It has been almost a year since Kyle found Lyra in the forest, and already, she has shown some pretty rapid growth. Even though she was only eleven, it seemed like she was into the early teen stage of her growth. She was definitely no longer a filly, but still not large or old enough to be a mare. She was roughly the young-teen size between mare and filly.

This proved to be a challenge when trying to conceal her breath a jacket. Kyle had decided that she was too large to do so. But, he had been planning ahead for this; he decided to purchase a costume for Lyra so that she could resemble a canine pet for when he decides to take her out with him. Out of all the costumes from the list, she seemed to like the wolf costume the most. So, Kyle ordered it, and it arrived in a few days. Lyra tried it on, and it fit her perfectly! She loved it.

One day, shortly after Kyle returned from a walk with Lyra, Danny confronted him just after the young mare managed to hide in her makeshift hiding spot in the closet that Kyle made by cutting an opening in an old, tall wicker basket, and throwing some sheets over it to make it blend in.

“You'd better stay down here!” Danny said. “Come out of your room, and you're DEAD!”

“Why?” Kyle asked.

“Because you're weird! And I don't want the girl I'm having over know that!” Danny said.

Wait... a girl!? Kyle thought bitterly. Danny got a GIRL!? HOW!? HE'S A TOTAL DOUCHEBAG! WHAT CHICK WOULD TOLERATE HIM!?

After Danny left, Kyle laid on his bed, stirring with anger, envy, and extreme jealousy. He could not get his head around the fact that all of the rude, selfish guys get the girls, but the kind, genuinely-caring guys just don't. It made zero sense.

Lyra decided to come out and see what was up.

"What's wrong, Kyle?" she asked.

"I don't get it. I just don't frickin' get it." Kyle responded.

"You don't get what?" Lyra said.

Kyle sighed. "...Ever since I became a teenager, I've wanted a girlfriend more than anything. But every time I've tried to get one, it always backfires on me. And yet, there are all these stupid, messed-up guys who are getting girls in their beds on the first night! I just don't understand how they do it..." he said.

Lyra looked a little confused. "Human girls like rude guys? You're right; that doesn't make any sense..."

"Exactly!" Kyle said. "You would want a kind, well-mannered stallion over a bad, stupid one, right?"

Lyra nodded. "Yeah, who wouldn't?"

“I swear... this world drives me absolutely bus-a-looey!” Kyle said.

“Absolutely what?” Lyra asked, looking lost.

“Well... it's a reference to Arthur, an educational cartoon that I watched all the time as a kid. Anyways..." Kyle said, standing. "...I'm gonna go see what they're up to..."

After the girl arrived, she went up to Danny's bedroom, where she appeared to be watching him playing a video game... at least from what Kyle could observe. He dare not try to open the door, or Danny would probably beat him senseless. So, he just listened through the door.

“Yeah, so I've already got about two-hundred friends on here.” Danny said. “Most of 'em are just a bunch of bitches... oh, oh-oh-oh! YEAH! FUCK YOU, NOOB! Pwned your assed!”

“YEAH!” the girl said. “Own these whores!”

Kyle was disgusted by their behavior.

This makes NO sense. Girls like obnoxious guys, but don't care for a kind, caring guy such as myself? What IS the female mind...? he thought.

(XXXX)

Kyle got bored with spying and decided to return to his room, where he more or less just spent some time lounging with Lyra, both of them surfing the web on his laptop.

Lyra looked at the painting of a field with mountains in the background, hanging on the wall right above Kyle's bed.

“You know, I've always thought that's a very nice painting!” she commented. “Where'd you get it?”

“I painted it.” Kyle said.

Lyra's eyes went wide. “You painted that!?” she asked, amazed.

“Yep.” Kyle said. “Back when I was in high school... but, I really hate to think about those years.”

Lyra returned her attention to the painting. “It's amazing! It looks almost like it was taken with a camera!” she said.

“Really?” Kyle asked. “C'mon, it's not that great...”

Lyra's face fell. “Kyle... why do you always do that?” she asked.

“Do what?” Kyle questioned.

“You never seem to appreciate the good things about yourself!” Lyra said. “You always brush it off, saying that it's not that great! Why don't you ever praise yourself?”

Kyle shuffled his feet nervously. He knew why, but it was embarrassing to admit to anyone... but maybe it would be okay to say it to Lyra.

“Well, see Lyra...” he began. “...I don't really have a lot of self-confidence. Back when I was little... I was extremely shy and had trouble understanding other people. I was always bullied, both by my peers and my stepfamily. Everyone always criticized me and put me down... and because everyone seemed to think so, I thought that they were right about it...”

"Kyle...!" Lyra said, stunned at his lack of self-esteem. "...They are NOT right about it! You define yourself, not other people! If the people around you don't support you, try looking outside the boundaries for people who do care."

"Yeah, that would've made sense if I thought about it back then." Kyle said. “School never really mattered much to me... I was never involved in any clubs or the student council... I would just attend my regular classes and then head home... I wasn't popular at all...” he briefly trailed off. “...I was just another face in the crowd that nobody would look twice at.”

"And also, I don't get why your stepdad and stepbrother get so up on your case about painting! I think it's a great skill to have! Art is a passion!" Lyra said.

"...Only my mother really appreciated my talent." Kyle said, somberly.

“You talk about your mother quite a lot.” Lyra said. “What was she like?”

Kyle pulled out his wallet. “Here's a picture of her...” he said, opening his wallet and showing her the small picture of a woman with the same light skin and dark-brown hair that he had.

“Oh...” Lyra said as she looked. “...she's pretty. I can see the resemblance.”

“Her name is Jan Rhodes-Schaeffer.” Kyle said. "Up until I was nine, she was married to my biological father, William Schaeffer... but... my father..." he briefly paused. "...he died in a plane crash when he was returning from a business trip."

"Oh, Kyle!" Lyra said, her eyes widening in sorrow. "I'm so sorry to hear that!"

Kyle continued: "Of course, me and my mother both took it very hard... the airline company compensated us with a large sum of money... b-but... nothing could ever... r-replace my dad..." he said, struggling to keep himself together. "...he was... a good man... the... best m-man I've ever known..."

He took a few breaths to pull himself together.

"So, both I and my mother were quite depressed for a long time... but my mom couldn't stand to have me suffering the way I was. So she took time off from work, and we did a lot of things together to take my mind off it. I was happy, so she was happy." Kyle said.

Lyra nodded. "It's only a mother's duty to look after her kids."

“She always wanted to do what she could to keep me happy.” Kyle said. “If I was having a bad day, she would go out of her way to cheer me up. She hated seeing me sad.”

He had to really collect himself for the next part, as it was the part that involved the time his life hit rock bottom...

"A little while later, my mom started dating." he began. "She dated an assortment of men, before she settled on Ed. At first, he seemed like a kind, spontaneous, benignly-sarcastic man, and I seemed to think so, too. We had been visiting the Richardsons for quite a bit of time before eventually moving in with them. My mother thought it was the best decision, both psychologically and financially.

“It was only after she got engaged and filed the child custody papers with the court that Ed revealed his true nature. He became irate for even the smallest things... he even started beating her. I was only eleven at the time, but I can still remember jolting whenever he got the urge to randomly backhand her. After about a year, she had enough, and then she decided, in secret, that she was going to leave.”

Lyra looked really saddened. “Why didn't she take you with her?” she asked.

Kyle hung his head down. “She wanted to. In fact, she was desperate to take me with her. But for whatever reason, she couldn't get the court to give her legal custody of me. They didn't have enough evidence to prove that Ed was ineligible to assume custody. It was a losing battle, and with Ed putting most of her money into his own account instead of a joint account, she couldn't get a good lawyer with her free representation. Ed, on the other hand, was spending most of her money to hire some pretty high-end attorney to convince the court to rule in his favor... I guess he wanted to keep me around to do all his heavy lifting for him. Then, on the day before she disappeared, I saw her sitting on the porch. She was crying. She was repeatedly saying to herself 'I don't want to, but I have to'...”

Kyle was starting to choke up and tears filled his eyes.

“...and then, on the following morning, really early before Ed woke up, my mom came to my bedroom and woke me. She told me that she had to go somewhere. I asked her where, but she said it was better if I didn't know. She had tears in her eyes as she was saying all of this to me. I didn't understand what was going on. All she told me was 'Be brave, Kyle. And just know that, even if I'm not here, I will love you to the end of the world'. Then, she gave me a long hug and kissed me on the cheek and left. I think I might have fallen asleep, because I woke up a few hours later, and rushed out of my room to look for her... but she was gone.”

Lyra was now tearing up herself. “Oh, Kyle...” she said.

“After that, I started sitting at the porch every day after finishing my homework, until the sun would set, just waiting for her to return.” Kyle said.

Kyle looked out the window of his room.

“I waited...” he said.

The sky was deep azure with pink clouds as the sun set outside.

“...and waited...” Kyle continued.

The faint breeze made the branches of the trees outside sway ever so slightly.

“...but she never came back.” Kyle said.

Lyra was looking like she had just finished watching Interstellar.

"The worst part: I have no other living relatives..." Kyle said. "...my grandparents died before I was born, and when I was very young... and my parents both had no siblings..."

He hung his head down, slouching forward. All of these memories came flooding back to him, just as painful as they were when they had formed.

“I-I really miss my m-mom...” Kyle said. “...I really want t-to see her again.”

It was in that moment that Lyra burst into tears and lunged at Kyle, pulling him into a tight hug.

“I-I'm so sorry, Kyle...!” Lyra sobbed. “N-no one... should e-ever have to... g-g-go through this...!”

Kyle hugged the young mare back. "...But, I just want to say... thank you, Lyra." he began. "You've really helped me to cope a LOT better than I could have done without anyone to be there for me."

He then slightly separated himself from her... and leaned his head towards her's.

"You have been that small ray of sunlight penetrating the dark stormcloud of my life..." he continued, slowly leaning closer.

"...And you've helped me realize how even a savage creature from legends... can actually be very... caring..." Lyra said, leaning closer to Kyle herself.

The two closed their eyes slowly... pursing their lips... going in for the point of contact...

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

Danny's footsteps were coming down the stairs. Lyra quickly hid as Kyle hastily opened his laptop to pretend to be doing something. As usual, he barged into Kyle's room.

"Where's your art scraps?" Danny asked.

Kyle tilted his head. "Why?"

"Because," Danny said. "I'm gonna show them to Gretchen, and tell her that I painted them."

Kyle glared. "Not a chance! That's plagiarism! You can't take credit for my--"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Danny snapped. "Do it, or I'll grab a knife and slice your neck while you're asleep!"

"Ngh... fine!" Kyle said.

He grabbed his box of old art projects, and gave them to Danny, who went back up to his room, satisfied in a smug way.

"Christ..." Kyle said to himself. "...he's willing to do anything to keep this girl, and not care about the risks of lying. Oh well, his odds, not mine..."

Author's Note

Okay, I know that the custody scenario is fairly far-fetched. But, let's just assume that it's one of the many corrupt courts in the United States, with the attorney representing Ed possibly forging evidence for him. It's just a made-up scenario, too. Really, I had to think of something that would separate Kyle and his mother.