No Ordinary Halloween:
October 28th 1 pm:
Three days before Halloween, Toph and Sokka were off buying candy for the trick or treaters that were sure to come the next week. At the local store they were looking through the many choices.
"Chocolates or Gummy's Sokka?" Toph asked, but Sokka was just staring at the long wall of sweets, a small trickle of drool running down his chin. Seeing this Toph sighed. Why she kept going out with him she didn't know, well... other than the fact that he was hot and she felt a pull to him. Her mother once said to follow her heart, and right now she was doing that.
Smacking the blue shirted boy's arm to break his trance. "Wha-?" Sokka broke from the trance and looked at his green eyed girlfriend. Noticing the drying drool on his chin he quickly wiped it off on the sleeve of his dark blue leather jacket. "I mean, come again?" Sighing angrily Toph rolled her eyes.
"I asked you what kind of candy you wanted to hand out on Monday?" Toph asked him, but then Sokka's phone rang. "One sec beautiful I gotta take this." He said, removing his phone from his pocket he flipped it open. "Hello?" Toph sighed hearing Zuko's voice come through the receiver. This was going to be a long conversation like always. Zuko probably lost another girlfriend, or had another fight. Most of the time these conversations lasted up to an hour.
Relaxing against the shelve of sweets Toph checked her own phone, hoping Katara or Suki would be willing to talk. But neither picked up the phone. Sighing she found nothing better to do then to look around and listen to Sokka's conversation, yet she only made out a few bits and pieces of it.
About fifteen minutes later she heard Sokka's phone snap shut and smiling she looked at Sokka, who grabbed 6 bags of assorted chocolates from the shelf and headed off. Smiling that they were finally were going to get out of this store Toph followed him through the register and out to the car. Once the engine was on and they were headed back to their apartment Toph looked at him. "So, what did Zuko want this time?" She asked, staring out the passenger seat window. "Oh, well... I guess he finally got the guts to propose to Katara."
The words almost cause Toph to hit her head on the headrest of the seat as she snapped her head to look at Sokka. "Since when was he going out with Katara? Why didn't I hear any of this?" Chuckling some Sokka shifted his glance toward her for a brief second before looking back at the road. "He invited us to the party tonight and he said they'd explain everything there so don't worry." But Toph just sighed and sat back in her seat crossing her arms. No wonder Katara hadn't picked up her phone. She was too busy with Zuko to even bother talking to her friend that she'd known since first grade.
October 29th 2 am:
Just after two in the morning is when Toph and Sokka finally hit the road back to their apartment after leaving Zuko's house. Toph hadn't noticed it until they had gotten in the car but there was a lingering smell of alcohol in the car. And since she never drank that meant Sokka had. And Sokka was DRIVING? She looked at Sokka just now realizing how drunk he really looked. "Sokka, maybe we should pull over, I have some money we could go to an inn or something." But Sokka shook his head. "Cool down Toph we'll be there in like twenty minutes."
But the slurred words just made her feel more unsafe. She wanted to leave the car, but couldn't while he was still driving at highway speeds. She slouched down in the seat and clenched both the armrests tightly wanting to be over.
Sokka felt comfortable behind the wheel that night, he had driven this route several times and this late at night even the highway was deserted. Sure he felt a little tired but nothing too bad. He could make the drive, of course he could. Staring down the narrow stretch of road edged with dark forest, his eyelids drew heavy. 'I'll just close them for a second, then reopen them', he thought, and closed his eyes.
Toph quickly looked over to Sokka as the car accelerated, then immediately leaned over and grabbed the wheel seeing her boyfriend asleep. But it was already too late. The last thing she saw was a flash of light then her world as she knew it ended.
October 29, noon:
It wasn't until noon that Sokka regained consciousness. He had stitches across his face where the airbag had broken the cartilage in his nose through the skin. Not only that but one of his arms had been broken in three places. Cracking his eyes open he then quickly shut them not liking the bright light filtering through the cracks of his eyelids.
Katara had been sitting beside him since she got the call reporting the accident. Hearing him moan softly she looked over and let out a small breath seeing him waking up. Wiping her tear-wet face on her sleeve she looked at him. "Sokka? Can you hear me?" Sokka forced his eyes open and found himself in a white room, and as his eyes adjusted to the bright light he found his sister sitting in a chair next to his bed. What had happened? Why was he here? The last thing he remembered was, driving in the car with... TOPH! He painfully looked around the room but found he was in the only bed. Then he looked at Katara, the only thought running through his mind is what happened to his girlfriend. "Where's... Toph?" But Katara only shook her head in response.
"Sokka, how could you? Why did you drive after drinking that much. I thought you were going to have Toph drive. That's the only reason I let you two leave..." She trailed off then wiped newly shed tears from her face. Sokka's expression grew more worried afraid of what had happened. "What...? What happened Katara? We were just driving home... and I don't remember what happened after that." He trailed off groaning in pain as he tried to move his arm. Katara looked at him painfully then looked away. She didn't want to be the one to tell him, yet, who else would.
"You crashed Sokka. Into a tree off the side of the highway about ten hours ago." Then it hit Sokka. He was in a hospital room. But where was Toph? Was she here? He looked at Katara. "What? We crashed? Then... is Toph here too?" He asked praying that yes was the answer. But his heart sank as he saw Katara shake her head. "No, she's not here Sokka. She was pronounced dead at the site... A branch from the tree you crashed into went through her stomach." Katara said trying not to cry at her best friend's death. Sokka's heart sank further and tears filled his eyes. "She's... She's... dead?" Sokka asked, not believing it. Katara only nodded before bursting out into tears.
Katara had been woken in her apartment by a phone call and pulled herself out of her warm bed to answer the phone. "Who in the world would be calling this time of night?" She mumbled to herself angry that she had to get up. When she answered the phone she had half expected to hear Zuko's voice on the other line, but instead she heard a stern, yet calm voice. "Is this Sokka Kuruk's sister?" A man on the other line asked. Katara grunted a tired yes then was snapped awake by the next sentence. "He's been in a fatal accident."
When Katara arrived at the spot of the car crash all she saw was flashing lights of the emergency vehicles. Once she broke through the police line screaming that her brother was one of the people in the crash, the first thing she saw was Sokka on a stretcher, breathing through a tube and covered in blood. Whether or not it was all his blood was something to be known. But he was alive. 'Then why did the officer say it was a fatal accident... Who...?" Then it hit her, Toph had chosen to ride with Sokka. The only thing Katara thought to do was to run towards the car that was almost literally wrapped around on of the trees. Even as she got close she could see the emergency workers who were trying open the car were covered in blood. They weren't the only thing covered in the red substance, as the windshield of the car were as well. 'If they haven't gotten Toph out then how do they know she's dead...?' She thought.
But as she got closer to the crash she found why they had said she was dead. There was a branch from the tree that had gone through the windshield, and through the passenger side seat, right where Toph was. Paramedics were now pulling her out of a hole they had cut in her side of the door and put her and the section of tree impaled through her body and laying her on the stretcher. Katara caught a glimpse of her then quickly looked away not able to look at her as a white sheet covered her. How could this have happened? She had only seen Toph an hour or so before now, in whole health. But now she was dead, already pronounced legally dead. And there was no coming back. Later she was told by an officer that Sokka had been driving. "What?" She yelled in surprise and anger. Sokka had had a whole case of beer on his own before they had left Zuko's house. And since Toph didn't drink at all, she thought that Toph was going to drive them home. BUT NO! Sokka had and this had happened.
Katara was taken in a police car to the hospital and sat outside the surgical room as Sokka went into surgery. Toph's parents had been notified and came an hour after they had been taken to the hospital. Katara had sat the time between that and when Sokka came out trying to comfort Toph's mother while Toph's father talked to the police about what had happened. And from what she overheard he was going to sue Sokka for reckless driving and manslaughter of his only child. And now she was here. Sitting next to her brother's bed. Telling him that he had killed his girlfriend.
Sokka couldn't believe it, Toph was dead. And after Katara told him what she had seen at the crash he knew it was his fault. He closed his eyes, only to open them as the door opened. Two officers in uniform walked in and came to the bed, followed by the strict man that Sokka had only met once, Toph's father. One of the richest people in the state.
October 31, 6pm:
Sokka had come home to Katara's apartment the day before Halloween. He wasn't allowed to go anywhere without someone else. His license was revoked. And he had a hearing scheduled for the next day to go over the charges placed against him.
But now he was sitting on the couch of Katara's apartment, alone, waiting to hand out candy to the few trick or treaters that came through this neighborhood. If he was back at his place, if Toph was alive, they'd be setting up all the little jokes to scare the kids before handing over the candy.
Toph's funeral had been yesterday. But Sokka had been in the police station for his account of what happened during it. He wasn't allowed to go anyways. Katara and Zuko and Aang had gone... Even his father. But not him, Toph's boyfriend. Her father didn't want the man responsible for his daughter's death to be present. Saying it would prevent Toph from resting peacefully.
Glancing at the clock Sokka saw it was just hitting 6 in the evening. Sighing he looked down at the bowl of candy and grabbed another piece of chocolate and popped it in his mouth. He was so depressed about everything that had happened.
Just then he heard something fall to the ground in the hallway near the door. Quickly getting up her grabbed his one crutch putting it under his arm and hobbled off to the main entrance way. Once he got there the only thing he saw was a loop of rope hanging just above his head. Quickly looking around, he saw no one. Yet, this was one of the pranks he and Toph had been planning. "Toph?" He asked. And then he saw her, she was blue and see through. Yet she was there. She was covered in blood and a tree branch was through her stomach. "How could you Sokka?" She asked. Her voice echoing through the apartment. Sokka gulped. He had brought Toph's spirit back to haunt him. "I loved you Sokka, now you can be with me forever." The spirit said.
October 31, 9 pm:
When Katara got home that evening she was surprised to find the light off and the door locked. Sighing she took out the key and opened it. Just then, a body came down in front of her. "Sokka! I said no pranks!" She said, then realized that it was Sokka who was hanging from the rope. "SOKKA!"