Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
WARNING: this story contain use of alcohol and suicide.
REGRETS OF A RANGER
The skies over Reefside had been darkening significantly over the past few hours. It was now as if it was night. Dr. Thomas Oliver, famed ranger and science teacher, sighed and stared out the window of his study. It had been a year since Mesogog was defeated, and his students, the Dino Rangers, had all moved on. Ethan was taking classes at Reefside Tech, Kira was in New York, trying to land a record deal, Conner was trying to start some program for kids after school, and Trent was off at art school. Him, he was still teaching at Reefside High.
He had lessons to plan, but right niow hge had more important things to worry about. Today was the anniversery of his reception of the letter. Reaching into his pocket he pulled it out and opened it to read. He shouldn't have bothered, he could recite it word for for word, puncuation mark for puncuation mark, sentance for sentance, well..you get the idea. He had it memorized. Lately he had been to distracted to think about her, due to finals approaching. But now that they were over, with nothing to do, thoughts of Kimberly Hart, the love of his life, constantly filled his mind, surrounding him with a haze of depression. It had gotten so bad that Elsa had ordered him to take some time off. The first night of his "vacation" he had cried like a child.
He stood and walked zombie-like from his study to the kitchen, and opened the reezer. He reached into the vegetable drawer, and came out with a bottle of liquor in hand. If his friends or students saw this, they would know something was wrong. As he walked back into the study, he thought of all the good times he had with Kim. Their first Kiss by the lake, his return as the white ranger, the list went on and on.
The clock on the desk read 3:00 AM. He sighed heavily and opened the bottle and took a drink. The liquid burned the back of his throat as it went down, making him gag. He didn't care anymore. Things were going back to the normal routine: he would miss Kim, get piss eyed drunk, and pass out. But tonight he wouldn't get drunk, he had already seen to that by pouring out all the other alcohol except this one bottle. He reached over and turned on the radio. Nickleback's song "Photograph" was playing. Without a second thought, he began singing along with the chorus. He was so busy singing he didn't hear the phone ringing. As the song ended he finally heard it. With an almost animal like growl, he stood and stormed over to the phone. "Hello?" he said through gritted teeth. Anyone who knew him knew he hated to be bothered on this day.
"Tommy?" he heard a familiar voice say. "Jason? What do you want?" Tommy said wearily. Jason had been calling a lot recently. "I have some bad news." Jason said, sounding like he was choking on his own words. Tommy immediatly braced himself for the worst. "Kim died this morning." Jason said heavily, fighting back a sob. Tommy dropped the phone and began to cry.
A few days later, at the funeral, Tommy stared at the casket being lowered into the grave. He hadn't spoken a word sincehe got the news. All the other rangers were in attendance, whether they knew Kim or not, they all showed. And they all seemed to know that this was tearing Tommy apart at the seams, holding all this in. "Tommy? You wanna talk?" Katherine asked. He looked at her with eyes full of emotion. He shook his head and walked away. "Will he be okay?" Kat asked Jason. "I don't know. I just don't know." he said as he watched Tommy walk off in the distance.
At his home, Tommy wandered throughout the house, memories of Kim still flooding his mind. Why her? As he thought about it more and more, his despair grew, until he went into his kitchen, and pulled out a knife. Plunging it into himself, he gasped as he left to join Kim.
The next day, the rangers buried Tommy next to Kim, the air full of grief. As the groups left , Jason turned toward the graves. He blinked and looked again. There stood Tommy and Kim, side by side, waving to him, both hay and transparent. He smiled. Maybe some things were meant to be after all.
Well, there it was. Please be gentle in your reviews.