Never Before, Never Again
He held her body in his arms. She was still warm as her skin touched his. Hot tears rolled down his cheeks as a hard, gnawing guilt welled up inside of him. As he looked down at her limp form and unspoilt features he heard sounds but all of them were incoherent and he was only aware of what he'd done. The rain fell over them both but only one of them could feel it.
The day had started so well, the weather was the best they'd had all summer in Lazy Town. The kids had been playing, laughing, singing and dancing for most of the day enjoying the weather thoroughly. Sportacus was in his airship doing some small repairs to the airship which needed to be done periodically. After they had exhausted Football, Baseball and Basketball they moved on to climbing trees. Each chose a tree to climb and were going to race each other to see who could reach the top of their tree the fastest. The tree Stephanie chose was taller than the tress the other kids had chosen. She was unsure if she'd be able to climb it as she wasn't as good at climbing trees as the others and had a disliking for heights. Not wanting to lose face in front of her friends she started to climb.
After a little while she made it to the top of the tree not long after Trixie, Pixel, and Stingy with Ziggy following closely behind her. She admired the view of the town and then it happened – she looked down
She became dizzy
Sportacus' crystal glowed signalling trouble
She began to tremble all her muscles contracting with fear
Sportacus grabbed his telescope to see where the location of the trouble was
The ground seemed to shake beneath her and her grip on the branch she had rested on began to fail
Sportacus ran and grabbed his 'scarf rope' and exited the door of the airship to swing down and catch Stephanie
She let go of the tree
He swung
She fell
He was too late.
Before he could catch her she hit the ground, it had only taken a split second for these events to happen. Events that would change the inhabitant's of Lazy town's lives forever.
Sportacus rushed to Stephanie instantly, sheer agony filling him inside with an extreme feeling of dread. He was too late. He knelt down beside her, she wasn't moving. He brushed her hair from her face and whispered her name but there was no answer save a slight exhalation of air. The other kids rushed over when they had realised what had happened and had managed to get themselves down from their trees quickly. The expressions on their faces were a mix of concern and confusion; they stood close to the pair on the ground and tried to see what was happening.
Sportacus knew better than to move Stephanie after such a fall but he couldn't help himself, she had to be ok. He cradled her head in his lap and slowly she opened her eyes, they were clouded with pain and weren't open very wide.
"Oh Stephanie, I'm so sorry I didn't get to you in time. You'll be ok, we'll get a Doctor and everything will be fine." Sportacus' words were spoken with a strain which is only associated with trying to hold back tears.
He wouldn't cry in front of them, everything would be ok. Stephanie tried to whisper something in response but she was so weak all that came out was another exhalation of air. The world was growing dark around her and the face of the man looking down at her was becoming distorted. She felt as if she wanted to sleep and the more the feeling went on the less she could resist it.
Just as Stephanie had closed her eyes Mayor Meanswell and Bessie came running over. Pixel had left the group to run over to the main hall to tell them of the accident and they'd come straight away. They were too late. The Mayor slowly walked over to see his niece, she wasn't moving and he never took his eyes from her.
"Stephanie?" The Mayor's voice faltered and he couldn't say anymore.
His eyes had caught sight of a small red puddle where Stephanie had fallen. He knelt down next to Stephanie and seemingly ignored Sportacus. He traced with his eyes the trail of red that ran from the ground where the puddle was to Sportacus' lap. He reached over to feel the back of Stephanie's head dreading what he'd see when he pulled his hand back. Very slowly he pulled his hand away, he could feel the wet on it and a gasp left his lips when he saw how bloody his hand was.
The sight of the blood had spurred him into action and he ordered Bessie to call a Doctor. He began to whisper to Stephanie to stay awake and not close her eyes. Tears began to well up in his eyes and he whispered the same words over and over again.
She was aware of sounds around her but they were too quiet to hear. The feel of the arms holding her became less and less. Her eyes began to close as the tiredness overcame her, she couldn't fight anymore.
Sportacus felt Stephanie's body go limp in his arms before her eyes closed for the final time. The feelings that had been welling up inside had increased three fold with the arrival of guilt and the realisation that he had failed to save one of the most precious people he had met. He couldn't take his eyes from her face and the world around him became dim. He was no longer aware of anything around him.
Rain started to fall and the Mayor shakily stood up. It was too late for anything to be done and he felt a need to lie down. The Doctor arrived but the Mayor just walked straight past him leaving both him and Bessie confused. When they looked over to Sportacus and Stephanie their questions were answered, they were too late.
He couldn't take his eyes from her face; he couldn't stop the tears that flowed down his and the sobs that racked his body. He felt a very slight touch on his shoulder but it hardly registered to him.
The Doctor knelt down putting his hand on Sportacus' shoulder for support as he looked at the young girl. He recognised Stephanie and was astonished that she hadn't been saved but that would be questioned later. He had to attend to Stephanie and see if he could yet rekindle the fire of life inside her.
The rain continued pouring. Sportacus was dimly aware that his arms were now empty. He didn't feel the pain from the cramps in legs from kneeling so long nor did he feel the rain or anything apart from the guilt inside him.
"How long are you going to sit there in the rain Sportakook? If you stay there any longer you'll either turn to stone or melt." The familiar voice of Robbie Rotten entered his head as no other voice had since the incident had happened.
"Well?" Came an impatient rebuke from Robbie.
He was sick of standing there in the rain and was starting to get cold. He'd come up from his underground lair to see why everything was so quiet, it was unusual for there to be hardly any noise and his curiosity had been aroused. It was with great surprise that he'd watched Stephanie's limp form being moved into an ambulance and a sheet being placed over her head. It didn't take much to guess what had happened after seeing Sportacus on the ground seemingly comatose, the blood was also a fairly big clue. With the crowd dispersing and even more surprisingly no one attending to Sportacus, Robbie thought he'd do his good deed for the decade and help him.