The Knight is Still Young

Chapter 32

Four days later and Michael and KITT were on their way to see Ashley, it's needless to say the two of them were excited to see the young girl again, however it would appear that they arrived at precisely the wrong time. As they pulled up outside the Riders house they heard yelling coming from inside, whatever was happening wasn't good and Michael was rather concerned as to what was going on.

'Keep your scanners peeled, ok pal?' He said to the car as he got out and walked up to the front door.

'Yes Michael.' KITT replied.

The man then knocked on the door and moments later the door opened to reveal a rather upset and nervous Mathew.

'Hello, I don't know if you remember me or not, but I-'

'You're the man who dropped Ash off here, aren't you?' The boy cut him off, Michael nodded.

'Yes, that's me.'

'Oh no! Please don't take her away! Please! I know what she did wasn't right, but it wasn't that bad!' He started to beg. Michael stared at him confused.

'Why would I take her away? What has she done?'

'S-She.... Wait you don't know?'

'No.'

'So you're not going to take her from us?'

'No, of course not.'

'O-Ok.... So what are you doing here?'

'I came to see her, if that's alright.'

'Sure, but I warn you things aren't to great in there at the moment.... Still come in.' He invited him in and the man followed him through the house until they got to the kitchen where the fight was taking place.

'How dare you do such a thing! We take you in to our home, give you food and shelter, we take care of you and put you into school, try and make you a part of our family and this is how you repay us?! Why?!'  Jackson Rider was standing over the top of Ashley yelling at her furiously!

While the girl sat quivering silently, taking the abuse without question.  Michael was shocked and he felt his blood boil as he watched the man screaming at his daughter, he might not know what she had done, but whatever it was it surely wasn't enough to deserve this!

'What is going on here?!'  He asked loudly, gaining the attention of all who were in the room.

'M-Michael?'  Ashley's face lit up slightly as she saw her father.

'Mr Knight?!'  Jackson turned around to face him.  'What are you doing here?  How did you get in?'

'Your son let me in.'

'I see, well what do you want?  Can't you see we are having a family discussion?'

'What kind of a family discussion is this?!  You're abusing her!'  He accused furiously!

'I am not!  I am disciplining her!'  The other man replied, but Michael ignored him instead choosing to look at the terrified girl.

'Come here.'  He beckoned her forward and she ran over to him, throwing her arms around him as he kneeled down to her height.

'Oh Daddy!  Please tell me you've come to take me home!  I don't like it here!'  She pleaded quietly so only he could here.

'I'm sorry, my precious, but I only came to visit for the day....'

'What?!'

'Don't worry, I'll go and tell Devon right now what's going on and I'll take you home right away.'  He assured her, stroking her chestnut coloured hair as she buried her face into the crook of his neck. He then let go of her and stood up, glaring at the head of the Rider family. 'What did she do to deserve being verbally abused?!'

'She publicly humiliated my daughter!'

'How?'

'She-'

'I put glue on Hailey's seat and it dried after she sat on it so when she went to stand to go to the bathroom her skirt ripped.' Ashley explained keeping her gaze fixed firmly on the floor, unable to look her father in the eye.

'Why would you do something like that?' He asked shocked by her behaviour.

'Because.... I thought it would make me popular.' She lied.

'What?' Michael asked in disbelief. He would never have thought Ashley capable of something like that.

'I-I'm sorry....  I know it was wrong.'

'Now do you see why I was punishing her?'  Jackson sneered at her.

'What she did wasn't right, that's true, but that doesn't justify the fact that you were screaming at her while standing threateningly over the top of her and for a child like Ashley that can do serious damage to them so no!  Don't you dare try and justify yourself because she did something that wasn't very nice and use it as an excuse to yell at her like that!'

Teagan then stepped up as her husband prepared to retaliate and stopped him.

'He's right, Jackson. You shouldn't have been so hard on her.'

The man sighed and looked down at Ashley who continued to shiver under the harsh gaze of the adults around her.

'You're both right.  I'm sorry Ashley.'

'I-It's ok.' She whispered.

'No it's not, I've clearly upset you and I really am sorry, but next time, just tell us if you're having trouble fitting in at school instead of trying to pull a silly prank.'

'Y-Yes sir.'

'Well I'm glad we got that straightened out.  Now what brought you here, Mr Knight?'

'I came to see Ashley and spend a little time with her just to see how she's going, it's a thing we do as part of a program we come around once a month and check on the child.'  He lied.

'Oh ok then.'

'Why don't we go for a drive, alright Ashley?'  He suggested and she nodded mutely. 'Come on.' He gently took her hand and they walked out to KITT.

'Thank you.'  She said quietly.

'You're welcome.'

'Hi KITT.'

'Hello Ashley, how are you?'  He asked as she got into his passenger seat.

'Good.'

'That's good....  So where are we going?'  The AI asked.

'Good question....  Anything you wanna do Ash?'

'I don't know....  Beach?'

'I hoped you would say that.  Let's go!'