Two days ago I woke up with this story rolling through my mind with every scene, every line carved out to the last detail. So for the next two days I typed it up really fast so I wouldn't forget it and now here it is!
I'm just kinda upset I couldn't have come up with this before Christmas instead of after.
Some parts might be kinda confuzzling to you if you haven't read certain Trixie Belden books. But I think you'll get the gist of it:)
So now without further ado, I give you...
It's a Perfectly Perfect Life
Part 1
"Well I'm sorry, Jim. Maybe if I'd never been born at all, I wouldn't be such a huge burden to you!" 32 year old Trixie Frayne yelled angrily at her husband of five years, before quickly slamming the back door behind her as she raced out into the falling December snow, her tears freezing to her face as the gusting winter wind whipped at her mess of blond curls.
Good thing I hadn't taken off my coat yet She thought gratefully, pulling the hood over her head.
Trixie trudged quickly through the snow into the dense woods that bordered the widespread backyard at Ten Acres, the rebuilt mansion where she lived with husband, Jim, and her two children, Katie, age four, and her one year old, Jamie.
Why did I yell at him? Trixie thought miserably Just because I've had a terrible week doesn't mean I should take it out on Jim. He deserves so much better than me…
Trixie hadn't had a great week. First she had gotten into an argument with her middle brother and almost-twin, Mart Belden, which usually wouldn't have been so out of the ordinary, but they seemed to be arguing more and more over little things lately.
Then her friend Diana Belden had backed out of last-minute Christmas shopping, so Trixie was forced to face the hyperactive crowds of obsessive shoppers on her own.
On top of that, Katie had just gotten over the flu, which had kept Trixie home most of the week.
Then, on Christmas Eve no less, she had found out that her eldest brother, Brian, and his wife, Honey, wouldn't make it home for the Christmas Eve party that night.
Then when Jim had come home from work, she'd just lost it all on him before storming out of the house. Which was real mature, by the way She told herself sarcastically.
The young blond woman walked deeper into the woods, oblivious to the strengthening wind and heavily falling snow. She stumbled over outcropping rocks and fallen branches as she continued blindly through the white wall of snow.
"I'm just causing problems for everyone." Trixie grumbled to herself, her bright blue eyes troubled. "I wish I was never born. Everyone would have the most perfectly perfect life if it wasn't for dumb old Trixie."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." A voice came from behind her.
Trixie whirled around to see an old woman standing behind her, wearing only a thin wool shawl over her long dress, but the wind didn't seem to bother her.
In fact, the roaring wind didn't even cause her long grey hair to sway, nor did the snow keep her wide grey eyes from looking directly at Trixie, confusion written on her deeply wrinkled face.
The elderly woman's words were surprisingly clear over the wind. "Well you are certainly not the kind of person that I expected to hear the 'I wish I was never born' wish from. You live quite a wonderful life, Trixie, or 'perfectly perfect' as you may say. But if you insist on not being born, so be it."
The little old woman shrugged her shoulders as if it didn't matter to her in the least.
"Who are you?" Was the first question Trixie managed to spit out after her initial shock.
The woman smiled confidently, "My name is Gina, and I've been sent to show you the world without a Trixie."
"Oookay…" Trixie said hesitantly, wondering if Jim would hear her scream from way out here…
"Now don't be afraid, dear." Gina chuckled, as if reading the younger woman's thoughts. "I'm merely going to show you how much you have touched many lives throughout your life, and how important you have been to these people."
"Yeah, alright." Trixie answered with a roll of her eyes. "I highly doubt I've really touched anyone's life so drastically that it would change if I wasn't around. I cause more problems than I do solve them."
Gina walked up beside Trixie and wove her right arm through Trixie's left, and whispered softly, "You will be surprised to see how wrong you are…"
Gina put a gloved finger to the rim of her ridiculously big sombrero-like hat, and Trixie found herself swirling away from the woods in a vortex of white and green, before coming to a sudden stop as her feet hit a snow-covered sidewalk.
"Where are we?" Trixie asked, looking though the large window of the building in front of them, a fancy restaurant where she watched elegantly dressed people dining over fine cuisine.
"This is Le Chez Framague in New York City, where we will be stopping for dinner." Gina answered, as she walked nonchalantly into the restaurant and sat down in an empty booth.
Trixie was momentarily too stunned to do anything but follow the older woman and take the seat across from her.
"While you are here, you are unable to talk to or reach out to anyone." Gina warned her, "They can't hear, see, nor feel you. You are merely a spectator watching a movie. You have no role in this film. Trixie Frayne does not exist."
Trixie wasn't paying attention. She had just spotted a young woman with long black hair and soft violet eyes walk out of the kitchen carrying a large platter of food on one hand.
"Is that Di?" Trixie asked, as she noticed how pale and thin the woman looked.
Gina looked over and nodded sadly. "Yes, that is poor Diana Lynch. She has been a waitress here since she was about 16, and now all the money she gets goes to help out her family, who live just outside the city in a small apartment."
"Never been married, the poor dear, she has no time for a personal life when she's so busy just trying to care for her parents and siblings."
"How is that possible?" Trixie wondered aloud, her blue eyes following the raven-haired figure, "Whatever happened Mr. Lynch's boatload of money? Surely Diana doesn't have to work here with that sort of money. And why didn't Di ever marry Mart?"
She looked imploringly at the woman seated across from her.
Gina shook her head sadly. "Do you remember Diana's 'Uncle Monty' who was planning to rob the Lynches? The one that you proved was a fake? He took absolutely everything they owned."
"You weren't around to stop him, Trixie, so he got away with it, and the Lynches were left with nothing. And as for Mart and Diana not marrying, you were never there to become friends with Diana, so the two of them never even met."
"Oh woe!" Trixie moaned softly, her hands clutching her blond curls. Just then Trixie caught sight of a familiar head of honey-colored hair sitting just a few booths away.
"HONEY!!" she shrieked, jumping out of the booth and running over to her best friend. Trixie was startled as, in trying to hug her friend, her arm went right through her!
"I told you. You can't touch anyone." Gina's voice said from behind Trixie. Scowling, Trixie walked back to the booth and watched as Honey and the elegantly dressed man seated across from her ate their meal.
"So who's that guy that Honey is sitting with?" Trixie asked, taking in the man's perfectly combed light blond hair, his expensive looking suit, and icicle blue eyes that stared adoringly at the woman seated across from him.
"That would be Pierre DePaulote, a very rich man from southern France. He owns a multi-million dollar business, and he and his wife, Honey, although here she prefers to be called Madeline, are now visiting her family for the holidays before taking a two month cruise around the Caribbean. Apparently the two of them met at some fancy boarding school years ago and… is something wrong, Trixie?" Gina asked.
Trixie's jaw dropped in shock, and she finally blurted out, "She looks so pale and sick, like she looked when she first moved to Sleepyside. Since when does Honey go by her real name instead of her nickname?? She hated being called Madeline! And what's up with this boarding school?? She got away from all that formal stuff once she moved to Sleepyside and met me and… why are you shaking your head?"
Gina's grey eyes were sorrowful as she answered, "In the mix of things, this one event may have affected the most lives in the long run. Madeline Wheeler, or Honey, as you call her, did move to Sleepyside that summer. But a lot of things happened that summer, even without you there, but because you weren't there, many of those events didn't have very positive outcomes."
"So when the summer was over, Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler moved back to New York City. Honey was sent off to boarding school again, where she met Pierre. He was from a well connected, well suited family, and they were married just a few years ago."
"So what exactly happened that summer? What could have been so bad that it forced the Wheelers to move away?" Trixie asked.
Gina shook her head slowly, "All in good time, dear." She answered vaguely.
Trixie watched as Honey and Pierre paid the bill and walked out of the restaurant. "Let's follow them!" Trixie exclaimed as she raced out the door, Gina having no choice but to follow her.
"All this trouble for a stupid pair of wings…" she grumbled under her breath.
Honey and Pierre were strolling down the sidewalk, Trixie and Gina right behind them, when a dark figure jumped out of the shadows in front of them.
"Empty your pockets and gimme your money! And I wouldn't recommend screaming if you know what's good for you." A gruff, familiar voice ordered from beneath the ski mask, a nearby streetlight glinting off the barrel of the gun he held steadily in his hands.
Trixie's blue eyes went wide in shock and horror as her mind registered who the voice belonged to. "Dan Mangan!" she whispered hoarsely.
Gina leaned over and spoke softly in Trixie's ear. "His uncle Bill Regan did end up finding him, but without any Bob-white influence, Dan just ran away back to the gang, because that is the only life he knows."
"Regan tried to come back for him again, but his past in Saratoga finally caught up with him. He's sitting in jail right now, a framed man, without you around to prove his innocence."
Honey looked on the verge of passing out as the black-clad figure ordered her to throw her purse to him. "Can't you do something to stop this?!" Trixie pleaded Gina desperately.
Gina shook her head no. "We are merely spectators." Trixie watched as Pierre made like he was taking out his wallet, but instead pulled out a gun and aimed it right at Dan's heart.
"Drop the gun and the purse now." Pierre commanded, his speech heavily accented.
"Oh yeah?" Dan asked, swinging the gun at Honey. "You drop the gun, or I'll shoot your pretty little wife."
"Pierre?!" Honey whimpered her hazel eyes wide in terror.
"NO!!" Trixie cried as she saw both Pierre's and Dan's fingers tighten on the trigger.
Gina grabbed Trixie's arm and put her finger to the rim of her hat. "I'm getting too old for this." She muttered.
The last thing Trixie heard was two gunshots and Honey's screams as the world began to fade around her...
Enjoying so far? Review me then!:)
Obviously this is supposed to be based off of 'It's a Wonderful Life' but since Honey always says 'perfectly perfect' I thought that that made a more suitable title.
I cut out the majority of the 'wings' theme, because I've only seen that movie a handful of times, and I don't really remember the story too well.