She's been ignoring us for too long! She's not herself anymore! She's become a monster! She's anorexic, bulimic and a work-outaholic! And no matter what I do or say, she won't come back!
Yakko was pacing the floors of the water tower yet again, grasping the fur on his head furiously as if he was waiting for it to rip off. He couldn't stand the fact that his sister had abandoned him and Wakko for looks - looks that were never meant to be hers.
Why did 'Here and Now' have to do that survey in the first place? Why did Wakko have to win? Why did Dot and Hello Nurse have to become friends? Why did Wakko have to tell me about the bulimia? Why did Dot move away? And why does my head hurt like crazy!!
Yakko slowly loosened the grip on his fur and looked at his open hands. The frown on his face leaked off as he made a realization.
It was just as easy to let go of my head, as it was for me to let go of Dot . . .
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Dot was on cloud nine. She couldn't help but admire herself for being able to keep up with all the hard work Flash was putting her through. No matter what he did, or what he said, Dot was always able to pull it off. Needless to say, she had gotten pretty much all of her photos greatly done. She knew that because Flash always took his time to stare at the photos after the shooting. Now was one of those times.
"My god, Dot," he said with adoration in his voice. "Ho do you do it? Even Cindy Crawford couldn't do better than this! By golly, you're definitely one of the best – if not the best!"
"Thanks, I get it all the time," said Dot and smiled. Still, every time she said something from the show, she felt disgusting. It reminded her of her brothers, which made her sick!
"Okay, my dear," said Flash. "You can step from the curtains now."
Dot was relieved. She stepped off the snow-white curtain, past the lights and picked up a towel from one of Flash's helpers to dry off her sweat. Standing in front of such bright lights while practically running between poses will do that to you. Dot then looked for a chair and found one beside Flash. He was sitting in front of his computer, still staring at the photos.
"I like the way this is coming out," said a voice behind Dot. She turned around to see Hello Nurse who sat down next to Dot. "Do you like it so far?"
"Heck yeah!" said Dot. "I love it! It makes me feel all -- special." She almost quoted her show again. Why was she still so hung up about that?
"Hey, Dottie," Flash said suddenly. "Take a look at this." He pointed at a photo of Dot in one of the shoe poses. "See anything disturbing about it?"
Dot bent over to have a look at the photo. She didn't see anything wrong with it. On it, she was standing straight; her face looked shocked but not too much; her hands were in the right position (on her cheeks to underline the expression); her legs were perfect (bending as if something disgusting was crawling on them); the hair and make-up were greatly put on; what could have been wrong? "Um, no. I don't see anything."
Flash sighed and put his hands on Dot's not-so-visible shoulders. "Look Dot, as much as I love you and all that crud, I really don't want to see so much flesh loll on your legs. You can see it on your hips too."
"Really?" Dot had a closer look and gasped. He was right! She still wasn't skinny enough for the job! "I knew it! You're probably going to fire me now, aren't you?"
"Fire you?!" Flash exclaimed. "After endlessly complimenting you on your looks and photos and how they always manage to look good no matter what I do or say or whatever and if I give you critics you always take them like compliments and seem to be able to fix it?" He gasped for air. "Not a chance! You're stuck with me until you want to go. Nope, I'm just giving you the hints. I mean, people don't want to see so much flesh on a model. You're going to have to work this off. Until then, ciao!"
"What do you mean 'ciao'?" Dot asked, confused.
Hello Nurse chuckled. "He means your time today is over." Dot blushed a little. "Come on, let's go. We can take a little walk before we go home."
"Okay," said Dot. "Flash, we'll be seeing you tomorrow," she added and winked at Flash.
"Right on!" said Flash and did a 'thumbs up'. "You two take care. And Dottie, you work your butt off today so you can be in top shape next time. Later!"
"Yeah, bye," said Dot and waved. With that, the two girls walked out of the room, up the corridor, through the lobby and stepped out of the house. Dot stretched out and inhaled. Finally out!
As the two walked, they passed numerous people that gave them second looks. Dot really enjoyed that, considering that they always looked at one particular body part. She grinned back at them, and noticed that they turned around again, blushing. Some people whistled at them too, making Dot feel even more loved. This modelling thing is really taking the cake for me!
"So, do you think you can handle the modelling business?" the nurse finally said, breaking the silence that had been going on.
"Does it look like I'm about to give up?" said Dot. "I don't see why I didn't think of this way before now. You know, I've never been able to show myself like this. Up until now I've always been known as the Warner sister and the little, cute girl in the background; but now I'll become something bigger. Just like you said: from a dumb, old cartoon star into being a real celebrity."
"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying it so far," said Hello Nurse. "Say, Flash did mention that you should work that flesh off. Why don't we jog a bit to power up? We can go to the gym later on if you want."
"Sounds good to me," said Dot and immediately began to speed up her walking. Soon enough, both she and the nurse were jogging. As usual, Dot didn't talk while doing so – it made her stop focusing on running.
But because she didn't speak, Dot began thinking . . .
In a few weeks, I'm gonna be the hottest model of all time! I know I'll be able to do it! Flash even says I'm one of the best he's ever had so far, so I must be doing a great job!
She smiled to the thought of Flash and his compliments.
He loves me so much! I see it in his eyes – he wants me to be the model of the year for decades to come! I just love it when he says I'm doing great! That way, I can tell that I'm the perfect one for the title 'Cable girl'! And I don't mean as a repairman, she added to no one.
Looking at the 'invisible audience' made her think about her show again. Only this time, she didn't feel sick. On the contrary, she actually felt a flicker of sadness and a pang of conscience. For the first time in ages, Dot kept on thinking about what usually made her want to hurt something.
Gee, I wonder what our lives would be like today if that survey had never been done. Would we still be recording our sketches? Would we still be running amok at the movie lot? Would we still be having fun singing? Would we still be annoying the guts out of famous people?
Why am I beginning all my thoughts with 'would we still'? she randomly thought before continuing.
Would Scratchy still be trying to calm us down? Would we still be making cameos in other shows? Would Steven still call me cute? Would we still be making parodies and spoofs? Would Wakko and me still be the good brother and sister we used to be?
Just thinking about Wakko made Dot sigh.
That brother of mine . . . what made him so eager to be considered cute as to fake his own results? I still can't believe it! I thought being the wacky one was fine by him. After all, his name is Wakko. Why would he even want to be cuter than me? Could it be that he's jealous?
Dot unknowingly started to slow down a bit.
Oh my gosh. Could it be that he feels like I've been drawing all the attention from him? Is that why he wanted to win the survey? Because he feels like he's living in my shadow? Why didn't he just tell me?
Hello Nurse was now starting to slow down too, because Dot was practically walking again. "Hey Dot, shouldn't we be jogging?"
Dot didn't even hear the nurse's statement. She was so sunken in her thoughts.
Wait a minute . . . if he's so desperate for attention, why didn't he just ask Steven or Tom to write him more lines or something? He didn't have to go through the trouble of winning the survey. He just wanted me to see what it's like to live in another one's shadow!
"I'll show you who's living in a shadow, you player!" Dot shouted and started to run again.
Of all the nerve! He just wanted to see me suffer! He faked his reaction when he found out about my bulimia because he knew I'd get it! He knew it all along! He must think I'm gonna give up on the whole modelling thing. Well, I'll show him!
Without hesitation, Dot sped up and ran past Hello Nurse at maximum speed, just to let her anger out. Because she was at such high speed, she eventually tripped and almost fell right on her face. Thankfully, Hello Nurse had caught up to her and managed to grab her.
"Whoa!" she exclaimed. "What's with you today? First you slow down, and then you just begin to speed run? What's on your mind?"
"Nothing new," Dot panted while the nurse helped her to get on her feet again. "Just thinking about some stuff."
"Wakko and Animaniacs?" said Hello Nurse. Dot nodded. "You have to get this off your chest, Dot. I mean, if you really want to go back, then there's no one pulling you back but yourself. You know you can easily quit at Cable's and go back to WB. You heard Flash: you're stuck with him until you want to leave."
"I know," said Dot. "I just can't help it. All this started with that survey, you know. And sometimes I'm just reminded of it all when people say certain words or do certain things. It's not my fault."
Hello Nurse looked at Dot with sympathy in her eyes. "You're exhausted, Dot. How about I get us a drink or two? I know a little mart close by here."
"Okay, I can live with that," said Dot and smiled.
The nurse jogged away to get the drinks. Dot used the opportunity to take a look around. She was in some sort of a shopping road, for there were stores everywhere she looked. She hadn't even noticed it first because of her thinking. All around were people surfing the stores, trying to find something to buy, or simply taking a dayly stroll like Dot was. In between, she saw groups of friends, women with baby carriages, well dressed up men talking on the phone, and kids skipping around. Dot smiled and looked at the sky while the little gust played around with her hair. Somehow, she felt like nothing could spoil this day.
She had a better look around and saw a bench on an empty space in the road. She walked to it and sat down on it, waiting for the nurse to return. She soon did, carrying two water bottles. She sat down next to dot and handed her on of them.
"I opened this one for you," said the nurse. "It looked like the tap was about to fall of anyway."
Dot gave her a look. "Then why'd you buy it?"
"There were only three bottles left," said Hello Nurse. "Mine was about to run its last-sell-day date; yours was having that tap problem; and the last one just looked icky."
"Oh, okay. Stupid dollar stores," said Dot and sipped on her water. How refreshing! She hadn't felt so good in hours! She couldn't help but sigh in relief.
The two didn't say anything just yet. After all, they were both drinking their water. But soon, Hello Nurse couldn't help but ask, and broke the silence once again.
"Dot, are you planning to permanently quit Animaniacs for modelling?" she said, startling Dot a bit.
Dot coughed a little before replying. "Why? Isn't it obvious that I don't want to go back?"
"I know that," said the nurse. "I'm just wondering if you want to make modelling a living. You know, not ever returning to the movie lot."
"Ever?" said Dot. She hadn't thought about it that way. She was always complaining about how sucky Wakko was and how she didn't want to go back to living in the tower; but was she really planning to leave the show? "I . . . I don't know, really." She sipped on her water again. Wow! What was it about water that made it so good after a run?
"I'm not trying to push you into making any huge decisions right now," said Hello Nurse. "I was just wondering, you know. I mean, if you quit, who'll be in charge of the 'girly things that guys don't understand' department?"
"True," said Dot and giggled.
Suddenly, her head began to hurt and her vision became blurry. She held on to her head and groaned a little. Hello Nurse looked at her.
"Dot?" she said. "Are you alright?"
"Ugh . . . " was the only thing Dot could say (or groan for the matter). Right now she felt like the world was spinning around her and she began to feel dizzy. "I . . . I think we better get home."
"Yeah, you look terribly pale, if I dare say" said Hello Nurse. "Wanna jog back home too?"
"Okay," said Dot and stood up from the bench. However, she had hardly done so when she collapsed to the ground feeling no strength at all. She tried to stand up again, but both her arms and legs simply wobbled under her 'weight'.
"You don't look so good, Dot," said the nurse. "Do you have a migraine?"
"No, it's the sun," said Dot. "It's too bright." Oh, here would be the moment where either she or her brothers would imitate a vampire . . .
Hello Nurse put her hand on Dot's forehead and then helped her to stand up. "Are you sure you can walk?"
"Yeah, I'm okay now, thanks," said Dot, though she wasn't as fine as she stated.
"Okay then," said Hello Nurse. "We'll just walk instead."
"Yup," said Dot and struggled to get beck on track.
While walking back to the nurse's house, Dot felt dizzier than ever. Her legs could barely hold her up, let alone lift and step. She held on to her head once again but tried not to stop walking. She had never let some tiredness get the better of her before, so why should she now?
In between her dizziness, she couldn't help but smile. What she was smiling about, she had no idea, though. But out of the blue, she began giggling like crazy.
Hello Nurse noticed immediately and slowed down a bit to look back at Dot. She had collapsed again and was lying on the ground laughing. What hat gotten into that girl?
The nurse decided to hold Dot on the way back, and walked straight to her. As she approached the powerless Warner, she saw that Dot was slowly sitting up on her own.
Dot's eyes were half-closed and she had a spacey expression on her face. Her head was spinning and she could hardly see what was in front of her because of blurriness in her sight. She looked up to the sky, pointed at it, and then looked back at Hello Nurse. "The sky is bluuuuuueeeee . . . " she said slowly in a deep tone before she fainted completely.
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Several hours had passed since Dot passed out. Hello Nurse was trying to quietly wash the dishes after her dinner and was a bit worried if this was her fault. After all, she had been the one that encouraged Dot to begin working out and she had told her to become a model. She shook her head and kept telling herself that Dot would be fine. She was just a little powerless after the long day of work, that's all.
Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that Dot had changed since the two had begun to hang out. She had become a bit . . . how could she put it? Dot was acting like a late teen or something. And for a girl her age, that was saying something!
Hello Nurse looked at the time. It was going 10 PM and Dot had been out cold since 4:30 PM. She sighed and walked into her living room. She sat down on her sofa, next to where she had placed Dot. She tucked the blanket on her a bit better and placed a new bag of ice on her forehead. Even if she was skinnier that a skeleton and whiter than advertised, Dot still looked like a charm. Maybe it was just her cute genes.
How do you do it, Dottie? the nurse thought to herself. How do you stay pretty no matter what you go through? Even your fur still stays smooth. Darn it, girl – what's you secret? She smiled and stroked Dot's hair.
Dot mumbled something and began to open her eyes. The nurse smiled at her when they were fully open.
"Hey there," she said. "Took you long enough, didn't it?"
Dot groaned and sat up. "Wha . . . where am I?"
"You're in my living room," said Hello Nurse. "You fainted earlier today, remember? You've been out since."
"Really?" said Dot and rubbed her face. "Gosh, it feels like it's only been a few minutes. Did you really carry me all the way back?"
"What was I supposed to do? Leave you lying on the ground?" said Hello Nurse. "I know people think I'm mean, but not that mean!"
Dot giggled. "Hey, you got any water left?"
"Left? I've got tons of it in my faucet," said the nurse and giggled as well. "You want some?"
"Yeeeeeahh!!" said Dot and grinned. "I love water good!"
Hello Nurse gave her a look, but just smiled back and went to the kitchen. Dot sure was behaving in a weird way . . .
BAM!
The nurse almost dropped the glass in her hands by the sound of a floor being stomped on. Soon, she saw Dot rushing to the kitchen and to her side.
"My water ready yet?" Dot said and stood on tiptoe to look at the glass.
"Yeah, it's ready," said Hello Nurse, quite surprised that Dot was so full of energy even if she had just woken up. "Dot, you should lay down. It's better for you."
"Nooooonesense!" said Dot and laughed. "I'm fine!" she said in a high-pitched tone – "totally fine!" she added in a deep tone. It made her sound like a crazy person.
"You don't seem so fine to me," said Hello Nurse. "Come on, Dot, I'm a nurse. I should know if you're fine or not. Besides, you just woke up from a major breakdown, if I can call it that."
"Whoa!" said Dot and faked a startle. "Boy was I faced there, man!" She took a big gulp of water and imitated a train whistle before laughing again.
Hello Nurse frowned. "Dot, you're acting stupid."
"Oh, I'm really sorry, I do that sometimes," said Dot in the same deep tone from before and laughed, taking another gulp of water.
Oh yeah – Dot was definitely behaving in a weird way. It was as if she hadn't even passed out; she was in the exactly same mood from before. Her eyes were half closed, she had a huge, spacey grin on her face; but different from before, she was either laughing or giggling the whole time. Hello Nurse was getting a little concerned.
"Dot, I think you should lay down now," she demanded. "You're not ready to be so active right now."
"Don't be silly, Miss Nurse!" said Dot. "I've got a whole evening ahead of myself! I can waist the night in sleep. After all, I'm partially famous for being so zany and active, right?"
"True," said Hello Nurse and shrugged. "But don't you think you're going a little too far? I mean, you--"
"Just woke up, yadda yadda," said Dot and flapped her wrist. "Who cares? Hey! I bet there's a party somewhere in town right now, huh? Doncha think?" She grinned.
"Dot, you're freaking seven years old!" the nurse snapped. "For crying out loud, you're not supposed to be thinking like this!"
"So? I'm not supposed to have bulimia either," said Dot. "Nor am I supposed to be modelling. But that's just the fun of it all, man! Being able to do the things I'm not supposed to be doing! Like now, having this argument with you! I'm having a heck of a time, ya know what I'm sayin?"
Hello Nurse sighed. The girl wouldn't give in! "Dot, I'm only going to say this one more time: lay down!"
"Great! Now I won't have to worry about you nagging about laying down anymore!" sad Dot. "Booya!! Gotcha there!"
The nurse felt her anger boil. "Angelina!"
Dot went completely silent. She did not expect that. No one had ever called her by her birth name. Hello Nurse on the other hand stood completely still, with a frown frozen on her face. She was going to finish her sentence, but Dot cut her off with a huge burst of laugh.
"BWAAAAHAHAHAAHHAA!!! (as it would be written) That's priceless, man! Girl, you should be an actress!" she said while wiping off a fake tear. "Oh, wait you can't. You already are." Another giggle followed.
"Dot, will you stop behaving like that!" Hello Nurse had to shout. "This isn't 'Cartoon-Anime' you know! Come on, get real!"
"No way, man!" said Dot. "I'm gettin' dooooooown! Look, I'm goin out, whether you like it or not. Besides, you're not my mom or anything!"
"No, but as your friend I'm taking care of you!" Hello Nurse yelled. "Plus, I'm older than you and should know what's best for you."
Dot sipped on her water again, and finished it. "Make me more water, homie," she said in that deep tone and giggled. "Ooh! Maybe you could add in some alcohol as well. That'd be a nice touch, don't you think?"
Hello Nurse was going to say something, but instead, she simply poured some water in a bottle, threw it at Dot and said: "Fine! If you want to go out clubbing so bad, just do it then! Feel free to fool around or screw around all night! I'm not gonna take any more of this crud!"
Dot looked at the Nurse with a shocked expression. "Whoa, chill out, man. I'm only being a Warner."
"Not the Warner I knew!" the nurse shouted, but soon regretted it, since dot didn't really deserve it.
"Meh, who cares," Dot said and shrugged. She then took her water bottle and skipped off. As she went out the front door, Hello Nurse heard her say in singsong: "I get to go out clubbing! I get to go out clubbing! I get to go out clubbing!"
Hello Nurse panted a little before she plumped down in a chair. She put her elbows on the table in front of her, putting her head in her hands. All she had wanted to do was to make Dot see that she could be cuter than she thought. Now, she was just being crazy! "I've created a monster . . . "
