DYING TO LIVE



A PpG 'alternate reality' fan fiction

By I am a good fighter


DISCLAIMER: Powerpuff Girls created by Craig McCracken and all characters associated with the show are owned by Cartoon Network


Story idea adapted from the novel 'Replay' (c) 1986 by Ken Grimwood


This story is rated PG-13




TWENTY-THREE - THE CONCLUSION

Dear Diary: Today is Tuesday, September 5th. I've been home two days, and it's been wonderful. I'm feeling pretty good. Professor let me fly today for fifteen minutes, and after, I checked out normal. This weekend, he's going to let me start training, but I still can't go with the Girls on a call. I'm tempted to, anyway; I can handle it.

Tomorrow, I begin second grade. I can't wait! But the best thing about being home is just being here. When we came home from the hospital, I went around the house just touching things, it was like I was seeing them again after being gone for years, even though it was only two weeks. My necklace with the photo locket is right there in my jewelry box, though this one's never ever been to the Himalayas or the Amazon. And though DyNaMo wasn't built in my second through fifth lives, she's down there in her concrete prison, covered with dust and cobwebs. Everything is the way it's supposed to be again. It feels so good to be back in my home; during my first, second and fourth repeats I was home too, but aside from my nearly perfect second life, I never really felt like I belonged there.

When I last wrote, Dear Diary, I was telling you about my problem. Since then, I've read that letter again and again; and there is no problem. When I first read it, I put it away and didn't look at it again until I told you about it. And when I got to the part where I wrote it down, I was still very upset, too upset to even put those feelings into words. Why couldn't he have left me alone, to believe it was all just a horrible nightmare from my two days in the coma? But everything he said is true, and he helped me just as much as he helped me when he came to see me as President, when I was a prisoner in the mental ward. If I believed it was all a dream, there would always be a small part of me insisting that it had really happened, and the rest of my life would be filled with tortured doubt. But it DID happen. Now that I know the truth, I can deal with it and move on, just like he said. It won't be easy, but I will try to take the good from my experiences and let the rest go. If I learned nothing else from all of this, I know now that my sisters are my equals. I will never underestimate them again. And I will try not to take things for granted and keep in mind that every moment of every day is a precious gift to not be wasted.

I've gone back to the very beginning of my story, Dear Diary, which I started writing almost two weeks ago, right after I first read the letter. I read again the words I first wrote. I still have no explanation for everything that happened, but I am no longer confused. Knowing why WON'T change anything. And writing it all down DID help.

I'm going to put you away in a safe place, Dear Diary. Someday, like my friend says, I may do something with these memories. But right now, I'm tired of dwelling on my written past. The blank pages in the book of my life are open in front of me. Second grade, and the rest of my future, await!


THE END

Author's Note: If the story idea seemed similar to the movie 'Groundhog Day', you should know that the novel 'Replay' was published well before the film was made.

Please email your comments/critiques to i_am_a_good_fighter@yahoo.com