Ponch rushed to the door to Barry Baricza's apartment room, and knocked. Bear opened the door.
"Hi Ponch, what's up?" Bear asked.
"Hi, can I come in please?" Ponch asked.
"Sure," Bear replied.
"Thanks," Ponch said, then came in, and rushed over to the refrigerator.
"YAY I FOUND IT!" he exclaimed.
"Found what?" Bear asked coming into the room.
"My apple juice, I left it here last night," Ponch replied.
"I had nothing to drink, and nothing to eat this morning. I thought it was the end of the world, well almost anyway," Ponch added with a smile.
"Ponch, I thought there was something seriously wrong," Bear said now slightly irritated.
"Sorry," Ponch replied.
"Is that all that you wanted?" Bear asked annoyed.
"Yeah, that, and I wanted to invite you over... but you don't seem like you want to hang out," Ponch said sadly, and then walked towards the door.
"Ponch, wait! What makes you think I don't want to come over?" Bear asked. Ponch didn't respond, he just walked out the door. Bear followed a little, and then stopped. "He probably doesn't want to be with me because I got upset that he freaked me out. He can be so weird and sensitive sometimes," Bear said to himself, and then he heard this loud snap noise, like some broke a bone, and then he heard a lady screaming.
"SOMEONE CALL 911! I THINK HE'S DEAD!" She screamed.
"What happened?" asked a man coming out of his room. Bear was pretty curious now, he walked out to see what was going on. There at the bottom of the steps lay a motionless Frank Poncherello, he was bleeding, and unconscious.
"PONCH!" Bear screamed, he ran to the bottom of the steps. "Ponch? Ponch can you hear me?" he asked in panic. He got no reply.
"Ponch, please wake up! Come on man, wake up please," Bear said. Soon he heard sirens wailing outside, someone had called 911. Grossie came running in. He saw Bear, and he saw Ponch, and he was in shock.
"Bear what happened?" he asked.
"Ponch fell down the stairs. I didn't see it happen or anything, I just found him like this," Bear said. Grossie was speechless, this was terrible, he hated to see a good friend of his laying there like that. The ambulance and paramedics showed up soon, and started to check him out. One of the paramedics, Paramedic Roy DeSoto looked rather upset. He looked up at Grossie and Bear.
"I'm so sorry guys, Ponch is dead. There is nothing we can do for him," he said. Bear's eyes widened.
"You're kidding right?" he asked.
"No, I'm serious, Bear," Roy replied. Bear began to cry even harder.
"I hate stairs," he said quietly.
Meanwhile a few years later…..
Bear was married and had two kids, he lived in a house with no stairs at all.
"Daddy, I want to know what it's like to go up and down stairs like all the other kids. Why won't you let me?" asked five year old Amanda.
"Honey, stairs are dangerous," Bear said.
"How would you know? You never have walked on them have you?"
"Amanda, I used to walk up and down the stairs all the time. I thought they were perfectly harmless. One day my best friend died falling down some stairs. I don't want you to die like that. He was so young Amanda," Bear said. Amanda's eyes were filled with tears.
"Oh, daddy, I never knew that," she said then hugged him. She was a very understanding little girl. Bear's ten year old son on the other hand didn't understand at all. Hank Baricza really wanted to go up and down the stairs. So when he was at school, he would secretly do it.
Meanwhile….
Hank was walking with his best friend Leo Baker.
"Let's go up stairs and take the stairs," Hank said. Leo smiled.
"Yeah, that sounds like fun. I don't understand why your dad is so against stairs. I mean Ponch was my dad's closest friend, and he still lets me go up and down stairs. Even though people can die falling down the stairs," Leo said. Then Hank remembered he had to get something from his locker. He turned and he tripped over his own feet, and fell down the stairs. Leo's eyes widened in horror.
"HANK!" He screamed. He ran to the bottom of the stairs were Hank lay motionless.
Meanwhile…..
News spread fast about Hank Baricza's tragic death. Bear was pretty upset.
"See, Amanda this is why I said no stairs," Bear said to his daughter. She cried and cried,
"Oh daddy, I want Hank back," she said. Bear's wife Dawn agreed.
"Barry, stairs can't always be dangerous," she said.
"Dawn, my best friend and my son died falling down the stairs. How can you say they are not dangerous?" Bear asked. Dawn didn't reply.
Meanwhile…
A year later, Bear was with Jon.
"Bear, I know how you feel about the stairs, but do you want to try to use them again? I can't find an elevator," Jon said.
"I guess it wouldn't hurt just this once," Bear said.
Meanwhile….
On their way back down the stairs, Bear fell. He broke his neck and died falling down the stairs. When Bear died falling down stairs, Dawn finally realized why Bear hated the stairs so much.
It hurts enough to lose one person you are close to, but if you can prevent something like that from happening to another, why not try?
THE
END
Authors Note: I hope you liked this story, and just so you know I am not against the stairs. I really like them. This was just a story.