Disclaimer: I don't own the Wild Thornberrys and I don't get money out of this. (sigh)
This was inspired by a book I read once. I forget what it's called, I just hope the author
doesn't read this and get all pissed at me. Please don't sue me, anyone!
WARNING: This is a VERY depressing story.

"We Should Have Shown You We Loved You"


"Watch it, Donnie!" Eliza yelled at him. Donnie had un- intentionally gotten in
her way. He immediately moved out of her path so that she could continue helping her
parents pack the mini-com. Donnie was kind of being a burden today. He didn't mean to
be, he just kind of got in the way. In fact, he'd been getting in the way a lot lately. He
never really meant to and he hated it as much as the rest of the family. If there's one
thing Donnie hated, it was being yelled at.
Donnie sighed and walked over to the comvee. He leaned up against it and
looked around. He had not been acting like himself lately, but no one really noticed.
Either because they were too busy, or that they just didn't care. For the first time in his
life, Donnie was depressed. He was too young to really comprehend much of anything
that was going on. All he knew was that people were yelling at him, and he didn't fully
understand why.
"Move it, Donnie!" Came Debbie's angry voice from the right of him. Donnie
nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard her voice. Donnie quickly got out of her
way and into an unsuspecting Eliza's. She was carrying a crate of film when she tripped
over Donnie. The crate fell to the ground and broke, scattering the film everywhere.
"Jesus, Donnie! Look what you made me do!" Eliza yelled at him. "All you ever
seem to do is get in the way. Aren't you good for anything?" Eliza's words hit Donnie
like a freight train. She was to angry to realize what she was saying, but if she had, she
never would've been able to forgive herself. "What happened?" Marianne asked when
she heard the noise. Eliza pointed an accusing finger at Donnie.
"HE tripped me!!"
"Oh, Donnie," Marianne started. "Why do you always have to get in the way?"
"He's a screw up, mom" Debbie joined in. "He just has a habit of breaking
things. I think he does it for fun, too."
Marianne, the most understanding and patient person Donnie had ever met, was
now scowling at him, like he had done everything of purpose. Donnie sighed and walked
away. As he turned, he got into Nigel's path. Nigel tripped over him and his shoe
slammed into Donnie's face on the way down. "Watch where you're going!" Nigel
snapped at him. Donnie was shocked; Nigel had never spoken in that tone to any one as
far was he knew.
Donnie and Nigel got up. "Are you okay, Nigel?" Marianne asked. Even though
Nigel didn't have a scratch on him, and Donnie's cheek was bruised and he had a little bit
of blood trickle down the corner of his mouth, everyone wanted to see if Nigel was okay.
They then turned to Donnie, scowling at him. Everyone of them, even Darwin!
Marianne went inside the comvee and come back with an ice pack. "Here." She
said as she tossed it to Donnie. He put it to his cheek as Marianne instructed and she left.
No 'are you okay?' no 'you'll be fine.' No nothing.
Donnie went inside the comvee and sat down on the cot, still holding the ice pack
to his cheek. He just stared at the ceiling, trying to make sense of it all until it was dinner
time.
Though Donnie usually dug into his meals, stuffing as much food down his throat
as possible, tonight was different. He just stared at his food; playing with it occasional.
He took little bits and for once, took his time eating. No body seemed to notice his
strange behavior. They just didn't seem to care.
After dinner, Marianne ushered Donnie down to the 'dungeon' for bed. Donnie
crawled into his hammock and Marianne sort of tucked him in. "Go to sleep." She said
with no emotion. No emotion at all. No lullaby, no bed time story, not even a goddamn
'good night.' Nothing. When Marianne was gone, he took the blanket and pulled it over
his shoulder, and slowly drifted to sleep.
Donnie left the comvee early to try to get away from his 'family'. He sat down at
the picnic table they always had set up and sighed. For some reason, the bench he was
sitting on broke. The rest of the family came rushing out of the comvee.
"Donnie! What's with you and breaking stuff?!" An annoyed Eliza yelled.
"He's just a screw up. He can never do anything right." Said Debbie.
"I can't take it anymore! He's costing us valuable money!" Marianne said.
"I don't get why we're even keeping him. It's not like he has a purpose being
with us." Eliza said.
"It's not like he has a purpose being on the face on the earth!" Debbie yelled at
him.
"Except to breath our oxygen." Nigel said.
"Any eat our food!" Debbie said.
"Why don't we just drop him off at some orphanage or something?" Eliza
suggested.
"Not a bad idea!" Marianne admitted.
Donnie was sobbing and shaking in his hammock. He gritted his teeth and
moaned a bit. Streams of tears ran down his face as he shivered. Suddenly Donnie shot
up, gasping for air. He was still crying when he realized that he had been dreaming. Still
it might as well have been real. Donnie wiped his tears away and looked at the others.
The ones he had thought had loved him. The ones who he thought was his family.
Donnie jumped down out of his hammock. The dream was trying to tell him
something, or so he thought. That's when it all hit him. He was useless. He had no
purpose. He was nothing more than a fifth wheel and they didn't need him. No one did.
That's when Donnie decided to leave.
He was about to leave the comvee when he remembered something. He got out a
piece of paper. He couldn't write a note, so he drew a picture of himself, as best he
could. In the picture, he was waving 'good bye' with a tear in his eye. When he was
finished, he put the picture on his pillow and left.
He had no idea where he was going, but it didn't matter. He'd just get in the way
if he went back. There was nothing left for him there. Donnie walked on until he got to a
cliff. He looked down. It had to be at least two hundred feet down to the jagged rocks
below. 'I wonder if anyone would care if I jumped' Donnie thought to himself. 'I
wonder if anyone would even notice.' What was the point of carrying on? Like Debbie
had said in his dream. What business did he have being on the planet? With those words
in his head, Donnie stepped dangerously close to the edge.
He looked up into the stars, then down at the rocks below. When he stepped
forward, a few pebbles under his feet broke loose and fell to the bottom. He took several
deep breaths and extended his arms out to his sides. He took one last look over his
shoulder, back at the comvee. A single tear ran down his cheek. He opened his mouth
and spoke his first and last words of English. "Good bye." He whispered as he closed his
eyes and leaned forward.
As Donnie made his fatal fall towards his doom, tears ran down his cheeks and
he opened his eyes to see the ground rushing at him. He looked up to see the sky for the
last time. He almost seemed to be flying. His hair danced in the wind and his tears ran
behind him like sparkles in the sky. He had never felt so free before. In fact, he was
almost happy.
Marianne woke early that morning as she usually does. She got out of bed
carefully so as to not wake her husband. She put on her robe and was about to make
breakfast when she realized Donnie's hammock was empty. She noticed something on
his pillow and walked over to it. That's when she saw it. The drawing Donnie had
drawn only five hours ago and a few minutes before his leap. "He didn't.." Marianne
started.
She quickly got dressed and went out of the comvee. The ground was moist,
leaving Marianne with an easy trail to follow. The tracks stopped at the edge of a cliff
and Marianne's heart skipped a beat when she saw it. She carefully made her way over
to the edge of the cliff and looked down. She gasped loudly when she saw something
that would stick in her mind forever.
Blood. Donnie's broken body was lying in a dark pool of blood. His soft brown
hair was soaking and his leopard shorts were stained. His eyes were half way opened, but
they seemed empty. They had lost that spark of life they had. A stream of dried tears ran
down his cheeks and his mouth was partially opened.
Marianne's mind raced as she climbed down the cliff as fast as she could. She
would've expected him to run away, but not to commit suicide! She hoped that he was
just unconscious, that there was still a way to save him. Her hopes were crushed when
she reached the bottom.
She walked over to him and gently cradled his broken body in her arms.
"Donnie," she said quietly as if at any moment, Donnie would just snap out of it. She felt
the tears welling up in her eyes and she made no attempted to hide them. The tears fell
from her face and on to the face of the unresponsive Donnie. She checked him for a
pulse, for a some sort of sign of life, for anything! She found nothing. He was dead.
Donnie was dead, and it was her fault. "DONNIE!!!" she cried into the sky with agony
that would break the strongest of men. She buried her face in his hair and sobbed
uncontrollably. "We should have shown you we loved you." She said in between sobs.
"We should have shown you."

The End