THE GENTLEMAN'S BAR: RISKS OF A PUNISHMENT

Cindy was at a table with her girlfriends celebrating her newfound single
life. They each had already downed 2 shots of tequila and starting on a
third round when her friend Lucy, a fiery red head, turned to her.

"I know you're happy to be single again girl. But, like, what happened to
Billy? I thought he was a nice sweet guy," she prodded as she took another
shot.

Cindy downed hers before replying, "That's just it Lucy. He was a nice guy,
that's the problem. Sure being a nice guy is ok once in a while but it just
gets so boring!" She paused to bite the lime wedge from her glass, "I'm
just happy that I was finally able to brake up with him. And this time I
don't have to feel guilty about it," she said smugly.

"What'd you do?" Lucy asked.

"I made a trap for him. So, if he fell for it, then it's all his fault,"
she said as she drank from a beer put down in front of her.

This time Lucy was worried, "Cindy, what did you do?" The other girls
stopped chatting amongst themselves and looked at Cindy expectantly.

Cindy looked around at her friends with a perplexed look on her face,
"What? I told him I was being blackmailed and that they were at the bar
here and I had Marsha waiting to get him riled up where the bouncer would
take care of him."

Lucy spat out the beer she was drinking and after wiping her chin, "Are you
crazy girl?" she said in a hushed but harsh tone, "You can't mess with
the bouncer! What if he heard you?" she asked as she looked around wide-
eyed.

Cindy, calmly sipping her beer again, replied, "It's alright, I already
checked before I told you guys. He went outside." When she looked at her
girlfriends sitting across from her they both had the look of a deer caught
in the headlights. Cindy turned to Lucy who was looking behind her as well
with the same look.

Before Cindy could turn around she heard a voice that sent chills down her
spine, "The Gentleman's Bar is meant for enjoying yourselves in comfort and
safety. That is why I am here," the voice said before Cindy turned her head
to look over her shoulder to see a lean-looking man in a dark expensive
looking tux known to everyone at the bar as the bouncer.

He did not look happy.

"So you are the one responsible," he said, "I'm ashamed to have played a
part in your pettiness. Now please, take out your drivers license and place
it on the table."

Cindy's mind was racing. She and everyone else knew what the bouncer was
capable of. And right now he was focused solely on her, "What are...," she
started, trying to think of something to say to get his attention off her
but the bouncer cut her off.

"Please take out your drivers license and place it on the table," he
repeated in a firmer voice.

With trembling hands Cindy complied, with trembling hands, she took her
license out of her purse and put it on the table in front of her. She
rested her forearms on the table sitting still and staring straight ahead
as if that would convince the bouncer that she wasn't there.

She jumped when the bouncer placed both hands on her shoulders. Without a
word he began to press down on her shoulders. Cindy looked to her friends
hoping that they'd be able to help but saw only terror in their eyes. Cindy
them began to feel as if the air was being pushed out of her like a ball.
As the bouncer continued pushing down, Cindy began to feel her arms being
pulled towards her. Her legs that had been folded under her chair began to
drag forward. It was when she noticed that the table was getting closer and
feeling her legs actually dangling that she realised that she was getting
smaller. After what seemed like seconds the bouncer lifted his hands from
her now smaller shoulders.

Cindy stared at her hands that had somehow became so much smaller and
childish looking. The dress she was wearing that was tight on her earlier
now felt like a sleeping bag it was so baggy. The bouncer then picked
Cindy's license pulled out the handkerchief from his breast pocket and used
it to wipe the license as if he were cleaning it. A minute later the
bouncer handed Cindy's license back to her. Taking it, she was shocked to
see that it wasn't her drivers license anymore. The bouncer had turned it
into a library card. The card showed a picture of a small young child. With
a start, Cindy realised that the picture must be what she looks like now.
Staring at the information on the card, she was now apparently five years
old.

"Now, If you ladies will excuse me, I have a call to make. Please make sure
that the child stays out of trouble." He turned to Cindy. "You are now cut
off," he said as he pulled the glass of beer away from Cindy and walked
away.

Cindy's girlfriends suddenly made excuses before leaving, only her BFF Lucy
remained.

Both were silent for a moment, the rest of the bar had returned to its
usual bustle, Lucy attempted to relieve the tension at the table. "Well. At
least your change was gentle."

"Not funny!" Cindy shouted and instantly put a hand to her mouth shocked by
the shrill voice that came out of her.

Lucy suppressed a giggle. "You were asking for it."

Cindy growled as she almost reached for her glass that was no longer there.
Cursing to herself she flagged a passing waitress for another beer.

"I'm sorry," she said, almost patronising. "But serving alcohol to minors
is illegal." With that she walked off to another table.

Cindy crossed her arms and sulked looking at the drink still in front of
Lucy.

Lucy saw her staring, and pulled her drink closer to herself. "Oh no," she
scolded. "I'm not going to help you get drunk now. I'd hate to think what
they'd do to me if I got caught."

Cindy bulked at that and just resigned to sulking in her chair that was now
to big for her. After some time she got fed up and tried to leave but was
turned around at the door by the bouncer. Half an hour later a woman,
escorted by the bouncer walked up to Cindy's table.

"Excuse me," the bouncer started. "Your mother is here to collect you," he
said gesturing to the woman beside him.

Cindy stared at her. The woman was blonde and was dressed gaudy like a
stripper or prostitute. The image wasn't helped by the fact that her breast
were huge double D's. Her face was the epitome of raw sex as well. With
pouty lips a dainty nose and blue eyes that seemed to beg for sex
continuously. Despite all this oozing sex appeal she looked uncertain, her
eyes darting to everyone in the bar, always back to the bouncer. But there
was one thing about this woman. She wasn't Cindy's mom. She was way too
young.

"She's not my mom," Cindy stated flatly while staring at her. "My mom died
four years ago anyways," she said defiantly.

The bouncer sighed. "That may have been the case for the old you. But this
lady here is uniquely qualified to take care of you."

Cindy slid off her chair, stumbling a little still being unused to the
slight drop to the floor. She walked up to them having to crane her neck to
look up at them. "There is no way this tramp is taking care of me."

The bouncer cleared his throat while the woman continued to look nervous and
unsure of herself.

"If you won't accept the arrangement I've made, then I will have to call
child services," the bouncer told Cindy.

"I-. Fine then," she said in defeat. She could always run away and make it
back to her place later.

"Very well then. The lady will take you home," the bouncer said.

As Cindy began to leave with the woman, the bouncer tapped the woman's
shoulder. "I am sorry for the role I played. While I can't change you back,
I can relieve some of the punishment I've placed on you." The woman nodded
whole heartedly. The bouncer asked her for her drivers license which she
gave. He wiped the card with his handkerchief before handing it back. Her
eyes bulged when she looked over the information on the card. As they left
the bar the bouncer called out to them. "I expect for you not to return to this
establishment until you're twenty-one Chad,"

For a moment, Cindy wondered why he called her Chad until she reasoned that
it must have been the woman's name. As they walked into the parking lot the
woman pulled out her remote starter. Pressing the button, the headlights of
an Mercedes Benz lite up with a quick beep of the horn. The woman stopped
obviously surprised.

"What's wrong?" Cindy asked hiking her dress up while trying to keep her
feet in the heels as she dragged them along the ground.

"N-nothing. It's just that I pulled up in a crappy hatch-back," she said as
she started walking again.

As they got in, the woman checked her drivers license again before starting
the car. "My name's Bobbi by the way," she said as they pulled out of the
parking lot. "It used to be Billy but, well, I don't really want to talk
about it right now."

This made Cindy nervous causing her to pull out her new library card.
There, plain as day (or night as it is right now) was the name Chad West.
With a start she reached for her crotch where she was shocked to discover
that it had something more than she last remembered.

Bobbi glanced over. "Is there something wrong?"

Cindy flinched as she squeezed. "No, nothings wrong," she said quickly. They
spent the rest of the ride in silence.

They later pulled up into the drive way to a huge fancy house. They both
let out an astonished "Wow" before getting out of the car and walking up to
the door. Bobbi pulled out her keys and opened the door.

After walking in Cindy searched for a bathroom and locked the door. Seeing
a full sized mirror in the shower door she removed her dress and underwear.
She stared at her younger body for the longest time before she felt a
twinge in her neither region. With a sigh she turned to the toilet. She was
about to sit down when a thought occurred to her.

"Well since I have a penis now, I may as well see what the fuss is about."

She pulled the seat up and for lack of a better word, took aim, and
relaxed. And immediately flexed muscles she didn't know she had when piss
sprayed out all over the toilet and the floor around it. After grabbing a
wad of toilet paper to wipe up the toilet she pulled the seat back down and
sat down shoving her penis between her legs to finish relieving herself.
After she finished and wiped herself dry she cleaned up what she missed on
the floor. Washing her hands was embarrassing since she had to pull a stool
over so she could reach the sink.

She grabbed her penis in her hand. "How the hell do I work this thing?" she
wondered staring at it. "Wha-I'm not even circumcised," she shouted pulling
at the flap of skin covering the head of her penis.

She then heard a knock. "What is it?" Cindy asked pulling a towel off the
wall.

"I think I found your room so I got some cloths that will fit you. They'd
probably feel better than the dress you had."

Cindy grimaced and opened the door wide enough to accept her new cloths.
She pulled on the plain underwear then the red t-shirt and finally the jean
overalls. She took a moment to look at herself in the mirror again. She
looked like any ordinary five year old kid. She groaned, hating her new
body. Leaving the bathroom, she followed Bobbi who lead her to her new
room. It looked like any other little boys room. There were some dinosaur
toys on the floor. The book case was filled with Sesame Street books. The
bed spread had teenage mutant ninja turtles designs on it.

"This is just great!" Cindy said to herself hating the room already. She
looked up at Bobbi noticing that she had changed into more respectable
looking cloths. Cindy climbed up and sat on her new bed patting the spot
beside her for Bobbi to sit which she took.

"So," Cindy started. "Do you want to talk about what happened with you and
the bar?"

"Well," Bobbi said looking off. "Back then, I was a guy."

"It usually is," Cindy said.

Bobbi chuckled. "Heh, I did hear things like that after the fact. Anyways,
my girlfriend told me that some guy was blackmailing her and was at the
Gentleman's Bar. No sooner I did then some crazy lady comes up to me
claiming I stole something from her. She kept getting in my face and when I
tried pushing her away, she somehow flies backwards screaming bloody murder
of how I was beating her up and going to kill her. The next I knew, the
bouncer shows up and," she paused holding herself shaking from the memory.
"He changed me into this sexed up woman. Once I left I discovered that My
old self no longer existed and I now worked at a seedy stripper joint where
they had very loose rules against touching the dancers. I was... Expected
to service the customers in between dances. I couldn't even escape my
situation at home since "home" turned out to be a shitty apartment that was
infested with bugs in the dangerous side of town where you're just as much
expected to get raped as you are to get mugged." She then began to tear up.
"I just don't know what I did to deserve something like that. And then, out
of the blue, while I'm "servicing" in the alley behind the strip joint, the
bouncer shows up knocking out the guy forcing himself on me and drives me
to the bar. I thought that he was going to something worse like parade me
in front of the others like a warning to the others there."

"The bouncer doesn't need to do that. Everyone knows what happens when you
break the rules at that bar. The regulars have seen it every now and then
when a new person comes in thinking they're all high and mighty," Cindy explained.
The irony not being lost on her.

"So what did you do?" Bobbi asked.

"I tried to abuse what the bouncer does," Cindy said quietly.

Sensing that it was a touchy subject, Bobbi left it for now. "Anyways, as
he's driving me to the bar he's apologising the whole way about how I was
punished by mistake and that the people involved have been punished. I was
beyond surprised in the way he made it up to me. I could never imagine
living in a big place like this in the rich part of town. I even have a job
like my old one, albeit a higher paying one," she mused.

Suddenly, Cindy let out a yawn as she rubbed her eyes.

"Looks like someone needs to sleep," Bobbi said as she pulled Cindy up to
draw the covers open and laid Cindy down.

"But I'm not tired," Cindy pouted weakly. "And I'm not a child," she
complained before trying to stifle another yawn.

Bobbi tucked Cindy in, much to her embarrassment, and got up to turn the
light off and leave. "I'm not saying you are a child but your body does
need its sleep if you expect to grow up quickly. Besides, you'll have to be
up early for tomorrow since you are enrolled to start kindergarten." She
then flicked off the light and closed the door.

"What? What do you mean start kindergarten tomorrow?" Cindy asked. But she
could already hear Bobbi's footsteps going down the hall. Cindy tried for
the next hour to stay awake but her new younger body betrayed her and she
was fast asleep.

The next morning she was woken by a hand gently shaking her. She looked up
to see Bobbi standing over her. "Bluh?"

"Time to wake up and get ready for school. I have breakfast ready in the
kitchen," she said before leaving.

Cindy slowly sat up and got out of bed. she plodded over to the bathroom on
autopilot to relive herself. It wasn't until she had trouble getting on the
toilet that she remembered what had happened to her yesterday night. She
sat there a moment before nature made a more urgent call forcing her to
face her business. After washing her hands, she made her way downstairs to
the kitchen she was greeted by the smell of freshly cooked waffles. As she
climbed the chair, Bobbi put the plate of waffles down in front of her.

"I hope you like blueberries in your waffles. I used to cook them that way
for my old girlfriend since they were her favorite. I kind of got carried
away making them like that so if you want anything else, let me know.
However, it's going to have to be cereal since we only have so much time
till I have to drive you to school."

"No, these are great. They're actually my favorite too. But why do I have
to go to school? It's not like I'll learn anything new," she said as she
shoved a mouthful in.

"Maybe before you changed it wouldn't be a problem but you're a whole new
person now. Believe me, I was way overqualified to be working in a strip
joint but I couldn't prove it since the person I became apparently never
finished high school. Just think of It being a refresher course. And you
could try something different for a career this time around."

Cindy swallowed another bite. "You're awfully chipper for someone who went
through hell the last few days," she said eyeing her.

"I won't deny that it had been hard when I was there. I'm not sure if I'd
be able to live with myself much longer. Being forced to go down on some
stinking sweaty guy or else he or my boss will beat me really left me
feeling depressed. I'd be lying if I said that I never considered drugs or
worse to get through it. If the bouncer never showed up, I don't know what
would happen."

Cindy looked at her plate in solace. She had her suspicions last night when
she told her that her old name was Billy as well as her story but after
hearing what she said, she was sure of it. While she didn't know what would
happen to Billy after the bouncer was done with him she didn't expect him
to be degraded like that. She always thought the bouncer just changed people
and he was done with it. She'd seen men that became women return to the bar
so she always assumed...

"I'm sorry," Cindy said with tears in her eyes.

"What are you sorry for?"

"It's me, Cindy!" she cried.

"Wait a-"

Cindy cut her off. "I was the one that set you up. That woman that got you
into trouble was a friend of mine. I'm the one responsible for the hell you
went through." She got off her chair rounded the table and hugged Bobbi,
no, Billy around the waist as she cried into her side. "I'm so sorry for
putting you through this. It's all my fault, I'm the worst person ever! I
just thought he was going to turn you into a girl and that was it. It
wasn't even a good reason either, I was just tired of you," she stopped to
sniffle with watery eyes and turned away with her head down. "I'll
understand if you want me to go away. I never deserved a nice guy like
you."

She began to walk away but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder that
pulled her back into a hug that seemed to swallow her whole body. "I don't
hate you," Bobbi said as she continued to hold her close. "I wasn't much of
a boyfriend was I?" She lifted Cindy's head. "If you'll have me, I will be
the best mother I can for you."

Cindy ran her sleeve under her nose. "Th-that was really corny," she said
with a laugh.

Bobbi pulled a napkin from the table to help blow Cindy's nose which she
took. "Yeah, but I know that it's the corny jokes that get you," she said
with a smile before turning her around. "Now hurry up and eat. You still
need to go up and get changed since you're still wearing your cloths from
yesterday."

With a thankful nod Cindy wolfed her waffles down and ran back upstairs to
change into a blue t-shirt and beige kaki pants then ran back down to
Billy who was standing by the door with a lunch bag in hand and a brief
case in the other. The car ride to Cindy's new school was short. Cindy gave
Billy a quick hug before getting out of the car and entering the school.
She made it just in time as the bell rang where the teacher took a few
minutes to settle the class down.

"Hello class, I'm Mrs. Turner. Let's start the school year by introducing
ourselves. Lets start with you," she said pointing to Cindy.

Cindy looked around the other students, her new classmates. She felt
anxiety and nervousness. "My name is Ci-Chad. My name is Chad West, and I'm
new to the school." There was some chuckles and laughter around her causing
her to duck her head down and blush in embarrassment.

"Now class, you're all new to this school so there is no reason to laugh.
Now lets continue with introducing ourselves," the teacher said pointing to
the girl on Cindy's right.

The introductions quickly went around the circle of kids, some saying weird
and funny things as most kids that age do, relieving Cindy that she was no
longer the center of attention. The day quickly went on from there, much of
it being boring to Cindy as half of it was singing kid songs and the rest
was just the chaotic play that only five year olds could bring about. Half
way through the day a boy named Troy asked if Cindy wanted to be friends.
She almost turned him downed but considered the fact that she was going to
have to grow up all over again and it be better if she had at least one
friend, even if that friend was, mentally at least, younger than her. So
after that thought she accepted and played with him the rest of the day.

Before she realised it, the day was over and the kids filed out waiting for
the busses or their parents to pick them up. An hour later, Cindy was still
waiting by the door waiting for Billy to come and pick her up. After seeing
the last kid get picked up, she began to hyperventilate. What if Billy
decided that he didn't want her to live with him? He had no obligation to
care for her and could just as easily stick her in child services. She was
just about to consider running back to her real home when she saw a grey
Mercedes pull up in front of her honking the horn. Seeing Billy in the
drivers seat she ran for the passenger seat and climb in sniffling again.

"Where were you?" she cried grabbing hold of Billy's arm since it was in
reach.

"I'm sorry, work ran a little long and the traffic was hectic. Can you
believe I hit every single red light getting here?"

"So you didn't decide that you didn't want me anymore?"

"Of course not," Billy said stroking Cindy's hair to comfort her. "If I
didn't toss you out this morning, I'm not going to now."

Cindy looked up smiling and tried her best to reach around Billy to give him
a hug.

"But I am going to have to ask you to get out of the car though," Billy
said causing Cindy to draw back in shock. Cindy immediately began to think
that Billy wanted her to walk home.

So she got out and began to make her way off when she heard Billy shout.
"Where are you going?"

Cindy turned and walked back to the car peering over the open window of the
door. "I thought you wanted me to walk home."

This caused Billy to laugh. "You dummy, you're a five year child right now.
Unless you're sitting on a booster seat, it's illegal for you to ride in
the front."

Cindy felt her cheeks flush as she got in the back seat. "This isn't funny
you know," she said with a pout.

"Just think of it as me chauffeuring you around," Billy said with a laugh.

Five years had passed. Cindy and Billy, or Chad and Bobbi now, had truly formed a
parent/child relationship. Chad had began to think of Bobbi as her mother.
On reaching ten years of age again Chad almost missed the changes that
were happening to his body. Since he had a penis he assumed he'd end up
being a guy but as puberty started to hit him he noticed his pecks puffing
out into budding breasts. His hips had also begun to widen as well. And
while his face was always on the androgynous side, after the growing
breast and hips, his face had slowly began to look more feminine than
masculine.

By this time in his life he had been taking the bus to school. While he
could do nothing to hide his face, he began to strap his breast down to
prevent others from noticing. But as his puberty ran on, his breast got
bigger, his hips got wider and his face grew unmistakably more feminine.
This change hadn't gone unnoticed by his class mates and they began teasing
him by name calling then shooting spit balls. Troy, who had been his friend
since kindergarten had finally broken their friendship under the peer
pressure and joined the others in her torment.

Bobbi had quite obviously noticed his changes and they made a trip to the
doctors who ran every test under the sun. While Chad and Bobbi waited as
the doctor looked over the test results, the two were anxious for the
verdict. The doctor grunted as he looked through each page until finally
he put the folder down.

"Well?" Bobbi asked as she held tight to Chad's hand.

The doctor took a breath and scratched his beard a moment. "I can't explain
it," he said bluntly.

"What do you mean? What's happening with my son?"

"I'm not sure Ms. West. Your son seems to be experiencing a highly unusual
form of hermaphroditism. There's nothing in his blood work to show why this
is happening. He has the normal XY chromosome pair for a healthy male.
That's not to say it's not unheard of. There are a number of people who
have a different chromosome pair to what their apparent sex is. And while a
small percentage of hermaphrodites do develop some secondary
characteristics I've never heard of a case where a perfectly normal boy
undergoing such an aggressive attack of the female characteristics. If I
didn't know better, from just a glance, I would have said your son was
indeed a girl. Now that's not to say this type has never happened it's just
exceedingly rare."

"So where does that leave me?" Chad asked. "Do I take hormones or
something?"

The doctor shook his head. "Unfortunately no. At this stage, hormone
treatment may halt the advance of your female characteristics but it won't
reverse them. You will still have wide hips like your mother and while you
may grow facial hair with the treatment your face will retain its female
shape. Only reconstructive surgery would "fix" this and you'd still come
out looking like an effeminate boy. It would be an easier task to remove
your male genitailia and fashion an artificial vagina instead. But I must
insist that this is an extreme option at this stage in your development and
I wouldn't recommend it. It may do you more harm than good later in life."

That news hit Chad like a bomb. He just wanted to be normal. It was even
worse since he had yet to tell Bobbi about the other kids teasing him.

It was several months after the meeting with the doctor that his rides to
and from school on the bus had sunk to a new level of hell. The kids that
rode with him had began to flick him behind the ears. It didn't matter
where he sat, even when he sat behind the driver there would still be
someone sitting behind him flicking his ears. it had gotten so bad with
just a week of this constant barrage that he had become a twitchy mess
fearing contact from anyone at school.

One day, he intentionally missed the bus home so he could make the trek
home in somewhat peace. On his way he stopped at a city bus stop near a
seven eleven. Cars were whizzing by obviously in a hurry to get home ahead
of the rat race. Not wanting to but unable to stop it, he relived the
nightmares he lived through while on the school bus. He felt each finger
flick of his ears when suddenly he saw a truck barreling up the street a
little faster than the speed limit allowed. With very little thought except
wanting the torture to stop, he took a step forwards in front of the
oncoming truck.

Just before it hit him, a hand grabbed hold of his collar and yanked him
back just missing the truck by mere inches as it sped past, its horn
blaring.

Rubbing his throat he looked up and over his shoulder to see the bouncer
from the Gentleman's Bar still wearing his expensive looking tux standing
behind him.

"Why don't I give you a ride home," he said as he gestured to the parking
lot at the seven eleven. Not knowing what else to do, and still in shock
from his near death experience, he followed him to a 1950's Oldsmobile
that looked to be in pristine condition.

They both climbed in and drove off. It seemed as if the world was working
against them as they seemed to hit every red light they came across.

Chad looked out the window not really thinking of anything until he
asked the question. "Why?"

The bouncer was silent for a moment. "Why what?" he asked back.

Chad turned to him. "Why did you turn me into a freak? Why am I growing
breast and why does my face look like a girls? Do you get off on doing this
to people?" she accused.

"I have never taken the slightest pleasure in punishing anyone," he said
grimly.

"What did I do to deserve this kind of punishment? Do you have any idea what
I go through every day when I ride the bus? Everybody treats me like shit!
And everyone looks the other way when I get picked on. Even in class the
teachers would send me out to the hall for causing a distraction, they
won't listen when I try to tell them what happened. So what did I do to
deserve this. I nearly killed myself just now."

The bouncer let out a huge sigh. "What did Bobbi do to deserve her
punishment?"

Chad stared at him. "That's not fair!" he said turning his head away.

"What did Bobbi do to deserve his punishment?" the bouncer asked again.

Chad continued to look out the window until they stopped at another red
light. "At the time I was bored of him. I didn't want to put up with any
brake up so I thought up that thing at the bar," he admitted in shame.

"Billy, or Bobbi as she is now, was forced into every sexual act you could
think of. If she resisted in any way she was beaten for it. Had I not found
out your scheme She might have found herself in the position you almost put
yourself in years ago. Even though she is innocent, she can never go back
to the life she once had before she walked into the bar. I can't bring her
back to normal but I can at least make her life easier than it was during
her false punishment," the bouncer said as he put the car in gear as the light
turned green.

"But why turn me into a child? And why a boy if I was going to turn out
like this?" he gestured down at himself.

"You were being childish for how you decided to work things out with your
boyfriend. I punished you this way so you would feel how Bobbi felt," he explained.

"How is that the same thing?"

"You were friends with a boy named Troy, yes?"

"Yeah, until he got tired of all the teasing..." Chad stopped.

"Your situation was a little more extreme than Bobbi's initially but they
are similar," he said glancing over to him.

"Then why have her be my mom? Why didn't you just send me to some foster
home where I'd probably get eaten alive for growing up like this?"

"Because Bobbi still loves you," he said plainly.

Chad stopped at that.

"While she was getting beaten by random drunks she was still thinking of
you, hoping that the person who was "blackmailing" you had decided to leave
you alone," he stated

That news made Chad's eyes tear up. Billy still loved him even when he was
suffering those few days of his punishment. "Do you always try to save the
people you punish from killing themselves?"

"Yes."

"Do you always make it?"

There was a pause.

"Not always," he admitted. Chad heard the faintest strain in his voice
when he said that. "While some may say those I punish rightfully deserve
what they get. Those that are punished never deserve that fate. I can only
set the punishment. How long that punishment lasts depends on the person.
Some people understand their punishment and are better for it. Others loose
themselves and sink in it not realising that they are able to leave."

"But how do they know they can leave unless you tell them you can," Chad
asked.

"Even if I do tell a person they can escape their punishment. It is up to
them to decide if they feel they are deserving of it."

"That sounds like you're evading responsibility."

"If I told ever person I had to punish that they can leave anytime then it
wouldn't be much of a punishment," he replied. "I know, it's not a fair
answer but when has this world been fair?" he asked as he pulled up to
Chad's house. As he got out, the bouncer called out to him. "Just one
more thing. You aren't alone. You have a mother who loves you and she will
always love you no matter how your body may turn out."

Chad nodded at that and shut the door. As he got to the door of the house
he looked back to see that the car and the bouncer had disappeared as if
he was never there. He walked in the door and silently waited for his mother.

Ten minutes later Chad heard the door opened and went to see his mother
walking in.

"Hello Chad, how was your day?"

Chad swallowed the lump in his throat and walked over to hug her. With
tear filled eyes he looked at his mother saying. "Mom? There's something
I've been meaning to tell you about school."