The young fox stared in awe at the shear size of the Onyx city mall. He had lived in this town all of his life and yet he had never been here; this was incredible! Swarms of people, what seemed like thousands of shops and, best of all, the delicious small of chilli dogs wafting through the air.  Full of excitement, he pushed his way through the crowds.
  “Mom! I’m hungry, can we get some lunch soon?”
  There was no answer. Still smiling, Tyler turned around, expecting his mother to be right there next to him. He got ready to greet her gaze, but as he turned around he quickly had to duck out of the way to avoid one particularly impatient mall goer who was shoving her way through the crowds without watching where she was going.
  “Mom! Mom! Are you there? Hello?”
  Tyler ran as fast as he could through bustling the crowds; not a single person was familiar to him and he was beginning to panic. Her hand had been in his only seconds ago, but now he was all alone; all alone in what might as well have been a swarm of flies for all the help they were being.
  “Hello? Momma?”
  Tears began to well up in Tyler’s eyes as he realised that wherever his mother was, she couldn’t hear him. The young grey fox came to a stop and knelt down, clutching his knees and rocking slowly backwards and forwards, trying to picture his mother pushing through the crowds to get back to him as he sat there panicking.
  Without warning the tears flooded from his eyes, quickly soaking through his fur and catching the attention of many passers by as he screamed at the top of his voice, “I want my mommy!”
  Within minutes a large circle of people were crowded around the young fox; animals of all kinds either welling up with sympathy or disgust over the child’s moment of vulnerability.
  “Oh the poor dear! His mother wouldn’t have just left him there would she?”
  “Who cares? It’s not our problem. Let’s go.”
  “Hey son, how about you come with me?”
  Drying his tears with one hand, Tyler looked up to see a rather, for lack of a more flattering word, obese rabbit looking down on him. The elderly man wore a rather tight fitting dark green suit over his plump hazel body, with large fat hands the looked as if they crush a watermelon, one of which was currently outstretched to Tyler. The devilishly toothy grin on his round, fat face sent a shiver down Tyler’s spine rather than reassuring him of anything; in other words, this guy wasn’t here to help.
  “N…. no thanks!”
  Shaking in fear, Tyler began to slowly push himself away from the man, whose face quickly changes to one of frustration at the refusal of the terrified fox. “Son, it’s not a good idea to say no to me. Now, you’re going to get up and you’re going to come with me – quietly.”
  Tyler looked to the other members of the crowd, all of whom seemed to be perfectly content with being casual spectators rather than helping the poor child. His instincts taking over, Tyler leapt to his feet turned around and began sprinting through the crowds as fast as his legs would carry him. “Stranger danger! Stranger danger!”
  He looked back through the masses of people, thankful to see that the monstrous rabbit was struggling to make his way through them to reach him. For one blissful second the plight of having lost his mother disappeared from his mind. So much so in fact that he also forgot the need to look where he was going. Grinning, he only caught a short glimpse of the tall, pink cat before he slammed face first into her, sending both of them towards the floor.
  “Gah! What the…….”
  “Ouch!”
  The two of them just laid there on the floor, completely in a daze, until the thundering footsteps of the overweight rabbit caught up to them. Panting as if he had just run a mile, he grabbed Tyler’s hand and pulled him away from the cat, which was only just getting her head together.
  “No! Help! Stranger Danger!”
  “Be quiet you stupid kid!”
  “Hey bub!” said a female voice as the rabbit felt someone tapping impatiently on his shoulder.
  Immensely irritated, the rabbit turned to the Cat, who at this point was looking extremely annoyed. “What? Can’t you seem I’m busy?”
  The cat said nothing. She looked from the Rabbit, to Tyler and then back again, before grinning smugly at the thought of what she was about to do.
  “What are you looking at? If you’re looking for some action I’ll come back later! Now leave us alo…”
  The rabbit choked on his words as the Cat’s fist smashed through his teeth. Before he could retaliate, she delivered a powerful side kick to his stomach, winding him and causing him to let go of Tyler’s arm. The fox quickly ran and hid behind the cat for safety. She raised her fists in case the rabbit made some moronic attempt to resist, but as he saw her firm, clearly battle hardened stance he quickly began to crawl away, cursing under his breath as he went.
  “What a creep. Well, see ya kid.”
  The cat turned to pick up her shopping bags, when she began to feel a strange vibration on her leg. She looked down to see the fox kit shivering like a skinny walrus and gripping her leg with his right fist as tightly, as if his hand were a  vice.. Slightly startled, she began to try and gently shake him off, but he held on tightly.
  “Umm, kid are you ok?”
  Tyler said nothing, but the cat could tell from the look on his face that he was completely terrified of letting go of her leg. Wait, why was she worried about him? He was the one who had just slammed into her and knocked her over!
  “You know, you should really go find you mom.”
  Still shaking, Tyler slowly looked up at her. “My m… mom?”
  At the sound of Jade’s words Tyler tightened his grip and soon Jade felt as if her leg were being crushed between a rock and a hard place. “Look kid, I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m not your mom, so get lost!”
  As those last few, hurtful words reached Tyler’s ears Jade suddenly felt a warm trickle sliding down her leg, quickly forming a large, warm puddle on the floor.
  “I think I should go find the others…”

  “I’m not sure about this Emerald.”
  “Why not? It looks great on you!”
  Ruby tried to smile as she wore the ridiculous outfit Emerald had picked out for her, a long, skin tight purple body suit, with a little voice in her head yelling at her for ever agreeing to this. She was only nine years old, but even she knew what looked good on her and what looked crazy!
  “Well, I like the colour but it’s kind of tight.”
  Emerald smirked at young Ruby’s words. “What? You look great! Just like Espio!”
  “Huh?”
  Emerald began to breathe heavily as she realised what she had just said. Ruby looked at her accusingly, seeing right through the huge fake smile on the iguana’s bright red face.
  “You know what Ruby; maybe you still have a little more growing room in your hoodie.”
  “Yeah, that’s what I thought you said.”
  Ruby hastily pulled the suit off and threw it back onto the rack, annoying several Topshop staff in the process. Many of the human mall goers stared at her as she slid her favourite hoodie back over her head, but she and Emerald paid her no heed. What can I say? Since when have animals ever had bodily shame? If only the two teenagers across the shop had been so wise as to avoid peeping.
  “Hey dude, check out the little one! She’s so hot!”
  “Well yeah but she isn’t exactly mature is she?”
  All of a sudden a devilish laughter sounded from behind, and the two boys instantly felt a bitter chill.
  “And you little peeping toms are?”
  Fear flowed through them as a tall feminine shadow moved over the two of them. They each felt a firm palm come down on their shoulders, and a malicious voice in their ears.    
  “You think you can handle someone as mature as me?”
  “Dude! Run!”
  The two of them tried to make a break for it, but before they could even get a foot on the floor Jade grabbed the back of their collars and held them up in the air, wriggling like a couple of live piñatas.
  “Hey girls!”
  Ruby and Emerald turned to Jade and burst out laughing as they saw the two boys in peril. “Guess what? These little perverts just agreed to pay for all your clothes, so don’t be afraid to break the bank!”
  Well, those two didn’t need much convincing did they? In an instant Ruby and Emerald were darting about the shop, piling outfit after outfit after accessory after accessory into their baskets, which of course sent bucket loads of sweat pouring down the two boy’s faces. Admiringly, holding them up wasn’t putting much of a strain on Jade’s muscled arms and so she felt no need to put them down, or indeed to forget the reason she had regrouped with everyone else so quickly.
  “Hey guys, have you seen Crystal anywhere?”
  Ruby stood up, currently in the middle of sliding a bulky mood bracelet onto her arm. “Sure, she’s downstairs in Topman with Crystal!”
  At this point, Emerald had found all that she needed, since to be fair she wasn’t always the overly fashionable type. She walked towards Jade with a basket full of outfits to get the money from the boys, when she noticed what looked like an oversized fox plushie hiding behind her friend’s leg. “Hey Jade, he’s cute but my birthday isn’t for another three months.”
  Jade nearly dropped the boys in embarrassment. Frowning as she remembered the sticky problem she had faced the last time Tyler had gotten upset, she slowly moved aside so that Emerald could get a better look at him. At the site of her, Tyler’s face went bright red. After all, he wasn’t used to seeing even one girl aside from his mother, let alone three really hot ones in under an hour!
  “H - Hi miss. My name’s T- Tyler.”
  The young kit suddenly felt a warm, tingling feeling on the back of his neck as Emerald bent forwards so that she was face to face with him. “Wow, you’re really pretty.”
  Smiling motherly, Emerald knelt down at gently stroked the young kit’s head. “Well aren’t you sweet.”
  “Umm, Emerald do you think you could take him down to see Crystal? I need to make sure these guys…” spat Jade, sending a fresh wave of fear down the pervert’s spines, “don’t get away. That, and...” Jade took another look at Tyler. She didn’t really hate kids; in fact she usually liked working with them whenever Crystal dragged them all to charity events, but out in public… “Babysitting isn’t really my forte.”
  “Ha ha, okay then Jade I’ll take him.”
  “T - t - take me where?”
  Always the practical joker, Emerald grinned maliciously at Tyler, showing off her fangs and staring at him as if she extended to suck his blood stream dry.
  “To our master.” Sneered Emerald in her finest horror movie accent.

  “What about this?”
  “Too green.”
  “And this one?”
  “Too baggy.”
  “What about red and black?”
  “Kind of cliché for Mighty don’t you think?”
   Horribly frustrated, Crystal was flinging outfits aside as if they were lighter than air, with most of them landing on top of the unfortunate Sapphire. Just as the young Butterfly was trying to crawl out from under what must have been the heaviest coat in the store, Emerald came down the stairs with Tyler, who by now was utterly terrified of what may be lurking in the lower level of Topshop, or as Emerald was calling it, the ‘master’s lair’.
  “Hey Crystal! Crystal!”
  At the sound of her friend’s voice Crystal’s ears perked up and the young cat turned around to find Emerald picking away the clothes that had buried Sapphire. “Hey there Emerald, are you guys done upstairs?”
  “OH NO! IT’S THE EVIL MASTER!”
  It was then that Crystal noticed that one of the discarded shirts seemed to be shivering! Alarmed, she snatched it up and held it up to her face. “What are you doing on our planet you evil alien shirt?!?!??!”
  “Uhh, Crystal?”
  The startled cat dropped the shirt and looked at Sapphire, who was pointing sarcastically to the scared little fox boy who was hiding behind a jeans rack. “I don’t think it was the shirt.”
  “Huh? Oh…. Oh! I’m sorry cutie!”
  Filled with embarrassment, Crystal rushed towards Tyler, who at the site of her began running around the jeans rack with Crystal in hot pursuit. “Stay away from me strange lady!”
  “I didn’t mean to scare you! Please calm down!”
  “I think you should both calm down.”
  At the sound of Jade’s stern voice, Tyler and Crystal froze in their tracks. Jade and Ruby walked forwards, staring at Crystal as if they were watching a mischievous child.
  “Umm, Crystal what are you doing?”
  Ruby looked from Tyler to Crystal, and then to Jade, who was obviously the only one who really knew what was going on, and then threw up her arms in frustration. “Okay, I’m gonna go pick out something for Tails. When you guys are ready to go, come get me.”
  At that, Ruby ran off towards the young men’s section. Following suit, Crystal and Sapphire ran after her, knowing full well that it wasn’t a good idea to stick around Jade when she was in one of these strict moods. After all, when it came down to it she was usually the ‘mom’ of the group, and moms have the power to punish their children!
  Tyler looked up at Jade, terrified of what she might say to him. For all he knew she could just be another pawn of the Master’s!
  “You ok kid?”
  To say Tyler was surprised would have been an understatement. He stared into Jade’s eyes, trying to find some hint that she was trying to trick him, just like the rabbit had tried to.
  “I – I’m fine. D-D-D-D….”
  “Huh?”
  As if his legs were spring loaded Tyler leapt into Jade’s arms and buried his head in her chest, sobbing into her fur. Jade was about to slap him, when she realised he was just scared. “Of course, it’s not like he was doing that other thing…”
  “Don’t let the master get me!”
  “Master?”
  Jade wrapped her arms around Tyler and turned her head to look at Emerald, who ducked into the changing rooms as Jade’s accusing gaze fell upon her.
  “Hey! Girl in the guy’s changing room!”
  “Get out!”
  “Hey, don’t be hasty!”
  “EWWW! GET AWAY FROM ME!”
  As Emerald ran up the stairs, Jade shook her head in disapproval.
  “Don’t worry kid, she was just joking. It’s not like we’re gonna eat you or anything.”
  Jade placed Tyler on the floor and wiped his tears away with her finger. She smiled at him and took his hand, before leading him towards the staircase.
  “Girls! We’ve got some work to do!”
  Glad to see that the madness was over, Ruby raced after them. “Awesome! Finally some fun!”

  “Well this isn’t fun!”
  Ruby sat slumped on the bench just outside of Topshop, paying hardly any attention to Tyler as he sat next to her, his short legs hanging over the edge without even reaching the floor.
  “Come on girls, we’ve got work to do.” Ruby kicked the floor in frustration as she mimicked Jade’s words. “I and Crystal will go check the first floor, Sapphire and Emerald check this floor. Ruby, you stay and keep an eye on Tyler.”
  “Are you ok?”
  Ruby looked to her left to see Tyler’s face only inches from hers, looking very confused at the young raccoons words. “Did Miss Jade say something you didn’t like?”
  Cursing herself for being so selfish in front of Tyler, Ruby smiled and shook her head. “No, don’t worry about that. It’s just that, well, sometimes I she’s kind of over protective sometimes, but it’s no big deal. I guess she means well.”
  Tyler must have read Jade’s mind because he quickly changed the subject. “Do you want to be like Jade when you grow up?”
  “Huh?” Tyler’s question had really taken Ruby by surprise. Of course she had thought about her future, just like any kid her age had, but she had never looked at any of the other jewel carriers in that way. Of course Jade was awesome; she was tough and she really looked after her friends; Crystal was compassionate and she always did what she could to help anyone, even total strangers! Then there was Sapphire; really smart, although she was very good at reminding you that she was and Emerald just always knew how to put a smile on anyone’s face. Ruby was so used to knowing all of the at once; she couldn’t picture herself to grow up to be one of their doubles or something!
  “I guess so, but to be honest I’m happy how I am now. What about you? What do you wanna be when you’re older?”
  In an instant Tyler’s eyes lit up, as if he was reaching out for stars. “I wanna do what my mom does.”
  Ruby’s frustration was quickly fading away. Tyler was only four, but ruby still felt like she could have a nice conversation with him. “Really? What does she do?”
  “She says that she just makes people happy for a living. It sounds like a really great job.”
  At the sound of Tyler’s words a huge smile slowly spread across Ruby’s face. This kid was made of sunshine! “Well Tyler if that’s what you want then you make sure you do it!”
  “Well that’s the thing…”
  All of a sudden Tyler’s face fell, as if he had just woken up alone on Christmas morning. “For some reason my mom keep saying that she doesn’t want me to do the same job as her. Instead she just keeps telling me I should work hard in school and get a good paying job.”
  “Well that’s important too.”
  “I guess so but…”
  “Hey Brat! I’ve finally found you!”
  Ruby and Tyler looked up to see the same huge bloated rabbit from before standing over them, looking so angry that he may have started foaming at the mouth in any second.
  “Ummm, Tyler do you know this guy?”
  Tyler didn’t answer. As the monstrous rabbit stepped closer and closer, Tyler could hardly move out of fear; let alone talk!
  “You’re hoar of a mother asks me to watch you and you run off? I curse the day I ever became her manager!”
  Stunned, Ruby looked from the rabbit to Tyler. “Makes people happy for a living….. Manager…. Hoar………. MOM!?!?!?!?!?!?!?”
  As the realisation hit her, Ruby grabbed Tyler’s wrist and ran as fast as she could, screaming at the top of her voice. “JADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
  “Hey brat! Get back here!”
  In his current state Tyler was close to scared stiff, which of course wasn’t making it very easy for Ruby to get both of them away. Figuring that she had no better options, Ruby stopped and bent down in front of Tyler. “Tyler! Hop on!”
Tyler turned to see the rabbit beginning to gain on them. He was fast for someone his size! Acting on impulse, Tyler leapt forwards onto Ruby’s back and instantly the young racoon ran forwards, her speed suffering under Tyler’s weight, but confident that she would still be quick enough to get away in time.
  Sadly of course, Tyler’s fear once again got the best of him and just a few seconds after starting her run Ruby’s back began to suddenly feel very warm and damp.
  “Tyler, what are you… ewwww!”
  Ruby had to restrain the urge to drop Tyler and run for the bathrooms, but she kept her head and kept running. The others had only left to search for Tyler’s mother a few minutes ago, so they shouldn’t be too hard to find. Well, as long as Emerald hadn’t gotten sidetracked….. Again…

  “Hey Sapphire, do you think Ruby would like this?”
  “Well to be honest I don’t think Ruby’s the kind of girl who plays with dolls.”
  “But it looks just like her!”
  “Well, that’s probably because it has a green racoon skin coat on.”
  Gasping, Emerald quickly put the doll back on the counter and turned to leave the shop, followed by the quickly angering Sapphire. “Emerald, we’re supposed to be looking for Tyler’s mother!”
  Emerald sighed in annoyance. She didn’t mind helping people but she was starting to get sick of this wild goose chase. “Oh Sapphire, we have no idea what she looks like or where she is. Besides, it’s not like we have to hurry. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”
  “Guys! Help!”
  All of a sudden Ruby ran across the front of the shop, carrying Tyler on her back. Emerald looked up at Sapphire, who looked as if she was getting ready to say those all too famous words, ‘I told you so.’
  “Sapphire, this proves nothing.”
  “GET BACK HERE YOU BRAT!”
  As if on cue, a humungous rabbit passed in front of the shop, in hot pursuit of Ruby and Tyler. “WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU I’M GONNA SKIN YOU ALIVE AND MAKE MYSELF A FUR COAT!!!”
  “Oh come on! I didn’t see the coat! Give me a break!”
  “Emerald?”
  “What?”
  “I think we should go after them.”
  “Ugghhhh, fine.”
  Cursing the irony of the situation, Emerald ran after the rabbit, with Sapphire pursuing from the air. Emerald had never been the fastest of the jewel carriers. It wasn’t that she was out of shape; it was just that her tail, though strong, was kind of awkward when she’s trying to run at mach 1. Fortunately, compared to the pounds of fat the rabbit was carrying on him her tail felt as light as a feather.
  “Sapphire! Fly ahead to Ruby and tell her to head for the first floor!”
  “Roger that!”
  Taking advantage of her light weight, Sapphire sped forwards, quickly passing the rabbit. As she passed him she looked at his face, and saw in an instant that he wasn’t going to calm down any time soon.
  “I’ll put you and your mother through a meat grinder!”
  “Mother?!?!?”
  The shock of what she heard nearly caused Sapphire to fall to the ground. Outraged, she revved up her wings and sped forwards, stopping just as she passed Ruby. “This guy knows his mother? What did you do to piss him off so much?”
  “I don’t ‘puff’ know! He just showed up all angry and said he was ‘pant’ Tyler’s mom’s ‘huff’ manager!”
  At this point it looked as if Ruby was about to pass out from exhaustion. “I can’t ‘huff’ go much further!”
  Ruby felt her body getting heavier and heavier and soon she began to slow down, giving the rabbit a brief chance to close the gap between them. He reached out, ready to snatch Tyler right off of Ruby’s back if he had to.
  “Just a little further! Oh this is gonna be sweet!”
  “HOLD EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!”
  Jade’s voice echoed through the mall like an air raid siren and in an instant everyone was on their knees, covering their ears. In shock, the rabbit stumbled, quickly losing balance and toppling backwards, just as an unfortunate iguana caught up to everyone…
  “Ok guys! I’m here! What the? GAH!”
  Emerald tried to leap out of the way, but in an instant she felt herself being crushed by the rabbit’s weight. As stars flew around the rabbit’s head the others could do was stare at his oversized body on the floor, and try not to laugh as Emerald’s arms and legs poked out from underneath it, with her muffled voice screaming : “Guys, get me out of here!”


  “Ruby, when’s Jade gonna be done with my momma?”
  Ruby sighed as she looked around Emerald’s living room. Jade had been alone in her room with Tyler’s mother for an hour now and Tyler was starting to get worried. The other jewel carriers were at the police station getting rewarded for bringing the city’s biggest prostitution lord to justice, which meant that she was the only one there to sit with Tyler while Jade tried to get answers, although for what questions she didn’t say.
  “I don’t know Tyler, how about we play a game? Do you like drawing?”
  “Umm, I guess so.”
  Feeling slightly more optimistic, Ruby grabbed her sketch book from the coffee table and passed it to Tyler. “They’re the ones I’m most proud of. If you like, you can take one home with you.”
  Smiling, Tyler began flicking through the book; his eyes lighting up whenever he saw a picture he really liked. Ruby wasn’t boastful, but as she saw how amazed Tyler was she couldn’t help but feel proud of her work.
  “Wow Ruby, you’re really good!”
  “Why thank you sweetie.” Said Ruby as her cheeks began to redden.
  After a few minutes, Tyler got to the last page of the book. “Wow! This one’s really good! Can I take this one?”
  “Let me just check it first.”
  Tyler quickly handed the book back to Ruby, whose eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as she saw what was on the last page. “I didn’t think I’d left this in here.”
  Her eyes watering, Ruby picked out the picture that was taped onto the page; a pencil sketch, obviously drawn quickly and yet with such skill that you could tell the artist must have been amazingly talented, of someone Ruby could only vaguely remember. A female raccoon, only in her twenties and full of so much life, but as Ruby stared at the image of her mother it felt more like an echo than a memory.
  Her father had always been such a great artist too, and this was one of the only pictures by him that Ruby owned. It was also one of the only ones she had of her mother. Of course she had photographs, but drawings were different. Every one she had ever drawn had been done with care and had always had an element of inspiration. That’s what made a great picture so unique. As she thought of how her father had sketched her mother, it made her weep at how much they must have loved each other before…
  “Ruby, are you ok?”
  Her bottom lip quivering, Ruby carefully took Tyler’s hand and placed the drawing inside it, before doing what she could to smile at him through teary eyes. “You and your mom are gonna be fine Tyler. Hang onto that ok? Will you keep it safe for me?”
  Tyler slowly looked towards the door to Jade’s room, imagining what his mother and Jade were talking about. He hardly had any idea of what was going on, but somehow he knew Jade would fix it. The jewel carriers had been so kind to him, he knew he could trust them!
  “Sure Ruby. I’ll keep it safe forever!”
  By now Ruby’s tears were flowing like a fountain, but even so she couldn’t help grinning like a hyena as she pulled Tyler into a hug. “Thanks Tyler, now, I want to see you’re work. I’ll bet you’re a great little artist!”

  “I don’t see why I should have to answer toy you. You’re half my age!”
  “Well then you should know better.”
  Although Tyler’s mother tried to show maturity as Jade stared her down, she instantly felt like a child. “I don’t even know why I came here! Who the hell are you people and since when are you friends with my son?”
  “Since we found him alone in a mall and then found out his mother was a prostitute!”
  Jade was starting to get angry now. After hearing how attached Tyler was to his mother she never expected her to turn out like this! “You’d better give me a good reason why I shouldn’t call social services! Tyler’s a good kid and I don’t want to see him end up like you!”
  “No!”
  In an instant her mood changed. She switched from the defensive and darted forwards, wrapping her arms around Jade’s waist and wailing “Don’t take my son away from me!” she obviously cared a lot about Tyler, but Jade wasn’t convinced.
  Jade took a deep breath and slowly pushed her away. She looked into her eyes, trying to relax her as much as she could. “Then tell me why you’re doing this when you have a kid to look after.”
  “That’s it! I need to look after him! I can’t do any other jobs! I’ve had to do this for so long just to eat, and all those other moms can look after their kids…”
  Jade felt that she should be feeling sorry for her, but she still needed more answers. “Ok then, now how about you tell me why I found him alone in the mall?”
  “THAT WASN’T MY FAULT!”
  She was breathing so heavily now that Jade was afraid that she may have a heart attack in any second. “Ok, time to stop playing the bad cop.” She thought to herself.
  “That bastard said he would look after him for me and the kid takes him for a paedophile! Then he ran into you guys…”
  “It wasn’t any trouble, but I’m still not convinced I should give you any pity.”
  “Huh?”
  “There’s only one job you can do? Have you ever tried a job centre? And I’ll bet it wasn’t your fault that your four year old son was left alone with a stranger. You say you love your kid so much but you don’t know a thing about parenting!”
  “Well I haven’t had a lot of practice ok?”
  Her eyes began to fill with tears; Jade could tell she had struck a nerve. “I…. I had a kid about ten years ago. I was in this dirty job then as well. He was a boy, pretty cute. I had to give him up because I couldn’t look after him. I don’t want to give up Tyler as well! He’s all I’ve got left! If it wasn’t for this job we’d be sleeping on the streets!”
  That was it; Jade was convinced. Smiling, she placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Well, that’s all gonna change.”
  Grinning, Jade reached for her cell phone and brought up Crystal’s number. “Don’t you worry Hun, we’re gonna set things right.”


  One month later.

  Jade and Crystal knocked on the door for what must have been the third time. Tyler and his mother had been living in the apartment for around a week, and this was the first time they were checking up on them.
  “It was nice of the organisation to give you this job Crystal. Who’d have thought you’d be assigned to Tyler and his mother?”
  “Well, I’ve done a lot of work in the past; they owe me. Besides, nobody else really wanted the job.”
  All of a sudden the door flung open and an excited Tyler leapt out to greet the two cat sisters, his face full of joy. “Jade! Crystal! You finally came to visit!”
  Smiling sweetly, Jade gently stroked Tyler’s forehead and walked in through the door. “Wow, nice place you got here kid!”
  Full of energy, Tyler ran back inside, leaving Crystal out on the porch alone, going through her papers. “Let’s see…. Where’s that form…?”
  Crystal had worked for a lot of different charities in her time, but none as disorganised as this! The ‘helping the hindered’ charity did great work, but when it came to sorting the paper work it always took forever! “Let’s see, where’s Tyler’s file…. Here we go.”
  Crystal stared down at Tyler’s picture, her cheeks lighting up as she saw how happy he looked. So much had changed for them in such a short time; Tyler’s mother had a job in a local convenient store and she had sworn never to take up that horrible profession again. And of course Tyler seemed a lot happier since he had met the jewel carriers; Ruby and Jade especially.
  It was then that her eyes wandered to the name on Tyler’s file. It was tedious, but she needed to make sure everything was in order.
  “Let’s see, if I can find his last name maybe I could even track down his lost brother.”
  Her heart leapt at the thought of bringing even more happiness to these people and soon she was full of enthusiasm. She looked across his name: “Lets see, Tyler James Prow.... WHAT THE?!?!?!?”
  Crystal dropped the file in shock. “That can’t be!”
  Tyler’s mother had said that she has had another son but… what were the odds of this? How was this possible? What if it was true, what would she tell Ruby?!?!?
  “Tyler James Prower…”

  The End?

  Lol, sorry for that – I couldn’t resist. Hope you enjoyed reading it X D