Disclaimer: All easily recognizable characters belong to Disney/Pixar.

Two Worlds, Two Lives

Karen Snowby sighed as she limped towards the front steps of Northside Middle School. 'Another day, another nightmare,' she thought unhappily. She'd never been very popular, even before the accident, but now, her life was absolutely miserable. A group of older kids looked in her direction as she started to struggle up the stone steps that led to the front doors of the school. "Hey look!," one of the eighth graders said, "there's Karen-with-the-cane!" The others in the group laughed appreciatively at his cruel joke. Karen ignored the group as she worked her way up the stairs and through the front door. She headed towards her first class, grateful for once that she had study hall first period. Karen always sat in the back of the class with her left leg sticking out to one side, and today was no exception. After the teacher called the class to order, Karen pulled her math book out of her backpack. Flipping it open to a random page, she laid it on her desk and pretended to study it. Instead of studying math, Karen thought about the accident that had changed her life:

Ever since learning to ice skate at the age of five, Karen had participated in figure skating competitions. Now at the age of thirteen, she'd won various awards, and was considered one of the best figure skaters in her age group. Her dream of becoming one of the youngest, if not the youngest, girls to compete in the Olympics, was just within her reach. She thought about her dream as she prepared herself physically and mentally for her next competition. There were judges and talent scouts sitting in the audience. 'If I do well enough tonight,' she thought excitedly, 'then maybe I'll be chosen to participate in the next Winter Olympics.' Karen took several deep breaths to steady herself as the first competitor glided into the ring. Karen was forth in line in this competition. 'This girl won't be a threat to me,' she thought as she watched the first girl perform her routine. She was obviously fairly new to the sport, and she seemed timid and nervous. The second girl, on the other hand, was a veteran to ice skating, like Karen. The third girl was also very good, but she lost her balance and almost fell, which pretty much ruined her chances of winning. Then it was Karen's turn. She skated her heart out, but near the end of her turn, something went very wrong. Jumping gracefully, she spun nine times in mid-air, planning on landing on her right toe, still spinning. But, when she landed, her skate got caught in the ice, and she came down hard on her left knee. Karen heard the horrible sound of bone breaking and felt excruciating pain in her knee. She lay helplessly on the ice as the other competitors, her trainer, and the judges of the competition raced to her side. They were saying things to her and amongst themselves, but she couldn't focus on anything but the unbearable agony. She didn't know how long she'd been down when the paramedics arrived. They quickly checked her out and placed her on the stretcher and wheeled her out of the arena and into the waiting ambulance. Then they rushed her to the nearest hospital, where she was quickly taken into radiology for x-rays followed by emergency surgery.

When she woke up in a private room, her parents were standing over her looking sad. She wanted to ask them why they seemed so sad, but before she could speak, they told her to get some rest and that they would talk in the morning. The next morning, after breakfast, the doctor came in to discuss things with Karen and her parents. He told her that her left knee had been shattered beyond repair, and that she would need to undergo further operations if she was to have a chance to walk again. Karen asked if there was a chance that she'd ever skate again, but all he said was that it was too soon to tell.

Three operations, and a lot of painful physical therapy later, they told Karen that not only would she never skate again, but she'd always have to walk with a cane. Karen was absolutely heartbroken. Her only dream was to be in the Olympics, but now that dream had been cruelly taken away from her.

Karen sighed. It had been six months since the accident, and her life had steadily gone downhill. She'd become suicidal after the accident. Even her fourteenth birthday last month was depressing. The loss of her dream had been more than bad enough, but now she also had to endure the endless teasing and tormenting of her classmates and the new relationship with her parents. Before the accident, her and parents had been close, but now they were cold and distant with her. Sometimes she thought that her parents had only loved her for the fame they'd thought she'd achieve some day. 'Sometimes, I think I'd be far better off dead,' she thought sadly, 'I bet no one else has as many troubles as I do.'

Meanwhile, in another world, a young sedan named Nora Lowrider was wishing that she could find a cliff to drive off of. Her parents were in the other room, arguing about what to do with her. Nora sighed. 'It's not like I asked to be born blind,' she thought unhappily. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the shouts coming from the next room.

"What are we going to do with that car!," Rod Lowrider yelled at his wife, "she can't even drive down the street without hitting something, unless someone's on her back bumper yelling at her to look out. We've spent I don't know how much money having her repaired after the last time she tried to go ten feet by herself. I wasn't planning on this when I agreed to have a kid!" Dorthy Lowrider simply stared at the ground during her husband's tirade. "I know, hon," she replied, "I wasn't expecting to be raising a blind car either, but I don't know what to do. We can't just put her on the street. She'd never survive on her own." The white Cadillac stared down her bright orange Ford F250 truck husband. Rod sighed. "Maybe we should put her in an institution or something," he said.

Nora felt her oil pressure spike when she heard her father's words. An institution! He wanted to put her in an institution! She'd always thought that he didn't care for her, and now, his cruel words proved it without a shadow of a doubt. 'Why couldn't I be normal?,' she thought bitterly, 'why do I have to be different?' Nora wished that she could leave, move beyond hearing distance of her parents' conversation, but she knew that was impossible, unless she wanted to risk body damage and hearing her father yell again. She remembered all too well how he flipped out the last time she'd tried to go anywhere by herself. Rod had been outraged by the repair costs. He'd yelled at her for a full hour, before his anger ebbed. There was no way that she would risk going through that again if she could help it. So she stayed parked where she was and tried not to listen to her parents.

"What if she doesn't like being institutionalized?," Dorthy said meekly, knowing that she was just wasting her time. It was very clear that Rod had made up his mind about Nora. "That's not our problem, Dorthy," Rod said, "I've made up my mind. Tomorrow we're taking Nora to the Institution for Young Cars in California." Dorthy Lowrider didn't argue. She just simply averted her eyes.

Nora couldn't believe her ears. The decision had been made. She was gonna be taken to an institution, after all. She sighed sadly. 'It would have been better if I'd never been born,' she thought, 'I have far more problems than anyone anywhere else does.'