(The Loud House! and/or other related titles are rightfully owned by Viacom and Nickelodeon)
(The following is a work of fanfiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the writer's imagination or are used fictitiously. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information and material of any kind contained herein are included for entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for accuracy. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.)
Chapter Eight:
And Who is My Neighbor?
Saturday afternoon. 2:35 P.M.
The entire week seemed to have gone by in a flash, almost as if it had just been the other day since Conner was first admitted to the hospital. And now here he was, having just been checked out fifteen minutes prior, ready to start anew with his life. Conner now sat in his usual spot on the back passenger seat of the 2014 Sedan on his left. Carol sat right next to him in the middle seat between him and Cassy, who sat on the far-right side from them.
Carol turned to look at her little brother, who silently rested his bandaged hand on his lap as he looked outside the car window.
A very small and blissful smile was present on Conner's face, as he reflected on the memories of his time in the hospital that went now through his brain. During the entire week, his family, as well as the Louds, came over each day to pay him a little visit, whether it would be one person at a time or both of the families all at once. They all talked about many things; life here in Royal Woods, hobbies and interests, as well as what they all each had planned for their own futures.
He got quite a lot to know about the Louds and their family, and boy were they something. First there were the parents; Rita and Lynn Sr. In some ways, the two of them reminded Conner of his own parents, Leslie and Walter. The only difference was that Walter was not the owner of a restaurant called "Lynn's Table", and Leslie did not work as a dentist.
As for the children, there was Lori Loud, the first born and former self-proclaimed leader of the bunch and aspiring golfer. The word 'former' is strongly used here because Lori was now in college, a current student over at Fairway University, and she was just visiting her family during the weekends, around the same time frame this entire mess had happened. She told him about many things in her life, about golf, her long-distance boyfriend, Bobby Santiago, and her future as a professional golfer.
Conner was not at all one for golf, but the way Lori described it to him, as well as Fairway, had made it sound very fascinating, quite possibly convincing him to enroll there someday when he gets older. She kind of reminded him of Carol a little bit, the only major difference was that his older sister was a lot more chipper and cheerful than Lori. Sure, Lori could be that too, though not nearly as much as Carol was.
Next was Leni, the second oldest of the Loud siblings and aspiring fashion designer, and quite possibly the sweetest and most innocent seventeen-year-old girl Conner had ever met. And also, quite the bubblehead to match. She was just about basically the living example of the stereotypical dumb blond, and Leni most certainly, and obliviously, lived up to the name. But when it came to the subject of clothes and fashion, dear goodness she was professionally knowledgeable.
She would sometimes go on and on about what colors should go with this and what type of fabric to use for that, leaving Conner quite dumbstruck and also impressed with how smart she actually was when it came to fashion designing. Suffice to say, the ditzy fashionista left quite an impression on Conner when it came to clothes.
And then came Luna, third oldest and ambitious rock musician. Whereas Leni, who went on about fashion and the like, Luna went on about her passion for whatever kinds of rock music there was and what she greatly knew of; hard rock, 70's and 80's metal, hair/glam rock, 2000's skate punk, you name it. And of course, she talked to Conner about her most beloved music idol of them all, the one and only Mick Swagger.
She talked quite a lot about him as if she had been documenting his life from the day she first went to one of his concerts, which couldn't be any more farther from the truth; she talked about what his life was like growing up in the harsh streets of London, forming his own band, and his forty-year long career with over twelve best-selling albums under his belt.
Suffice to say, Mick Swagger left quite the influence on Luna, an influence that made her want to grow up and become a famous rock star herself just like him. At first, Conner did not care that much about rock music in general. But after everything that he had been told from Luna, he could not wait to go home and fill up his MP3 player's music playlist with Mick's best songs. Luna was even nice enough to give him one of her old homemade mixtapes as a get well present.
Luan, fourth sibling and wannabe comedian, was quite the handful. When it came to jokes and puns, she was practically the clown queen of laughs, or so she believed herself to be. There was almost not a single word she said that did not come with a clever and witty pun for any given situation that there was. She was even an aspiring ventriloquist as she came to visit him one day with her dummy, Mr. Coconuts.
A lot of her jokes would cause everyone in the room to groan and cringe, but that didn't stop Luan from trying to do better. Although, a couple of times, Conner found himself actually laughing at one of her jokes, which surprised her a lot as well as her family.
Lynn Jr., just like Luan, was also a handful. Anything that was sports related she was the go-to gal who would talk one's head off about any kinds of sports that didn't leave her mind. Baseball, football, basketball, soccer, hockey, boxing, etcetera. She talked almost endlessly about her favorite sports teams and even about the history of sports and not to mention how many baseball cards that she had collected for the last few years.
She was quite possibly the most physically active and athletic out of all her siblings. As a get well present, she gave Conner a little flag of her softball team, the Royal Woods Squirrels.
Lucy Loud was something else entirely. Dark, dreary, and not to mention downright spooky. She pretty much lived and breathed anything that dealt in the gothic and the macabre. She even looked and dressed the part to go with it. In more ways than one, Lucy reminded Conner a lot of Cassy. Well, if Cassy's hair was raven-black instead of blond, and if her bangs always covered both her eyes instead of just one.
She talked to him so much about her favorite book series and TV show, The Vampires of Melancholia, how she adored the show's main vampire character, Edwin. Her present to him was a small poem she wrote for him, a poem that had left him moved to tears a couple of times whenever he read it.
Lola, the third youngest, was quite the little spitfire, to say the least. Dainty, sharp-tongued, and hot-tempered, she always loved dressing up in pageant attire, hence the pink dress that she seemed to wear pretty much all the time whenever she and her family visited him. When it came to beauty pageants, Lola was always a regular competitor, willing to do anything to be the number one winner, well, except for cheating of course. A girl's got to have some level of standards; you know.
In terms of brattiness, she almost in a way reminded Conner of himself, minus the whole pageant thing. Willing to do whatever it took to get what they wanted.
Whereas Lola, who was also a serious neat freak, her twin sister Lana was the polar opposite. She loved playing in the mud, getting her hands literally dirty, and even dumpster diving. She could even tell someone a thing or two about how she wanted to be a plumber, a mechanic as well as a steam fitter, all of those things wrapped up into one single being, that which was her. She was practically her family's Little Miss Fix-It. She was also a huge animal lover, which was why she also talked about become a veterinarian as well.
Lisa, the fourth youngest of the Loud siblings, was something of a surprise to Conner. A five-year-old toddler with a PhD, and even teaches at the same university that she had graduated from over a year ago. A little girl genius with an exaggeratingly good head on her shoulders with a brilliantly high IQ to back it up. She could talk one's ears off about mathematical equations and top-notch level of science that nobody, possibly not even Jimmy Neutron himself could understand. Many times, Conner found himself confused by the overabundance of big words and techno babble that she used a lot, which required both families having her tone it down a bit.
And then there was the one-year-old bundle of joy, Lily. Nobody knew what her specialty was yet, but they all knew deep down that it would be something great. The giggling little baby, who was held in Rita's arms, reached her small hands out to Conner, wanting so badly to snuggle up to him, which Rita actually relented, along with Conner's and the Pingrey family's approval. Rita carefully sat her down on the hospital bed.
Lily cuddled up close to him, all the while trying carefully not to squish his already bruised chest, her arms gently draping around his neck. Just before dosing off to sleep, she planted a soft kiss on his check and then rested her head on the side of his chest. Every single person within the hospital room found themselves completely gushing over the level of cuteness displayed before them. Even Conner was all bug-eyed from her affection.
And then finally, there was the middle child, the only male sibling of the bunch, and none other than Conner's Good Samaritan himself, Lincoln Loud.
Out of the entirety of the Loud family, Conner quite possibly bonded with him the most. They talked about many things, about life, about school, video games, comic books, and the like that any young boy their ages would talk about. This had given Lincoln the opportune moment to introduce the Pingrey boy to his most favorite comic book superhero, Ace Savvy.
Conner found himself being sucked in by the lore of the series that Lincoln had described to him in great detail. The characters, the stories, everything. This made him all the more eager to check out some of the comics, at least until after he would check out of the hospital, and when that day ultimately comes, he was going to go search for the nearest bookstore and find the first issue. As if he read his mind, Lincoln had seemingly pulled from out of thin air an omnibus of the first six issues of the series and he gave the book to Conner as a present.
Guess that was worth saving him the trip.
But nothing, nothing could compare the feeling of relief at what had come about on that Friday afternoon, the day before he finally checked out of the hospital. The day when his family and the Louds were visiting him that afternoon, an unexpected knock had come from the hospital room door. Dr. Wagner walked over and opened the door. Within the next couple of seconds, four police officers had shown up in Conner's hospital room. The police chief walked inside with the three other officers who followed after him.
They dragged along with them three other individuals who appeared to be somewhere between fourteen and fifteen. They were handcuffed behind their backs. Conner stared wide eyed, his heartrate picking up speed, indicated as such from the heart monitor, as he gazed upon the three people whom that which he hoped he would never have to see again, none other than the three hooligans who had done this to him; Anderson, Taylor, and Pablo.
Lincoln's brows furrowed together as he kept his now glowered blue-eyed gaze at the three of them.
Somehow, I should have known it was them, he said mentally as he lightly shook his head. I cannot believe that they would actually go this far. The police chief walked up to Conner's bedside and he nodded his head.
"Young man," he said, before motioning his head at the bullies. "Are they the ones who did it?"
Conner fearfully turned to the menacing trio, each one of them glaring hateful daggers at him. Anderson growled threateningly under his breath at the Pingrey boy, a growl that which he knew meant, "Don't you dare open that mouth of yours!" Conner's heartrate began to beat very fast, but then he realized that he was surrounded by his own family as well as the Louds. There were multiple witnesses within the room, and if the three of them tried anything...
Conner's fear was then replaced with courage with an added dose of anger, as he glared back at the bullies who were responsible for his current predicament, the very monsters that had done this to him the week before. Where they were going, he had no reason to be afraid of them any longer. Conner looked back up at the police chief, who waited patiently for his response.
"Yes," he stated bravely, nodding his head. "That's them, officer. They're the ones."
"What?!" Anderson shouted angerly, his white-hot anger boiling up, his nose huffing like a raging bull.
"Why you little snitch!" Taylor growled.
"Oh, come on, officer!" Pablo pleaded fearfully, sweat form around his brow. "The punk was kind of asking for it, you know? We were all just-"
"Oh, shut up, Pablo!" Anderson and Taylor growled, already feeling begrudgingly defeated. The police chief sneered at the three of them and then he waved his hand at the other officers who securely restrained them.
"Take 'em away, boys!" he commanded. "They're going to be spending the next ten years in juvie for a long time." And with that, the protesting Anderson, Pablo, and Taylor were forcefully escorted outside of the hospital room. The chief pulled out his hand held recorder from his shirt pocket and turned off the record button. With what the three bullies had just said, they now had more of the evidence they needed to help in convicting them.
"Well, looks like those three won't be a problem anymore, right guys?" Lynn Jr. said crossing her arms. Everybody in the room nodded their heads at her words and voiced their agreement. The chief turned his gaze over to Conner and he gave him an assuring smile.
"Thanks for filing that report, son," he said. "If it weren't for your detailed description, we wouldn't have been able to find them so easily." Conner nodded and smiled.
"Just glad that I could help, officer," he stated. Conner smiled happily at the memory of that very moment. Those were quite possibly the best news that he had heard all week long. He did not care how the police found the three of them at all to begin with. As far as he was concerned, they were now gone and out of his life for good, and he would no longer have to live in fear of them ever again. The nightmare was over.
Conner had immediately snapped back into reality when he felt his sister Carol gently nudge his arm.
"Hey, Conner," she whispered to him, grabbing his attention. "We're home."
Conner looked out the window and he noticed that their Sedan had just parked right inside the driveway in front of their house. A wave of relief as well as excitement washed over him. Home. After a long and agonizing week, he was finally home. Once after Mr. Pingrey turned the ignition counterclockwise, shutting off the car's engine, he, Leslie, and then Cassy and Carol hopped out of the Sedan. After climbing out of the vehicle, Carol went over to the trunk, opened it, and she drew out a pair of crutches that were perfectly small enough for Conner to use.
She went back over to Conner's side, opened his door, and then handed them to him once after she had helped him out of the car. Conner carefully positioned one crutch underneath his right arm and then did the same with the other, all the while being absolutely carefully not to put any kinds of pressure on his bandaged and cast-worn left hand. He glanced down at his right foot, which was also covered in fresh bandages as well as an air splint.
Going to the bathroom and changing his clothes was going to be a bit of a challenge. And not to mention the subject of being able to go back to school again.
"You got this, little bro?" Carol asked after placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Conner smiled softly and nodded his head.
"Yeah," he uttered. "I got this." With that, Conner slowly maneuvered his way to the front door of their humble abode on his crutches, with Leslie, Walter, and Cassy following close by in case the boy were to trip and fall in some fashion. After reaching the front door, the two parents walked up in front of them. Leslie pulled out her keys from her purse to unlock the door while Walter leaned down and picked up today's mail from the smooth concrete floor.
Once after Leslie unlocked the front door, she eased it all the way open, allowing herself and her husband to walk inside to the living room. They both watched as Conner carefully strode inside on his crutches, proud smiles displayed on their faces. Happy and relieved smiles to see their little boy finally back home. Conner stopped for a moment as he gazed around at the living room. He gazed at his left to see the coach, some of the family portraits that hung around the walls.
And of course, the fifty-five inch HD flat screen television set that hung on the left side wall right above the fireplace. Conner slowly took in a deep gulp of air through his nose and exhaled it out of his lungs, so glad that he could breathe normally again without the help of a nasal cannula. A blissful smile appeared on his face.
Home sweet home, he thought.
"You want us to help you to your room, son?" Walter asked him. Conner smiled up at his father.
"Thanks, Dad," he said. "But I think I've got it from here."
With that, Conner eased himself across the living room, heading straight for the white painted hallway on the other side and disappeared to the left of the hallway. Once after reaching the other end, Conner stood in front of his bedroom door. Without removing one of his crutches, he reached his right hand forward to grab the doorknob, twisted it, and carefully pushed the door open, his little humble abode.
He went for the light switch that was located to his left and he turned on the light, brightly illuminating his entire bedroom for him to see.
It had been exactly as he had left it. Well, almost, considering that his carpeted floor appeared to have been recently vacuumed and his trash bin was now empty. His wooden desk and computer chair sat up against the right-side wall below the certain-covered, square glass window. A couple of movies and game posters hung where they were around the walls of the bedroom. His little television set and video game console rested perfectly on top of his dresser drawer.
Everything was exactly where he had left them. And thank goodness too. He could definitely use this little escape to help distract himself.
His body practically melted into a blissful feeling of relief when he saw his own recently made bed that was placed up against the far left-side wall of his room. He crutched over to the bed, turned around, and sat his rump on it. It was like sitting on a soft white cloud in the sky. It kind of surprised him a little bit when he realized that he had greatly missed sleeping in his own bed. But then again, so would anybody after spending a week or so away from home.
And Conner was no different.
He was just so enthralled by the soft comfort that it had brought to him that he decided to carefully lay down across the rest of the bed on his back, letting his legs hang down from the ledge, his crutches still in his hands. He let out a deep breath through his nose and sighed ecstatically. He could just effortlessly fall asleep right here and now. Truly, it felt so good to be home again. After about two minutes of pure silence and peace and looking up at the white-painted ceiling, Conner had started to become overtaken by sleep.
That is until...
"Getting yourself reacquainted already?" a familiar voice was heard suddenly. Conner's eyes shot wide open. He lifted his head up and he noticed Cassy leaning against the doorway, legs and arms crossed, a small yet pleased smile on her face. Conner smiled back at his sister.
"Hey, Cass," he muttered before yawning and stretching his arms out a little bit. "What's up?"
"Dad wants all of us to meet in the living room," she explained. Conner raised an eyebrow. Not wanting to wait, he lifted himself back up from his bed, grabbed his crutches, and followed after Cassy down the hallway and back into the living room to see Carol, Leslie, and Walter starting to sit down on the living room coach.
"What's going on, Dad?" Conner asked curiously. His father flashed him a jovial smile. The boy then noticed an unfolded piece of paper in his hands, and he could vaguely make out the written words that he could see through the paper thanks to the reflected light coming from the afternoon sun.
"It's a letter from the Louds!" he explained. "And look what it came with!" he pulled out another piece of paper from the opened envelope. Conner got closer and looked at it. Much to his and the rest of the family's surprise, it was the receipt for Conner's medical bill. A whopping twenty-five hundred dollars, completely paid for in full. All five of the Pingreys just could not believe it. They did it. The Louds had actually gone and done it. Leslie smiled gratefully, placing her left hand to her heart that beat in her chest.
Bless you, Louds, she thought with an appreciative smile. And bless you, Lincoln. You truly are a Good Samaritan.
"What does the letter say, Dad?" Cassy asked. With that, Walter held out the letter, cleared his throat, and read it out loud for everyone to hear.
Dear Pingreys,
We, the Loud family, hope this letter finds you on the day of Conner's checking out of the hospital. And so, not only did we wish to show you the paid receipt of your medical bill to help you guys not have to worry about it, but we also feel it in our hearts to give you guys a well-deserved reward, a present for not just Conner, but for all of you guys as well.
In other words, you are all cordially invited to our family restaurant as the main guests of honor to help in celebrating Conner's recovery thus far. The party will be held over at "Lynn's Table", on this coming Sunday in the afternoon, at four o'clock sharp. Dinner will be on us.
Yours in dearest friendship, the Louds.
Once after Walter was finished reading, the other Pingreys stared at the letter in astonishment, completely unsure of what to say about what they all had just heard. They could not believe this. First, the Louds paid for their medical bill, and now they wish to treat them to nice dinner in celebration of Conner's recovery. It was so crazy in knowing that the Louds were absolutely willing to go above and beyond to do what they were doing.
There truly was no limit at all to such a level of kindness. They were an absolute blessing. Mr. Pingrey looked around at his family with a smile on his moustached face.
"Well, I think we all know what we are going to do this coming Sunday," the father stated. Leslie chuckled a bit to herself.
"And here I was thinking about making plans to go to Jean Juan's tomorrow," she commented, before eying Conner with a coy-looking smile.
"Thanks for the idea, Mom," the boy said smiling appreciatively at his mother. "But I kind of want to see what Lynn's Table has to offer. We can do Jean Juan's another time. I mean, that Tartiflette-Chimichanga special is not going anywhere anytime soon, am I right?" Leslie nodded at her boy in understanding. Her little boy truly had changed since that terrible incident. A large yawn suddenly escaped from Conner's mouth, and he carefully arched his back up a little bit into a stretch, and then he relaxed.
"Now if you all will excuse me," he stated, "I'm kind of tired right now and my bed is calling my name."
"Go on ahead, Conner," Carol replied, getting up and patting her brother softly on the head. "You've rightfully earned it."
With that, Conner swiftly turned around on his crutches and eased on over back into the hallway towards his bedroom, his family silently watching him leave the room. In that instant, right after he disappeared into the hallway, Leslie's bottom lip trembled and began to sob. Carol, Cassy, and Walter did the same and they held each other tightly into another family group hug, tears of joy escaping from their eyes, the weight of the entire situation being lifted from all their shoulders.
Conner returning home from the hospital, the Loud family's overwhelming kindness. It was all just too much for them all to take in.
"Thank you," Leslie wept. "Thank you, God." But what they did not know however was that Conner had hidden himself behind the wall close to the edge of the hallway entrance, listening in on everything.
A silent whimper escaped his throat, and then he smiled happily as a single tear fell down his face.
The following night, 9:30 P.M.
Carol looked at herself in the bathroom mirror as she brushed down every nook and cranny of her teeth with her purple-colored toothbrush, the soft bristles brushing against her gums as well as her tongue. After she was finished brushing, she spat out the foamy toothpaste into the sink, the faucet washing it all down the pipe, and then she rinsed the rest of her mouth out with a cupful of water.
Once after that was done, she opened the mirror cabinet in front of her and grabbed from one of the small shelves some dental floss.
She closed the cabinet and then proceeded to draw out a long line of the floss. But before she could even get the chance to use it, she stopped for a moment as she now gazed at herself in the mirror one more time. She examined almost every detail of her features, her blond hair as well as her satin, purple-colored pajamas. She gazed deeply into the eyes of her own reflection as if it were another person, trying to guess what the other one was thinking.
She made a lopsided smile and then shook her head a bit.
Hard to believe that this had happened, she mentally told herself. It has already been a week, and yet it feels like it was only yesterday since that incident. Time surely flies, doesn't it, Carol? One could only imagine what you and your family's lives would have been like if Lori's little brother, Lincoln, hadn't shown up when he was able to.
She then paused for a moment as she looked out of the bathroom door and into the hallway to see Conner's bedroom door that was partly open. A small smile appeared in her face. Now would probably be a good time to check up on him. With that, she set down the dental floss on the counter of the bathroom sink, and she carefully and silently tip-toed to the other end of the hallway, the carpeted floor perfectly muffling her footsteps.
As she stealthily moved on closer to Conner's bedroom door, she made a frown when she heard a noise coming from within. It sounded almost like frantic breathing and fabric being moved around harshly. Carol could feel her blood run cold, and her skin crawled throughout her entire body when she heard the sound of Conner's now audibly shrilled groans and choking sobs as well as his cracked and terrified voice.
"N-No...! Please...! I-I'm sorry...!"
In that very instant, Carol's sisterly instincts had immediately kicked into overdrive. She quietly burst forth into the bedroom and she saw her little brother before her, laying down on his bed, his now unkempt blond-haired head almost violently tossing and turning. His reddened face was covered in sweat and tears that streamed down his eyes and brow. Lines of spittle escaped from the corners of his lips.
"P-Please...! Don't...!" he cried again. Carol quickly darted forward next to Conner's bedside, and then she grabbed him by the shoulders and gently shook him.
"Conner!" she cried. "Conner, wake up! Wake up!"
"No...! No, p-please...!" the poor boy sobbed fearfully in his sleep. "L-Leave me alone...!"
"Conner, wake up!" the older Pingrey girl said again. "It's me! Carol! Wake up!"
In that moment, Conner's eyes shot wide open, a petrified gasp escaped from out his mouth as he sprung himself upwards from his bed, Carol quickly backing away for a moment. Beads of tears and sweat continued to cascade down his face. His breathing was frantic and heavy, his fear-stricken eyes darted everywhere around his bedroom until he now gazed upon the concerned face of his older sister. His breathing had then settled down, and his beating heart began to return back to normal.
He blinked a few times to try and see a little better from the almost surrounding darkness.
"C-Carol...?" he muttered. Carol sat on the edge of the bed, and she gently rubbed her hand on his back.
"It's okay, little brother," she murmured to him. "You were having a nightmare." Conner swallowed a hard lump that got stuck in his throat and he wiped away a few tears from his eyes with his right hand. He struggled to hold back more of them that threatened to escape. Carol looked at her little brother with great concern. After nearly a minute of awkward silence, Carol finally mustered up the courage to ask her little brother the one question she did not want to ask.
But something told her that she already knew what the answer was going to be. But still...
"... It... It was about them..., wasn't it?" she whispered.
Conner slowly looked up at his older sister in the eyes, his bottom lip just beginning to tremble. Before he knew it, Conner immediately wrapped his arms around Carol's torso, and he buried his once again sobbing face into her chest as more tears streamed down his face, the memories of that horrible incident playing out through his mind, when Anderson, Pablo, and Taylor had cruelly robbed him and then pummeled him to a near bloody pulp. Carol embraced the sniffling child, wrapping her own arms around him.
"Shhh... It's okay, Conner," she whispered soothingly to him, tenderly caressing his blond hair. "It's okay, sissy's here. Sissy's got you."
As she held him tightly in her arms, the two of them eventually began to gently rock back and forth, and she planted a small yet firm kiss on the very top of his head. After about a minute or so, Conner had eventually stopped sobbing, making only light sniffles here and there. Gazing wordlessly down at little brother, Carol could already tell what he absolutely needed right right at this very moment. She gently had him move a bit over to the left side of the bed.
This allowed her enough space to crawl in under the covers next to him, all the while being very careful not to hurt his still damaged but healing hand in the process. Carol embraced him into her reassuring arms once again, holding her twelve-year-old brother closely as he kept his bandaged hand safely close to his own chest. Within another matter of minutes, Conner was now fully relaxed and had already fallen fast asleep snuggling up against her chest once more.
And then soon enough, Carol had found herself falling asleep as well, until both brother and sister were now sleeping soundly, snuggling together on the warm bed, safe and undisturbed.
Let me tell ya'll a little somethin', I don't think that I have cried at my own writing in a long time, not since I wrote A Soul Eater Christmas Carol many years ago. It kind of did not help that I was listening to the soundtrack of Finding Nemo at the time; track 03, "Nemo Egg". It always gets me to see a young kid like Conner in such distress like that. :'( I look forward to seeing your reviews and reading your input about this chapter.
And also, do not forget to pray for the people of Ukraine. It is absolutely terrible in knowing what is happening over there, and the country's people need our sympathy and love, now more than ever. I wish that there was something that I could do to help, but I am just one human being, and there is only so much one person can do to help.
And the best think I can do right now is to pray and hope that the Ukrainian people out there are somewhere safe and away from all the craziness that is going on. Keep them all in mind when you go to bed tonight. May God and His angels protect them in their time of need.
