Glee is not my property.
It seemed that only a few minutes had passed when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Kurt, Kurt, wake up."
Groggily, Kurt opened his eyes and looked around. "David? David Karofsky? What are you doing here? And how did you get in my car?"
"I'm here to answer your question, Kurt. You wanted to know if anyone would care if you had never been born. I'm here to show you."
Kurt just stared. For a moment he was scared, but then he relaxed. Karofsky hadn't changed much since high school, but he resembled the boy Kurt had talked to in the bar more than the bully who had tormented him and he wasn't behaving in a threatening manner. "That doesn't make any sense, David. Are you with the towing company? I don't see your truck."
Dave smiled. "I'm sure the tow truck will be here soon. I'll keep you company until it arrives. Do you remember Coach Sylvester?"
Kurt snorted. "How could I forget? I still have nightmares about her sometimes. I have to say, though, she was much nicer to the glee club after her sister died. She fought a dirty campaign against my dad, but I think she learned something from her loss. She didn't always let people see it, but I know she cared about the students."
"I want to show you something. Will you hold my hand?"
Kurt reached out to take David's hand. As soon as their fingers touched, he saw the car dissolve around him. He felt disoriented and dizzy so he closed his eyes. A strange voice filled his ears. What was it saying? Kurt Hummel, erased ….
XXXXX
Kurt found himself standing in the hall outside the choir room. "Okay, this can't be happening. Either I'm asleep or I hit my head when I ran off the road," he muttered.
"It's okay, Kurt," Dave reassured him. "Just go with it. Look inside the room."
Kurt opened the door and looked in. The room was full of desks. The piano was gone, in fact he couldn't see any instruments at all, and there were no risers. The walls were covered with posters about parts of speech and spelling rules, and "Welcome to Reading Improvement" was written on a large banner above the board. Coach Sylvester's trophy case was still there, but the first place Nationals trophy they had won the year he joined the Cheerios was smaller. "Did McKinley get a new choir room?" he asked, puzzled. "And what happened to our Nationals trophy?"
Dave looked sad. "The law went into effect five years ago. Public schools in Ohio can't have any kind of arts program unless all students are reading at grade level or above. No art classes, no band, no music of any kind. That includes show choir. Sue especially targeted McKinley. She insisted that all art and music teachers be fired immediately and the money used for remediation. "
"Wait …. I don't get it. How could Coach Sylvester get teachers fired?"
"Coach Sylvester couldn't, but Ohio State Senator Sylvester could. There was no write-in candidate in the 2011 election. Sue won on a platform to eliminate the arts in schools and she made good on her campaign promise. Even if we get her out of office now, it isn't likely that the law will be repealed any time soon."
"My dad won that election! What do you mean 'there was no write-in candidate'?"
Dave sighed and led Kurt down the hall. This was going to be harder than he thought. "You were never born, Kurt. A lot of things aren't the way you remember them. The Cheerios got first place at Nationals because you belted out Celine Dion songs in French during the whole routine. Without you, they came in second. I'll tell you about your dad in a little while. Let me show you a little more about Sue first."
Dave touched the wall outside Sue's office, causing it to shimmer and dissolve. Inside, Kurt could see Finn talking to Coach Sylvester. Finn looked scared, but determined. The room was full of flowers.
"I remember this. It was right after Sue's sister, Jean, died. Finn and I wanted to help. We ended up planning the whole funeral. The glee club sang and the funeral home was packed. Jean had so many friends and had touched so many lives. Sue tried to read the eulogy, but she was so overcome that Mr. Schue had to read it for her. Afterwards, she thanked us and that seemed to end her vendetta against the glee club. The funeral was the reason Finn realized that he didn't love Quinn. He broke up with her in the car afterwards." Kurt paused. "I should be there. I talked to Coach Sylvester with Finn. Where am I?"
"Kurt," Dave said gently, "you were never born. Finn tried to help Coach Sylvester by himself, but he wasn't able to convince her. Sue was so overwhelmed that she got rid of all of Jean's belongings, and refused to hold a funeral because she was afraid no one would come. Afterwards, she seemed to lock her heart away, afraid to care about anyone ever again. She kicked Becky Jackson off the Cheerios and dedicated her life to making others miserable. Her behavior got so bizarre that if she hadn't left to become a Senator, she probably would have been fired."
"But she served Christmas dinner at the homeless shelter," protested Kurt. "She got the whole glee club to perform, although we were a little late."
"It didn't happen, Kurt. This Coach Sylvester was in Columbus at the time, and wouldn't willingly have come within 20 miles of a homeless person."
I know what I want to do with Sue (obviously), Rachel, Blaine, Burt, Carole, Dave, Will, and Emma, and maybe Mercedes and Artie, but I'm not sure what (if anything) I want to do with Mike, Tina, Rory, Finn, Santana, Brittany, Sam, Puck and Quinn. Any suggestions?
