I did mention some special guests coming in starting this chapter. Well, those special guests here are the Phineas and Ferb crew! Also, 'Coop and Cami Ask The World' does get mentioned here. See if you can spot where it gets mentioned. ROLL IT!
On the other side of Danville, Candace Flynn was on the phone, unable to believe what she was hearing.
"What...JESUS CHRIST, is he OK?!" she cried, sinking down to her knees. "When did this happen?! Why did this happen?! He's OK though? He's alright?"
Stacey then poked her head into the room, having heard Candace and looked at her concerned face. "Hmm? OK, I gotta wait for the boys to come back, we gotta break the news to them. As soon as they come in we'll be right there. OK, tell him we'll see him soon and tell him we're praying for him," she hung up the phone and weakly put it in her lap.
"Oh my God..." she whispered. "Oh my God..."
Stacey then came into the room. "Candace, what happened? You look shocked."
Candace looked up weakly. "That was my friend Zack on the phone - ya know, from the other side of Danville. I told you about the kids there?"
"Oh yeah, them. What happened?"
Candace looked down. "He was calling from the hospital. Milo...he tried to kill himself!"
"WHAT?!"
"I know! I mean, Milo, of all people, trying to commit suicide?! He always came across as so optimistic, and so happy-go-lucky! I would never think he of all people would try something like that!"
"Well, how is he? Is he alright?"
"Yes, his friends managed to get him to the hospital in the nick of time."
Stacey sighed with relief. "Thank God."
"I hope they're able to help him. Man, I never ever thought something like this would happen!"
"Guess he was carrying a lot of hurt, he was just hiding it. I read somewhere that people who are planning to kill themselves are filled with joy and happiness right before they do it because their minds are made up."
"He must have been planning to do it for months then. Can't believe that this actually happened."
Phineas then poked his head into the room. "What happened, Candace?"
"Oh, you finally came home," Candace said, standing up. She was so concerned for Milo she forgot to chide them or even to try to contact their mom. "Get Ferb, we have to go to Danville General Hospital, NOW!"
"That's all the way on the other side of town, Candace. Why do we have to go there? What happened?"
"Milo's in the hospital! He tried to commit suicide!"
"WHAT?!"
"I'll explain in the car, he's all right, but we have to go and see him."
"We'll take my car," Stacey said. "It's really fast, we can get there in no time."
"God almighty, what possessed him to do something like that?!"
Meanwhile Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz was pacing in the hospital corridor when he heard some tiny whispers in the chapel. He poked his head in and saw Amanda in the pews praying her rosary quietly in Spanish:
Ave María, llena eres de gracia, el Señor es contigo. Bendita tú eres entre todas las mujeres, y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre, Jesús. Santa María, Madre de Dios, ruega por nosotros pecadores, ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte.
Amen.
Dr. Doofenshmirtz quietly slid into the pew next to her. "Hey," he whispered. "Are you alright?"
Amanda shook her head quietly. "I'm scared," she admitted. "I can't help but think I'm partly to blame for this."
Dr. D. looked shocked. "How is this your fault?"
"I was always so obsessed with order and keeping my life on such a strict schedule! I was so afraid of the slightest thing messing it up," she started to sob openly. "Milo...he was always so nice to me...and...and I never appreciated it! Always telling him to stay a good distance away, always bringing up Murphy's Law, always being so afraid of it! Telling him to stay away from the school dances I helped put together, never wanted to be his partner in school projects. It was only when we were on Cake 'Splosion together that I finally began to see what a good partner he really is, and how he's always so super prepared for everything! But..did I find that out too late?! Was he already getting depressed?! And...why didn't I ever apologize for how I acted before?! Why didn't I ever?!"
"Hey...live and learn," the future Professor Time said. "Live and learn...at least he did live! Don't beat yourself up, everyone makes mistakes! Hey, look at me. If I were to tell you about all the mistakes I made we'd be here till next Thursday! But I learned from all of them and I managed to turn myself around, and you can too. Anyone can change, it's part of life. If you had it to do over again, you wouldn't, right?"
Amanda shook her head.
"There, see? You learned, he lived."
"I should have apologized to him.."
"Do it now, there's still time. It's never too late to correct a mistake. Really, I myself am proof of that. Heck, if I can correct all of my mistakes and start over, you can too. Besides, knowing him he's probably already forgiven you. Go ahead."
Meanwhile Candace and Stacey were outside Milo's hospital room. She decided to let her brothers go to see Milo first, they knew him better than she did.
"Poor thing," Stacey said. "I'm just glad that he's alright. But I guess I can understand why he would try to do that. Having to live with basically everything falling apart around you and dodging and ducking things all the time can't be an easy way to live," she glanced at Candace on her phone. "What are you doing there?"
"I'm asking a few friends of mine for a solid," Candace said. "Ya know my friends Coop and Cami?"
"The ones who run that web show - 'Would You Wrather'? Yeah, I know them, what about them?"
"Well, I'm trying to see if they can find some videos from Milo's school. I think I got a good idea some of the reasons why Milo tried to do this and I got a feeling the kids at his school are one of them."
"Do they know Milo?"
"I've told them about him and our adventure with him."
Stacey sat down next to her. "You think Milo might have been bullied or something because of his condition?"
"Yeah, that's my hunch," she gasped. "Bingo! I knew they'd be able to find some viral videos someone took of the class." Candace took out her phone and showed Stacy the part she found, the scene in the classroom when Ms. Murawski was assigning the egg experiment.
That particular scene happened when almost all the students hid under their desks. Stacy's jaw dropped at that.
"I cannot believe I just saw that!"
"Well believe it, my friend. It happened."
"You think this is one of the reasons he did this?"
"One of them. Subconsciously, ya know? Who wants to be in a class where everyone is ducking and dodging you, even though you can't exactly help yourself?! And check this out!" She then showed Stacy more footage, this time during a nighttime football game where everyone just looked at Milo and ran away to the other side of the bleachers, leaving him alone with Melissa. "Jeez, you'd think he had the Bubonic Plague!"
Stacey was almost in tears. "That's so sad! Man, why do people have to hate?!"
"I don't know. But I know one thing for sure. We can't let them get away with this! There is a sweet selfless boy in that hospital bed because of behavior like this! These brats need to be taught a lesson!"
Stacey perked up. "I'm in! We're gonna show these jerks that people with Milo's condition have feelings too!" She looked at the science classroom video again. "So what are we gonna do?"
"Leave that to me," Candace said.
"Candace," Stacy warned, "Don't jump to conclusions!"
"What conclusions?! We got proof right here! Look at what they're doing!"
"I know what they're doing is wrong, Candace. Remember what Michelle Obama once said - 'When They Go Low, We Go High.' So let's not bring ourselves down to their level."
"Not gonna do that! Just wanna give them a taste of their own medicine," she then looked up. "Check it out," she and Stacey both looked up to see Amanda quietly walk down the hospital corridor looking like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. She plodded down the corridor as if her feet were so heavy she couldn't even lift them up. She stopped right at Milo's door...but she couldn't even lift her hand to open it, Instead she collapsed on the chair outside and cried as hard as she could.
"You OUGHT to be crying..." Candace mumbled to herself.
"Candace, can't you see how upset she is?!"
Candace showed Stacy the video - "Unless you can prove that she's got an evil twin...is this not her?"
"But Candace, it might not be what we think! Maybe those two boys there with her pulled her under the table...Ya know...made her do it?"
"Despicable," Candace agreed. "What some people will do to bully a guy."
"I know," Stacey said. "Why don't we go and talk to her? Maybe she knows things we don't."
They then approached a sobbing Amanda. "Hey," Stacey said quietly. "You OK?"
"Aye, Dios Mio...I hate myself!" She sobbed into her lap.
"What's wrong?" Stacy asked Amanda.
"I-I can't help but feel personally responsible for what happened to Milo."
"Why do you feel at fault for what happened to him?"
"Because until I met him, my whole life revolved around order and keeping a tight schedule. I constantly had to tell Milo to stay away from everything I had planned, never wanting to be his partner in school projects and being constantly afraid of Murphy's law. It was only once we went on Cake 'Splosion together that I finally realized how great a partner he is and how prepared he is for everything. Now I'm realizing that I may have figured it out too late and that by the time we were both on Cake 'Splosion, he may have already been getting depressed and been planning this. Why didn't I ever apologize to him for how I acted before? Why didn't I ever make it up to him? I'm such an IDIOTA!" She said, crying her eyes out as Stacy hugged her.
"You're not at fault for this. If anything, those two boys in the video that Candace showed me may be at fault for causing this."
"Candace is here, too?"
Sure enough, Candace came out from behind Stacy. "What's up, Amanda?" she asked.
"I've been better. Milo's going to be fine, but I can't help but feel personally responsible for all this."
Candace sighed. "That's what I thought, too. I thought you were to blame for what happened to Milo but when Stacy got a look at the video and unleashed her inner Michelle Obama on me, that's when I knew I was wrong to accuse you of what happened to him. It's those two boys who were with you in that video of your science class that started all this."
"Who? Bradley and Mort?"
Candace nodded. "That's right, Amanda. We're gonna show them that people with Milo's condition have feelings, too!"
"How are you gonna do that?"
Candace turned her side to Amanda. "I'm...not sure. Normally my brothers come up with the plans but here...we're on our own since Phineas and Ferb are helping out Milo."
Amanda snapped her fingers. "I just thought of something, Candace! There's a crossing guard at my school - Elliot Decker. He once said the world would be safer if Milo wasn't around. I'm willing to bet anything that he might have started Milo down this dark path!"
"WHAT?! Why would an authority figure mock such a sweet, innocent boy, Amanda?" Stacy asked, confused.
"I have no idea...but I'm going to find out!"
Candace smiled wickedly. "Stacy, Amanda...I know what we're going to do today!"
"Hey, Candace...where's your platypus?" Amanda asked, noticing Perry's absence.
Meanwhile at the Murphy Suite, Melissa has not left Milo's side since he was brought in. Milo lays asleep while Melissa sits by his side, hand in hand with her 'almost boyfriend'.
"Milo..." the ginger sighed, holding the jinxed boy's hand. "Milo, if anything happened to you, I don't know what I'd do. It would hurt me in ways you couldn't imagine. When I saw you in that bathtub, I thought for sure I was going to lose you and I didn't want that to happen. That's why I rallied everyone to save you. I was scared that I wouldn't get the chance to tell you...I love you, Milo Murphy."
Hearing this, Milo woke up. "You...you love me, Melissa?" Milo asked in a raspy voice.
CLIFF-HANGER ALERT! Will Milo reciprocate Melissa's feelings? And what are Candace, Stacy and Amanda planning? Find out next time and remember...
IT'S MILO'S WORLD AND WE'RE ALL LIVING IN IT!