Pink Lady Down
The rain lashed out at the windows but Pixel was sound asleep despite this. He had been to see Stephanie that afternoon in order to take her some things, and they had spent the time kissing each other. So far nobody except himself, Stephanie, Stingy, Trixie and Ziggy knew the pink haired girl's currant location. What got Pixel awake was the sound of lightning ripping along the sky. Pixel sat bolt upright and noticed the storm that was outside. The sky was lit up with the flashes of lightning and rumbled with the sounds of thunder, but Pixel was suddenly filled with dread as his mind cleared – Stephanie was out in this! He threw the covers off his bed and quickly dressed and put on a coat, and left the house via the bedroom window. He had seen two lightning bolts hit the area of the forest and the boy was fearful of what was going to happen to his girlfriend. He looked up to see the lights of Sportacus's airship vanish into the darkness and Pixel knew that he wouldn't be getting any help from the superhero. He raced through the darkened streets until he reached the woods, and Pixel made his way quickly towards where Stephanie was staying. He made his way through the rain towards the little camp site and the boy stopped dead in his tracks at the sight before his eyes. The camp sight had been hit by the lightning bolts and had burned the surrounding area – including the tent and Stephanie herself.
"Oh shit" he swore and rushed over to where a pink haired bundle was lying on the scorched earth. A branch from one of the trees had hit her and she had cuts on her head, chest, arms… well just about everywhere on her body. Blood was pouring from her head the most and Pixel quickly confirmed that she was still breathing. Her left arm was lying at an odd angle, as were both her feet. It looked as if Stephanie had been dropped from the air and slammed into the ground. Acting fast, he removed his coat and placed it over her body. He moved the branch off her and then argued with himself as to what he should do. He knew that if he moved her then she would become paralysed or she would die, whereas if he didn't move her then she would die. Deciding on the lesser of two evils, Pixel bent down and picked her gently up in his arms so her head was on one, and her legs dangling over the other – body in the middle. He had taken his shirt off as well in order to control the bleeding from her head but there wasn't anything he could do about the bleeding that was under her battered and torn clothes. He made his way quickly out of the woods and returned to the main road. Pixel knew he had to get to the Hospital as soon as he could, but he didn't want to cause more harm to Stephanie. The streets where dark, lit only by the streetlamps and the stars. Pixel rushed as quickly and gently as he could to the centre of Lazytown where the hospital was located. When he saw the building, he rushed as fast as he could keeping a tight hold on the bundle in his arms – and burst inside.
"I NEED HELP!" he yelled, and several doctors and nurses looked at him, before clearing a path for him to put Stephanie on the nearest trolley.
"What happened?" asked one of the doctors.
"She was hit by a branch from a falling tree, and I think she might have been hit by lightning" Pixel said, and he told them medical staff all he knew about how he had found Stephanie. He helped to push the trolley as far as an operating room when he was told he would have to wait. Pixel was shown into a small side room where patients families waited for news, and Pixel saw a phone which he used to call the others and Mayor Meanswell. Trixie was the first to arrive with Stingy and Ziggy following several minutes later. Ziggy passed Pixel a clean t-shirt and a jumper and the four waited until the Mayor came. They sat and waited for almost four hours which passed in silence.
"I'm Doctor Beverley Crusher" she began, "I operated on Stephanie and I am happy to say that we managed to fix her broken bones stitch most of her cuts" the Doctor said. "What we have to hope is that she can pull through. She has suffered a lot of damage to her system, and it appears she was hit by a bolt of lightning. By all known laws, this girl should be dead so things are looking good for her at the moment" and the gang and the Mayor sat in abject shock.
"What are her chances?" Trixie asked.
"Less then twenty percent" the Doctor replied. "We've done all that we can do, and it is now up to her" and Pixel looked at his hands and then looked the Doctor eye to eye.
"May I see her?" he asked.
"If anyone is going to see her, then I think that it should be me" Milford Meanswell said. "I'm her Uncle after all and the Mayor" he added, puffing his chest out a bit.
"Nobody is going to see her until I am certain she is a little more stable" the Doctor said, "I'll phone you all if anything should happen" she promised, and it was only the threat of security being called made them leave. Pixel was the last to go from the room when he had an idea. He turned round and went out the other door and found the Doctor.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
"I'd like to see Stephanie please" Pixel asked politely.
"I'm sorry, but you can not see her"
"But I'm her best friend" Pixel said, but the Doctor shook her head.
"I'm afraid that you still can not see her" but Pixel suddenly blurted out.
"I'm her fiancé!" he shouted and eventually the doctor took him to the private room where Stephanie was. The moment he saw the girl, he almost broke down. Stephanie had tubes in her nose and mouth. IV lines where present in both hands and arms, and monitors beeped and made other such noises as they did their job of monitoring Stephanie's condition. Pixel sat in the only chair and gently held Stephanie's hand and prayed that she would be alright soon. It wasn't something that looked promising when he saw all the tubes and things going in and out of his girlfriend. When a nurse came in to check on Stephanie, it was almost two in the morning and she asked Pixel to leave the room.
"It is well past visiting time" she explained.
"But I'm her fiancée" Pixel said, repeating his earlier statement.
"I'm afraid I really must ask you to leave the room" the nurse said, and eventually Pixel lightly kissed Stephanie's hand – after finding a free spot – and then left the room. Knowing he had to go home, he was just passing through the doors to the hospital when he saw Sportacus coming in.
"Pixel…" Sportacus said, "I'm sorry for what's happened. There was nothing I could have done to prevent this" and Pixel paused and spoke to Sportacus without looking at him.
"Of course there was a way to prevent this" Pixel said, "You could have helped find a way to let Stephanie stay here"
"But I did try to help" Sportacus was surprised that Pixel was speaking to him like that.
"You didn't try hard enough" Pixel said.
"That isn't very fair" Sportacus said, trying to break through Pixel's bad mood. He put an arm on the boy's shoulder but Pixel smacked it away.
"NEVER EVER talk to me again" Pixel said and Pixel ran out of the hospital and rushed home. He quickly changed into clean clothes and went back to Stephanie's room – slipping past the doctors and nurses in order to do so. It wasn't until a nurse came to check on Stephanie that they found him. He was holding her fingers in his hand, and looking at her sleeping face.
"Sir? You shouldn't be here" the nurse said, but Pixel didn't reply. "I must ask you to leave" the nurse persisted for some time, but Pixel was unmoveable to anyone. He simply looked at Stephanie's face and actually didn't respond to anybody - it was as if Pixel had been locked up on Auto-Pilot and was only focusing on one thing.
#
"I'm worried about Pixel" Trixie said to Ziggy.
"He'll be alright" Ziggy said. The pair where sitting in the park with Stingy, bit none of them felt like playing at all. "Pixel is concerned about Stephanie" and Trixie gave a weak smile.
"Aren't we all?" she asked. "I just hope that she will pull through" Trixie added.
"She's my friend" Stingy said, "What would I do if she dies?" he asked, and a single tear ran down his cheek.
"Come here" Trixie said, and she pulled Stingy into a hug. It was no secret she harboured a crush on the boy. A few moments later, the pair broke apart with red cheeks. They just sat in Trixie's bedroom thinking about Stephanie and all three hoped that she would get better. But after hearing what the doctor had to say, they didn't hold much hope even so.
"I'm going back to my house" Ziggy said eventually.
"If you wait" Stingy said, "My father's limo will be here to pick me up. I'll give you a lift" and Ziggy thanked him. Trixie was left alone in her room and she put her face into the pillow and cried her heart out.
'Perhaps we should have left her there' she thought. 'Or maybe we should have just have smuggled her into one of our houses instead' and Trixie cried herself to sleep, feeling sadder then she had ever been before in her life.
#
"Do you think Stephanie will be alright?" Ziggy asked Stingy as they sat in the limo.
"Honestly?" Stingy asked, "I hope so, but we heard what happened to her. You aren't supposed to survive a lightning strike – two is just a miracle" Stingy said, then ran a hand though his hair. "I just hope she can pull through" he added.
"Me too" Ziggy said. "What we have to ask is this: What is this doing to Pixel?" he asked, and Stingy admitted he couldn't think of what the other boy was thinking of or how he was coping. "I don't think that I'll be able sleep tonight" Ziggy added.
"Me neither" Stingy said. "I…" he paused for a moment, "I think that I better start to look for my suit" and Ziggy could hear the undertone in his statement. The boy looked out of the window and saw he was in his neighbourhood.
"Looks like my stop" he said, and the limo stopped to let him out. "I don't think that it is time to get your suit out" Ziggy said, "This is Stephanie we're talking about. She's likely to get better and burst into the Bing bang dance" Ziggy said, and Stingy smiled.
"Of that theres no doubt" Stingy said, "Goodbye Ziggy" and Ziggy returned the compliment before watching the limo drive away. Ziggy went inside his house to find it empty of both his parents.
'Must have gone to work' he thought. Ziggy looked around and saw his jar of sweets and something stirred inside him. He went over to the jar, picked it up, and took over to the bin. Opening the lid, he calmly disposed of them one by one until it was empty. Then after putting the jar on the kitchen top, Ziggy headed to his room to cry. Much as Trixie had done. What Ziggy didn't know was that Stingy was also doing the exact same thing.
#
None of the nurses could move Pixel as he simply didn't register their presence. He simply held Stephanie's fingers in his hand didn't leave her bedside except for making a quick visit to the bathroom along the corridor. The only other time he moved was when he went home to change his clothes and shower. The nurses kindly brought Pixel food and drink, though he didn't acknowledge their existence – but when the nurses came to take readings on the monitors connected to Stephanie it had all disappeared anyway. It was a week afterward the lightning strike and there had been no change in Stephanie's condition, and even Pixel was beginning to have his doubts. The others had come on occasion to see her and to watch her while Pixel was away – which was very rare. After hearing from Sportacus concerning what had happened when he had tried to talk to Pixel, it was decided that he should visit when Pixel was not in the room. On the eighth day after the storm the town had been cleared up – Sportacus helping to clear up the damage – Pixel was about to admit defeat when something happened.
"Urgh" said a tiny voice. "That really hurt. Where am I?" it asked.
"Stephanie?" Pixel's eyes went wide with amazement, "You're alive!" he said happily and with tears streaming down his face.
"I don't know about that" Stephanie said, and gently turned her head to look at Pixel. "I hurt a lot" she managed weakly, "You better tell me about it later" Stephanie said, and Pixel nodded. With a strong smile at his girlfriend he filled his lungs and yelled.
"NURSE!"
A/N:
Well enjoy the chapter.
