Life changing events chapter 10
Author's note: This chapter is dedicated to the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015 as well as those who died in the San Bernadino shooting that happened on December 2nd, 2015. It is also dedicated to everyone who has died as a result of gun violence in general.
July 18th, 1984
So much stuff had happened this summer, most of it good, such as Mackenzie and Colin getting to visit Uncle Tim last weekend and Annie and Phil officially becoming a couple. Rumble and Frenzy would celebrate their birthday in August and then, Optimus was taking Colin and Mackenzie to visit Los Angeles for a day since he had gotten permission from their mother to do so; most Toons who weren't stars or employed by the entertainment industry in some other form got to go outside of Toontown, let alone normal Toons who were under the age of 18. Annie trusted Optimus though and the studio was okay with it seeing as the latter could certainly handle himself well enough to not need a body guard, something most other Toon stars did have. It would also reassure parents worried about the fighting on the Transformers cartoon that the characters were generally kind to have around and that Prime and his co-stars were good role models for Toon kids.
Today though, Mackenzie and Colin were feeling the worst that they had ever felt; they were home on this Wednesday afternoon after having gone to the Toontown Video Arcade again, this time with Haley and Henry as Rumble and Frenzy had gone with Soundwave to make a public appearance promoting The Transformers cartoon and toy line. When they turned on the TV, which had been left on one of the human news channels, they stared in shock as they heard the report. A shooting had happened at a McDonald's restaurant in San Diego.
"Colin, turn it off." Mackenzie told him after a few minutes of hearing about it.
Her older brother did so and then hugged her. They didn't need to say anything specific about what they were feeling. So many families would have to go through the same thing they had gone through when they had lost their father over a year ago.
Mackenzie cried for a long time, eventually going into her room and locking herself in. Colin was still on the sofa and eventually let himself cry. At least the kids in his class weren't seeing this or they'd make fun of him due to the whole belief of "boys don't cry"…
When Annie came home from work, Colin wasn't sure how to form the words to describe what had been said on the news earlier. So, she turned it on for herself and kept watching the news coverage of the McDonald's massacre as she hugged her son.
Mackenzie came downstairs when she heard the TV and sat on the other side of her mother. Now, they were saying that the perpetrator of the shooting was dead due to being shot by a SWAT team member after killing 21 people total and injuring 19 others.
"Mom, why would people do that to someone who's just trying to eat at their favorite restaurant?" Mackenzie asked, fresh tears rolling down her face.
"I don't know." Annie replied honestly. She hugged her children close and ordered pizza that night since everyone else wasn't hungry for whatever they had in the house.
That night, Annie cried. So many people had lost a family member just as she had and it wasn't too hard to empathize with those humans. She just wished she could have answered her daughter's question…
July 19th, 1984
Optimus Prime didn't usually keep up with the human news but that day, as he came to the studio for a meeting and ran into Annie, he had heard about this mass killing of humans that was now a huge news story.
"They still don't know why he did it and I don't think they'll ever really know." Annie explained. "Is it weird that I feel sorry for them since my family went through something similar?"
"I do not think it is a bad thing to feel sorry for them,, Annie. That simply shows that you are a very empathetic person." Optimus Prime replied. "If you need any type of counseling, the studio can provide it."
"I know. I'm not ready to talk to anyone just yet. More than anything though, I wish I could answer Mackenzie and Colin's questions about why it happened and whether anything could have been done to change that man's mind." She sighed sadly. "Guess I better try to keep my mind off of it." With that, Annie headed for the garage to start her shift.
"Unfortunately, I do not think those questions can be answered or ever will be. " Optimus commented, more to himself than to anyone else. He just hoped that Mackenzie and Colin were doing all right today…
At home, Mackenzie stuffed herself with junk food and didn't talk to Colin or their friends when they showed up to play. When not eating or using the bathroom, she stayed in her room and didn't let anyone come in.
Colin, on the other hand did play with Henry, Rumble and Frenzy in the backyard and Mrs. Gardner took it upon herself to check on them to be sure everything was okay.
"I'm fine." Colin lied.
Mrs. Gardner, her blonde hair in a perm and giving a smile to the kids, then left for work herself. She would be home around 4:30 p.m.
"Want to play some baseball?" Henry suggested.
"Sounds great to me." Colin went to get the baseball equipment from his room and the impromptu game began.
Mackenzie stared out the window. "I wish people didn't have to die before their time." She sighed sadly.
In the evening, Annie came home and made dinner. Colin and Mackenzie ate their food, still nto in the mood for conversation. Thankfully, tonight they would get to take their mind off what they had seen on the news since they were going to spend a few days at the Prime family home due to the fact that their mother was going to go and help Aunt Sara out; she had broken her leg on Tuesday and would need some help with stuff around the house and watching their cousins.
When they arrived, Elita took the children inside with their stuff while Optimus knelt down and asked Annie "Are you sure you'll be all right?"
"I will be; helping my in-laws will keep my mind off of that horrible story." Annie answered; in truth, she had been watching the human news channels for updates on the investigation into the McDonald's massacre and wondered what drove humans to be so evil at times; true, their treatment of Toons had gotten better over the decades and laws were made to make killing of a Toon by a human a crime the latter could be charged with after the invention of Dip so long ago but that hadn't stopped whoever had killed her husband; that person was to go to trial sometime during December according to the Toontown Times' article that had been published after the charges had been formally made.
Wait a minute, how could she forget that? Annie was going to testify about how Rick's death had affected her and her family; she had been the one to identify his body after all…
(Flashback)
Rick White had almost been disintegrated immediately, keyword almost; the only thing that had stopped that was the bullets having exited his body, making the process go slower. He still had his favorite T-shirt on, a blue t-shirt that he had worn for Halloween last year as part of a homemade Smurf costume but was also worn as a regular shirt every other time he had worn it.
Annie noticed this, still too shocked to do anything; then she recognized his wedding ring that matched her own and burst into tears. No one had the heart to make her leave right away, not even the main detective investigating the case though she did leave after a few minutes to inform her family that what had happened was indeed real and not a dream.
(End flashback)
Right now, Annie outright wanted to hate humans simply because they would kill anyone even their own. Except she couldn't as she got into her car; the humans who she had been working with on The Transformers were very decent people and one shouldn't have to judge a whole group by the actions of one. That didn't mean she wouldn't cry for a bit before she drove off, knowing that it would be hard to compose herself to help her family out but that had to be done…
Mackenzie and Colin weren't in the mood to say anything. They just sat down at the card table on top of the huge table in Optimus Prime's kitchen and each ate a TV dinner. When they were done, they went to the two human Toon sized guests rooms they would sleep in during their stay and went to sleep without a word to Prime or Elita.
It wasn't until later that night that one of the two wanted to talk. More specifically, Mackenzie wanted to after having a nightmare. Thankfully, Optimus' home didn't have stairs as it only had one floor so getting to his room was no problem. The only problem would be getting the door open since she could not reach the doorknob at all. She knocked on it instead and waited for an answer as tears ran down her face.
Optimus Prime immediately opened the door and knelt down. "Mackenzie, did you have a nightmare?" he asked, his gentle sounding voice filled with concern.
"How did you guess?" was her reply.
"Perhaps I was just lucky." Optimus commented as he lifted the young girl up and took her into the living room to sit. "Do you wish to talk about it?"
"I think I should; it's just so hard to put my feelings into words though." Mackenzie answered as Optimus stopped walking and sat down, still holding her in his hand the whole time.
He listened as she told him about her nightmare. The details were disturbing; among other thins, she had seen people bleeding to death as well as hearing gunshots during said nightmare and had been running in her dream before waking up.
Mackenzie was in tears all over again now that she had finished explaining what she had dreamed about as Optimus gently rubbed her back with one finger to try to calm her down. "Why is it that people kill others? What drives them to think that they could do what was done this past Wednesday?"
The red and blue robot Toon wished he could answer her questions It certainly wasn't easy trying to find out why someone could do such a thing and there would only be so much that the police would be able to find out about this recent incident seeing as the perpetrator was dead. "I'm afraid I do not know the answer nor will anyone else truly know." He admitted.
"That the same thing that Mom said." Mackenzie wiped her face with a tissue that Optimus had handed to her. "Nobody should go through something like that;I just wish I could help the families of the victims in some way."
By now, Colin had come out of the room he had been sleeping in and wanted to talk to Optimus as well. Mackenzie let him, seeing as hiding one's feelings about this kind of thing had turned out to be a bad idea.
"I think we should write them a letter and let them know that we are thinking of them." Mackenzie suggested. "We know what it's like to lose someone to gun violence."
Her older brother silently agreed. "Why don't we write it in the morning and send it to the newspapers? Then we could be sure that the letter would reach them. Do you think they'll appreciate it Optimus?"
"I am sure they will appreciate that someone is thinking of them, young one. At the same time though, the injured and the families of those who lost their lives in the shooting do need their time to grieve privately just as everyone else does when a loved one dies." Optimus Prime answered. "I think, for now, it is time you two went back to sleep if you feel you are able to."
The two human Toon siblings decided that they could sleep now and went back to their rooms, thanking Optimus for talking to them.
"you're welcome young ones; just remember that one can not stop living their life just because they have lost someone they loved and that empathy can be a very good thing to have at your disposal alongside the laughter that Toons have." He told them.
The very next morning, July 20th, a Friday, was when Mackenzie and Colin wrote their letter after having had breakfast. Well, Colin was doing most of the writing since he could spell better most of the time. Once they had finished writing the letter, it was copied and sent to several human and Toon newspapers covering the story of the McDonald's massacre. The letter contained the following:
Dear people of San Diego,
We are writing this to express our sympathies for those who lost loved ones on Wednesday and hope that those injured will recover soon. The answers for why the shooting happened may never be known but that doesn't mean people should stop going out to eat at their favorite restaurant or doing anything else fun just because of this incident. That's not what those who died would want their loved ones to do; they would want their families and friends to keep trying to live even while missing them after the initial mourning period is over.
Knowing that many people had to go through something similar to what happened when we lost our father, although on a larger scale, caused the tragedy to hit close to home for us. There are times when we still miss him even though it's been over a year since it happened but we have tried our best to live without him. It doesn't get any easier at first but it is doable. Too many people die too soon and since no one knows whenn their last day will be, the best thing they can do is live well so that they could be remembered for many good things when their time comes to leave this Earth.
Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this shooting and we hope that one day this kind of thing will never happen again even though it will take a lot of hard work to prevent such violence.
With sympathy,
Colin and Mackenzie White