Chapter One: Blinded Christmas For Wilt

Snow softly fell on the midnight streets of Scanactity City. Carolers were just about everywhere in sight. On every doorstep, every sidewalk, in front of every store. Everywhere. Even at Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Friends were putting up Christmas trees, bright and shining with their ornaments, with every friends' reflection in it. Tinsel was wrapping people up and at the same time making them laugh cheery, joyful laughs. The smell of pine needles filled the room from the marble, shiny floor to the Victorian ceiling. And, not to mention, the needles were scattered all over the floor. Younger friends stole tinsel away or snagged it off of the trees' branches and ran, letting it flow like silver water behind them. Infant friends curled up in beds of tinsel and tree needles.

Such a joyous place it was.

A certain tall, red imaginary friend was putting up a few mistletoes above the doorways and on the hallway ceilings, smiling all the while. His fur was such a bright scarlet, anyone would surely go blind but, in the end, long to see it again. His smile seemed to brighten the room even in the darkest of times. And lets not forget the thick black stitches and how you can just drown in the blue of the number one on his chest.

Wilt lifted his leg up for a few children with tinsel rush by and Mr. Herriman, too, who was hot on their tails. Wilt laughed. Christmas always had brought joy to the household. Wilt, despite the fact that he had noticed that it was night fall and how black the sky was tonight, had never known that there were others out there that weren't enjoying Christmas at all. And a small girl, not too far from Foster's, was crying right now. Wishing that she could leave the place she was in and search for something very dear to her. But, Wilt didn't even know that that girl existed. No one in that household did.

"I think I got all the mistletoe up, Frank-hey, whatcha got, there?" Wilt asked. Frankie looked up from the stack of presents she was carrying. "These?" She asked, bending down to pick up a small package she dropped. "Oh, nothing. Just presents." She, in the process of trying to get the fallen package, dropped another. She groaned and tried to pick them up, only succeeding in dropping more. "Argh!" She screamed. "Here," Wilt said, taking a few. "Let me help you with that." "Okay, thanks!" Said Frankie, leading him outside.

The front door slammed since nobody was there to catch it as Wilt and Frankie stepped carefully down the steps of Foster's with the presents in hand. Each step on the walkway made a clacking sound. The cement was cold and hard. Wilt's tennis shoes squeaked as he walked. His breath was but a white cloud in the air that slowly rose higher and higher above his head until it disappeared from view. Frakie loaded some of the presents she was carrying into the Foster's van.

"So," Wilt started. "Who-who are these for?" He shivered when the packages were taken from his hand. A coldness replaced where the warmth of them once were. "Oh, for some kids in an orphanage." Frankie said. "I'm going to try and cheer 'em all up." She smiled and began to climb into the car. "Who's going with you?" Wilt asked. "Well," Frankie said. She paused. "No one, I guess." "I could come." Wilt suggested. "I could help with the presents again." "Well . . . okay, but you must remember, Wilt, this is supposed to be a surprise. You can't tell any of the children we talk to about the presents, okay?" Frankie said, pulling him down and leaning close. "Okay." Wilt said. He then ducked and cramped inside the bus. It wasn't the best bus to ride in when a lot of others were there, as Wilt was very tall. But now, he could stretch his legs beneath the leather seats of the bus and finally relax them for a while. The bus ride was quieter than normal ones, but Wilt figured it was because nobody except for him and Frankie were on it.

Wilt turned his head and looked out at the falling snow. They seemed like dancing white fireflies. Merely lightning bugs zipping by. Perhaps they were those tiny packaging pellets people use and have to sort through before getting to their gifts. Also making a big mess.

The multi-colored bus bumped along the road. It hit many bumpy areas, and the road seemed to be a lot poorer than the others. Like somebody couldn't fill all the cracks in it. Some people sat in raggedy old clothes outside houses with worn out hats out with signs, saying things like, "The homeless need money." Wilt frowned and looked away.

Frankie came to a slowing hault in front of a building with a very thin Christmas tree there in the front. Wilt helped unpack all the packages and walked inside, where they were greeted by a plump, rosey cheeked, cheerful lady. "Oh, hello!" She said. "Oh!" She said again, seeing Wilt come in through the door. "Well, an imaginary friend. The children will be pleased." She told them, smiling a warm hearted smile. "Go anywhere, the children may or may not be asleep."

Wilt picked up a small present and began looking in one room. It had a solitary light hanging from the ceiling. Many spots showing where recent leaks once had been were everywhere. Wilt decided not to look at the ceiling when he noticed that all the children were sleeping. Innocent little angels were sleeping all around him. But, one caught his eye: a small girl laying on a cot with a patchwork quilt. She had her eyes closed with one arm bent and over the covers, using her hand as a headrest. Her hair was a copper color. Very pretty. But, the one thing he frowned about, was that there were small tear tracks going down her cheek. One went straight down. The other took a sharp turn inward on her face and went diagonal to her mouth and nose. She was terribly skinny and pale. She looked awfully weak. A lot weaker than some of the other children, and there were a lot. In her thin arms she clutched a small sewn doll. It had stringy blond hair and wore a green dress. She held it close to her chest. Wilt frowned more. Such a pretty thing shouldn't be so weak and helpless looking.

He gazed around the room. Yes, every child was sleeping. Frankie passed by the doorway with presents. She was putting them in childrens' sleeping arms, or just giving them to the few that managed to stay awake. He could hear their faint laughter in the other rooms.

He stole another look at the weak girl. He cleared his throat silently, making sure he wasn't waking any of the children. The girl stirred suddenly, her thin body moving slightly. She propped herself up on her pillows like she had a bad back. She yawned and then looked around, and started to cry.

Wilt couldn't bear it. Being the kind friend he was created to be, he walked over, pulled up a chair, and sat down. "Hey," he said. The girl was startled and snapped her head around to the voice. "Who-?" She began before sobbing. "It's okay." He softly told her. "My name's Wilt. I've come to visit for Christmas." "It's . . . it's Christmas?" The girl asked. Wilt was a little surprised she didn't know, but smiled at her. "Yeah," he said. "It's Christmas today. Why are you crying, if you don't mind me asking." She hesitated, but, deciding Wilt was kind and polite to her, she told him. "I miss my best friend. She's so far away and the last thing I heard from her was, 'Goodnight, Ke.' and then I was brought here, two states over from where she is. I don't even know if she's all right." She sobbed in between words, and Wilt wished he could at least tell her what was happening to her friend. "She was my only friend. And the only person that would talk to me and treat me normally. And my only other friend died from killing herself. Afterwards, her sister told me the news, and then jumped off of her garage and died, too. So then I only had my friend. And now, now she's gone!" The girl burst into tears again. Wilt watched her thin frame move inward and outward with her crying. "Don't-don't cry." He didn't know what to say, exactly. She had no parents, she had no friends to talk to. She had no one to give her nice things like they did. She was like an imaginary friend on their first week all alone without anyone. But she was real. "What's your name?" Wilt kindly asked her. She rubbed a few tears away from her right eye. "K-Ke." She replied. "That's a real pretty name." Wilt said. Ke managed a weak smile. "Th-thankyou." She said. "You're welcome, Ke."

"Um, I'm sorry but, why don't you get out of bed?" Wilt asked. "Because, because I don't get around much. I'm not good when I'm walking around." Ke stopped crying and smiled a little. "I'm glad you're here." She said. Wilt smiled his trademark smile and said, "I have a surprise for you." Talking to Ke, he didn't notice that Frankie had been busy putting the other presents beneath a large tree in the main room used for things such as sitting around or playing. "You do?" Ke smiled bigger. "Yeah, follow me."

Ke got out of bed, and stumbled a little, but followed Wilt. But, looking back, she bumped into the door frame. And, she looked like she wasn't looking where she was going, just listening to Wilt's footsteps. She bent down and grabbed something, but Wilt couldn't see what it was. Shrugging, he let her follow. He stopped in the doorway of the main room smiling. But, Ke knocked into him, and they both fell. Ke picked up her doll and said to Wilt, "I think I dropped something else." She pointed to in front of him. And, picking it up, Wilt was flabbergasted: It was a long, white cane.

Ke was blind.