It wouldn't be quiet after that before I heard the door open and my mother sobbing as she walked through the hallway. I hid underneath the breakfast table. She was holding her arm, and her hand had blood on it. She put some bandages on it in the closet and walked into the family tree room. I ran back to the twins' bedroom and stayed there the rest of the night. By morning, she was gone.”

    Yellow had finally managed to pick the lock in free Terrence from the shackle around his ankle. Once he was free, he leaned down to rub his ankle. Terrence's eyes started to water as he knelt down and hugged Yellow. Yellow hugged back, knowing how much he needed it. 

“I wish I could have hugged my mother the night before she left.” Terrence's tears landed on Yellow's shoulder. 

“I'm sure she's still out there. We need to focus on getting out of here first.” Yellow looks back towards the hole in the wall. “We can go to the front door, but I bet Keith locked it.”

“I know where the key is.” Terrence said.

“How do you know weren't you locked away in this room for the past few days?”

“My chain might be too short and loud to leave the house by myself, but it's long enough that I can get through a few rooms in the house by crawling through the walls.” 

Terrence pointed up at the different crawl spaces. It was just big enough for Terrence to slowly army crawl through, which meant it was the perfect size for Yellow to quickly crawl from room to room. 

“So this can go to all the rooms in the house?” Yellow asked. 

“Just the two bedrooms and the room they were keeping you in, I think it was originally a linen closet? I've tried to find the air vent that lies outside, but it's far too small for both of us to crawl through.”

“That's okay, I'll go to the main bedroom and get the key.”

“Okay, but take this ball of yarn with you before you go. The vent is on the ceiling, so you can't just crawl out and crawl back in.”

“Got it.”

  Yellow grabbed the ball of yarn and crawled through the vent system. The system wasn't as clean as he hoped it would be. 

He's watched spy movies with Duck. Every time the main character crawled through an air vent, Duck would always tell Yellow how important it is that the vents stay clean so that if a spy ever wanted to come by, they wouldn't be uncomfortable. 

   Thankfully, it wasn't super dirty either. Terrence constantly crawling through them helped a lot when it came to getting rid of the dust. He remembered when he did laundry, and when he saw Terrence's clothes in a million Todney's hamper, they were covered in various amounts of dust. 

As he was crawling through and he peeked through one of the vents. It was in the twins' room. Lily and Todney were peacefully sleeping. He remembered back to the first night when he put the twins to bed, and he told them about the monster and the vents.

    Continuing to crawl through the vents, he heard a light humming. There were no events to see out of, but pressing his ear to the wall, he could hear a deep humming. He recognized it as the tree's voice and knocked on the wall to see if she would respond. He heard a knock back, but it was multiple knocks. 

.... . .-.. .-.. --- / - . .-. .-. . -. -.-. . .-.-.- / .... --- .-- .----. ... / -.-- --- ..- .-. / -. . .-- / -- --- - .... . .-. / .- -.. .--- ..- ... - .. -. --. / - --- / .... . .-. / ... .. - ..- .- - .. --- -. ..--.. / - .... .- - / ... --- -. --. / -.-. .- ..- ... . -.. / .... . .-. / - --- / - .- -.- . / --.- ..- .. - . / .- / - ..- -- -... .-.. . .-.-.- / -.-- --- ..- / ... --- ..- -. -.. / .-.. .. --. .... - . .-. --..-- / -.. .. -.. / -.-- --- ..- / .-.. --- ... . / .-- . .. --. .... - ..--..

Yellow had no idea what any of that meant. He just knocked back twice and continued forward. 

Finally, Yellow made it to  Keith's room. He looked down from the vent to see that he was directly over the bed. Looking down, he saw Keith sleeping while hugging a pillow. 

     Yellow managed to get the vent out of the ceiling, creating a hole big enough for him to get a proper look around the room and notice the key on Keith's nightstand. He took the ball of yarn and tied one end to the earring. Once the yarn was properly tied up, Yellow lowered the string into the bedroom and maneuvered it to pick up the key. Nearly avoiding hitting Keith in the head. 

Yellow grabbed the key and quickly shuffled back to Terence's room. Both of their eyes lit up when Yellow pulled out the key to show Terrence. they knew that freedom was in their grasp.

   The two made their way into the living room. They were both tiptoeing and trying to keep us as quiet as possible. Yellow was small enough that his footsteps didn't leave that much of an impact, but Terrence was a lot bigger, his only advantage being that he knew the house a lot more than Yellow did and knew which floorboards were creaky. 

    Terrence was trying his best to walk as quietly as he could, but he slowed down tremendously. He looked behind him to see that he was quite a few feet away and was moving his hands to try and get Terrance to move faster. While doing that, he wasn't paying attention to his own feet, and he tripped on something and landed on the floor with a big thud. 

No longer concerned with making noise, Terrence scuttled over to Yellow to see if he was okay. 

“You okay?” Terrence asked. 

“Yeah, I just tripped on…” Yellow looked over to see what could have caused him to fall before his eyes filled with dread. 

   They both looked over and froze in horror. They tripped on a pair of legs, but not just any pair of legs. There were wheels attached to a chair, and on the chair, there were tubes leading to bags full of medicine and blood, and those tubes were attached to an old, frail body, and on that body, there were a pair of eyes that were open and staring right at them. 

  They stayed as still as possible, daring not to move an inch. The Granny's eyes shifted and moved around the room like she was looking for prey. It was obvious her eyesight wasn't good. So if Terrence and Yellow stayed still long enough, she would go back to sleep, and they could continue sneaking out. But there was one problem. 

   Since Yellow hadn't been taking care of the house for the past few days, no one else had been taking care of the house, especially not cleaning the floors. When Yellow hit the floorboards, the built-up dust flew up into the air and slowly landed on Yellow's face, tickling his nose and making his eyes water. He tried to hold it back, but he couldn't. 

“Achoo!” Yellow sneezed. 

Before either of them could react, Granny's eyes had locked onto them, and she started to scream and ring her Bells as loud as she could. 

“Out of bed! out of bed!” She screeched in her raspy, near incoherent voice.

The two didn't have time to think of a plan; they just got up and ran to the door. Terrence quickly unlocked it as Yellow could hear the footsteps of the family in the hallway. 

  They started to run down the brick alleyway, and once they were out of the neighborhood, they were booking it into the woods. Despite getting some distance away, he could still hear the family hot on their trail. 

No matter how much they dodged, turned, tumbled, or ran, they could only stop for a few minutes to catch their breath before they could see flashlights in the distance closing in on them. 

They could hear voices, shouting out.

“Make sure they don’t escape!” The deep voice demanded.

“We’ll find mummy. They couldn’t have gone too far!” A high-pitched, masculine voice responded.

“I’ll find mother, I promise! I’m not losing this one.” A feminine voice proclaimed with eager confidence. 

    They kept running as far as they could, but there was a problem. Yellow was struggling to keep up. He ditched the high heels and velvet socks, back at the house, leaving only his bare feet. That soon got covered with mud, leaves, and splinters. It was very uncomfortable for Yellow. 

Terrence noticed Yellow was slowing down and decided to pick him up and Carrie Yellow on his back. There was a small cliff that led down into more parts of the forest. There are a few rocks that Terrence had both of them hide behind. 

Terrence watched as the flashlight and the voices started to go further away from their hiding spot. Once he felt like they were in the clear, he went to check up on Yellow.

  He was not doing well at all. With his dress and legs being ruined by the unpredictability of nature, Yellow was also very tired. Having barely gotten any sleep the past few days, he was locked up. He was also hungry from not eating all day, not to mention the food he was given wasn’t very filling at all. Terrence at least had a place he could lie down and was used to skipping meals due to the family's neglect. Terrence had built up a resilience that Yellow was nowhere near getting to.

“I have an idea, but you need to listen,” Terrence said before being interrupted by Yellow. 

“Live with us.” Yellow puffed out, trying to catch his breath.

“What?”

 “You can come live with us. My friends. I'm sure they wouldn't mind a fourth one as long as you don't try to look like one of them.” Yellow was trying to wipe the mud off his dress. 

Terrence looked at Yellow and felt a tight pain in his chest. He knew what he had to do. 

“I can't.”

“Yes, you can.”

“No, I mean I don't want to go and live with you.”

“Why… why not?” 

 “When I first saw you wake up at the dinner table, I thought you were going to be scared and crack under the pressure and become the mother the family thought you'd be, but you didn't. You did your best to stay brave and adapt while still being yourself. You were nice to me when everyone else just treated me like a bodyguard.”

They could hear the voices and see the lights grow closer to them. 

“See, look, I'm all better now, we can start running again. You don't have to live with me, but we can still keep heading out together.” Yellow had tears in his eyes.

    “No, we'll just get caught if we stay together. I'll make a distraction and lead them away, and that will give you enough time to safely make it back home. I'm a lot faster than they are, so I'll know I'll be able to make it.” 

“But what if you don't make it and you get caught again?” Yellow was tugging Terrence's sleeve, trying to get him to start moving, but he wouldn't budge. 

  “My mother left for her own safety, and I thought it was completely alone, but you came along and showed me that if I had enough courage and the right support, I can get back on my feet and leave that awful family again and find my true family.” Terrence shed a tear he couldn't hold back anymore. 

Terrence put his hands on Yellow's shoulders. “I'll start running North, and you can head back whichever way you think will lead you home.”

“But what if…” Both of Yellow's eyes started to drift tears as he tried to steady his breathing. 

“You saved me. Now it's my turn to save you.” Terrence gave a reassuring smile. 

     And with those last words, Terrence ran off. Yellow listened as the foot stomps got farther away and watched the flashlights head north. Yellow started running in the opposite direction. He heard more shouting, but couldn't make out the words; they sounded frustrated. That gave Yellow hope, and he kept moving forward.

He kept blindly running into the woods until he was left completely in the dark with only the noise of crickets and frogs to keep him company. He stopped running to take in his surroundings. He had no idea where he was, but he just kept walking forward. 

     Yellow continued walking until the trees became thinner and the sky became clear. Soon he was no longer in the woods but in a meadow with lots of hills. Climbing to the top of the hill, he looked over at The View and saw a little pink house that was all too familiar to him.

“Home.” Yellow's body felt like it was dancing in the air. The family was no more. He could go back to his friends. He could return to his clump. 

He started to slowly walk back. Yellow spent that walk thinking about his time with the family and how, even though it was awful, he was still grateful he could meet Terrence and help better someone's life. 

Yellow walked up to the blue door and knocked on it. He heard some shuffling and then the door opened to reveal Red and Duck standing there. 

“Oh, you're back. Did you get bored of that family, or did they kick you out?” Red asked. 

     “There you are. Did you finally realize that being in a family was a load of bologna?” Duck said, paying little to no attention that Yellow was wearing a dress. 

“Yeah, you're right. Having a family is a load of Bologna.” Yellow said, walking inside. 

It wasn't the response most people would expect their friends to have. but it's what yellow has grown to known and enjoys Red and Durk with all of their flaws and quirks.

“Well, get changed into something clean. We're working on making a password for our next computer day.” Duck said, trying to keep the mouse within his grip. 

    “Yeah, if you've got any ideas, let us know, and it can be your job to remember them.” Red was cleaning off the keyboard. 

“I think I have a pretty good password idea. What I'm sure I won't forget.”

    “Well, go on, what is it?” Duck pins the mouse down with both of his hands. 

“My maiden name. Rat eyes.”

“You know that's a good password.” Red started to type it in. 

“Well, I guess it's okay, but it's his job to remember it, not mine!” Duck said, a little jealous that he didn't come up with the password himself. 

That night, Yellow through the dirty dress away in the trash and put on his favorite pair of blue and white striped pajamas. He went into the Trio's bedroom to see Red and Duck already tucked in for the night. Yellow got into his own bed and was ready to go to sleep. 

“Good night.” 

It was a common routine for Red to say good night before going to sleep, but this time, Yellow was so overwhelmed with emotions that he started to cry a little bit. Not out of sadness but from pure joy of being in the routine he loves so much. 

       Red noticed and went over to comfort Yellow. Yellow scootched over and patted his hand on the empty part of the bed, letting Red know it was okay to lie down. Yellow thought that after all this time, he would want nothing more than to sleep in his own bed by himself, but now he just wanted his friends by him more than ever. 

He slept that night with red and duck by his side. In his own bed, and his own clothes, with his own clump.