Wilt grabbed the pizza as the group walked outside to find a table. Stacy walked slowly while Mac and Bloo stayed by her side trying to cheer her up.
"Don't worry about what Richie Wiltbrat, he wouldn't know a pure imaginary friend if one bit him in the butt," Bloo said looking a Stacy who looked at him back with a small smile.
"Yeah," Mac said, "Sarah is very unique and special."
"Yeah…wait…HEY!" Bloo glared at Mac.
Mac rolled his eyes, "Not more special than you Bloo."
"That's better," Bloo said crossing his arms.
"You guys don't think she is fake?" Stacy asked them.
Bloo and Mac looked at her a smile saying, "Not even."
Stacy smiled a little when Sarah came by with the pizza after Wilt and Stephanie already took their share. Stacy smiled up at Sarah as she, Mac and Bloo took a seat at another table.
Wilt watched Stacy's face, which still looked a little sad, he knew a few kids thought of imaginary parents before, but with Sarah there was something about her that just made her much more than that to her. Wilt looked to Stephanie after he saw Sarah sit down with the little ones and asked her, "Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"
Stephanie looked to Wilt, "I guess it would all depend on the question."
"Well…I hope I am not prying in or anything, but…Sarah did tell me parts of what your mother did from what you told her, but I am just curious, What happened that day of her passing?" Wilt looked at her sadly, seeing her facial expression turn to shock then sadness as she looked down at the concrete flooring of the outside dinning area, " I am sorry, I don't mean to be forward w-"
"Its alright," Stephanie said, trying to hold back her tears, " I knew this was going to come one day, I guess telling it to someone could help relieve what little I have holding onto." Stephanie looked to Wilt and started to tell him what happened:
It was a calm quiet night in a small peaceful neighborhood of South Carolina, the breeze was warm, the crickets were chirping and the street lamps were just lighting up, showing various of homes with lights on.
In a house on the corner of a street, a woman with long brown hair, wearing a dark brown business suit came walking out of the house as she shouted, "I am going to go pick up Stacy from Timmy's…I will be right back Stephanie."
"MOM! WAIT!" a 13 year old Stephanie shouted, running down the stairs to her mom, "Mom please, can't I come with you? There are these pairs of shoes called the Lucy Lace straps that are on sale that I want to buy, I save my allowance for the past 3 weeks to get them."
"At this hour?" Her mom looked at her.
"Please mom!" Stephanie begged, "please, all the kids at school are wearing them, I just have to have them please mom!"
Her mom looked at her as Stephanie gave the puppy dog pout face, she sighed with a smile, "alright, we can make a quick stop there after we pick up Stacy alright?"
Stephanie jumped up and hugged her mom, "THANK YOU THANK YOU!"
Her mother hugged her back as they got into her little blue Toyota.
As she drove, the mom looked at her eldest daughter saying, "can I ask you something Stephanie?"
"Sure mom," Stephanie answered.
"Why are these shoes important to you?"
"Because all the girls in school are wearing them!" Stephanie said with excitement.
Her mom looked at her with a raised brow, "all of the girls?"
"Well…only the popular girls." Stephanie rubbed the back of her neck.
Her mom sighed saying, "does this have to do with Emma Fitsgerald again?"
"Mom she told me, anyone who is anyone is wearing them…and I want to be part of the in crowd," Stephanie said.
"Clothes and shoes, don't make you popular," her mom said.
Stephanie sighed, "here we go again."
Her mom looked at her with a slight glare, "What is that suppose to mean young lady?"
"You are always saying that you don't have to do this to be popular, clothes don't make the person, shoes don't make you noticeable, blah blah blah," Stephanie argued, putting her elbow on the car door looking out.
"Well, they don't. You have to be happy with who you are, those who want to get all these things just to be noticed, are not happy with who they are, so they just follow the crowd to get noticed." her mother stated flatly.
"How do you know? You were never popular," Stephanie retorted back.
"I didn't have to be popular in school, I was just fine with who I was, that's why I have the friends I have now," her mother smiled.
"Who you hardly ever keep track of," Stephanie said.
"I do to keep track of them, Jeff just got married and is expecting his first child, and Sally is getting her business up and going with her eldest son." her mother smiled.
"Woohoo two friends, you are so lucky," Stephanie stated unenthused.
"two friends are better than no friends my dear," her mother smiled at her.
"Well, I want a lot of friends I want to be part of a group!"
"you better be careful what you wish for Stephanie, sometimes, being part of a group, isn't all its cracked up to be."
"As I stated before, you weren't popular, so why should I care what you think?"
"Because I am your mother! And I just want you to be happy!" her mother argued at her.
"Well then how about making me happy by just letting me do what I want!"
"Because you live under my house, you live by my rules!"
"I hate you! I wish dad was taking care of us!"
Her mother glared at her, "Now you lis-" she stopped suddenly as she looked up through Stephanie's window, seeing a car speeding out of control, with cop cars behind it, her eyes widened as she saw the car coming right for them…without a second thought, the mother unbuckled Stephanie and pulled her over, holding her close till she was covering her when the impact happened.
Then all was black…
The sun shined the next morning when Stephanie slowly came too. As she looked around she saw that she was in a white room, in bed with a nurse by her side.
The nurse smiled saying, "oh good, your awake."
"wh…w..where am I?" Stephanie asked slightly groggily.
The nurse put a hand to her shoulder saying calmly, "you are in a hospital, you were in a car accident last night."
"Last night?" Stephanie thought before shooting up from her bed, "MOM! Where is ahhhh!!!…my back hurts!"
"You have to hold lay still Stephanie, you got hurt pretty bad," the nurse said trying to push her back to the bed.
"But my mom! Where is she?!"
The Nurse looked at her then sat down in the chair closest to her, "Dear, your mom…" the nurse tried to hold back her tears as she found this the hardest part of her job to say to anyone…especially to a child, but smiled a little saying, "your mom did a brave thing last night…if she didn't cover you up when she did, you wouldn't be here right now."
"You are avoiding the question, where is my mother!" Stephanie snapped and glared at her.
The nurse sighed sadly saying, "I am sorry Stephanie…your…your mother didn't make it last night…she died when she came into the hospital."
Stephanie could feel her body stiffen, all the color from her face was gone, the breath was gone from her lungs… "no…..no….NO!! your lieing to me!!! She can't be dead! Please" Stephanie started to cry as the nurse held her close, "LET ME GO!!! MOM!!! MOTHER!!! …mommy!….NO!!!…..mother!!!!!…noooo!!! Ahhhh!!!" she cried harder in hysterics, clasping onto the nurse.
As the nurse held her close, she looked to the door when the doctor walked in with Timmy, a friend from her moms work, who had short dark hair and was wearing a plaid blue shirt and blue jeans. He looked at Stephanie while Stacy ran in, "Stephanie!" she grabbed a hold of her sister hugging her dearly as she crying.
Stephanie looked down to her little sister and hugged her dearly, "I am so sorry Stacy! I am so sorry!" she cried in her little sisters shoulder "this is all my fault!…! This is all my fault!!!!"
Moms friend Timmy walked in with a heavy heart, embracing both of the girls as they cried. The nurse and the doctor looked at each other sadly as they left.
"Its alright girls, I promise to take care of you," Timmy cried himself as she tried to comfort his friends children after a tragic loss.
Timmy stayed true and stayed with Stephanie and Stacy at the hosptial, since Stacy didn't want to leave her sister, she was given privileges to stay with her as well as Timmy. It wasn't until a few days later when the doctor came in to check up on Stephanie.
"Good morning Stephanie," the doctor said.
Stephanie didn't say anything, she just looked at him, eyes still red from crying over the loss of her mother, thinking of all the horrible things she said to her before the accident and how she wished she could take it all back…
While Timmy and Stacy rested in a couch in the room, The Doctor sat in a chair next to Stephanie saying, "I know I am the last person you want to see but I need to run a quick reflex test before sending you to X-ray today."
"Do whatever, I don't care…" Stephanie said softly, hugging her pillow.
The doctor looked at her with a heavy heart as he told her that he was going to check on her legs. He lifted up the covers looking at her bare feet, then took a little spike roller, then began running it over her legs and toes.
"Could you hurry up and do whatever you want to do?" Stephanie said.
Doctor looked at her a little shocked, could she not feel what he was doing? The doctor looked at her feet again then took the spike roller and ran it a little harder.
Stephanie growls snapping as she stood up, "What are you doing! staring a-" she looked down to her legs seeing the doctor was rolling the spike over her feets, "what's going on….?…w…why…"
"Stephanie, can you feel what I am doing..?" the doctor asked her.
Stephanie looked at him worriedly, "no."
The doctor wasted no time, he brought the nurses in and told them to take her to X-ray. Timmy and Stacy followed in pursuit when Stephanie went into the room.
They waited outside as Stacy paced back and forth while Timmy watched her worriedly.
"Timmy, what is happening? Is there something wrong with Stephanie? Is she going to be alright?!" Stacy grabbed onto Timmy's pants and yanked panicky.
Timmy lifted her up into his arms as he told her, "I am sure they just want to check out something very quick okay? I am sure Stephanie will be alright…but you have to be brave for her okay Stacy?"
Stacy looked at him and nodded with tears in her eyes hugging him.
A few hours after the X-ray, Timmy was trying to get Stephanie to eat her lunch when the doctor came in.
Timmy stood up looking at him, "Well doctor? What did you find?"
The doctor looked at him, gently putting a hand up, motioning for him to sit down. Timmy took seat as the doctor spoke, "Stephanie…I…I am afraid…I have some terrible news."
Stephanie, Stacy and Timmy looked at the doctor with wide eyes when he said, "the impact, punctured your spine from the waist…I…I am afraid your….your paralyzed from the waist down…." the doctor hung his head, "I am sorry."
Stephanie looked at him, "no…NO!!!!" she grabbed her tray and threw it at the doctor as Timmy grabbed her, "you are suppose to be a doctor! Fix it damn it!!!!"
The doctor had moved out of the way of the tray as it went splat against the wall then looked at her saying, "I am sorry…"
"Don't give me none of that Bu-!" Stephanie was silenced by Timmy's hand over her mouth.
Once the Doctor stepped out, Timmy looked to Stephanie, embracing her.
"Let go of me! I can't….I can't…." Stephanie started to cry, "I can't believe this is happening to me!!!!! Oh! Why!!!!!….first my mother and now….THIS!!!!!…" she cried harder when Stacy came up and hugged her sister crying along with her.
Wilt couldn't believe his ears, his eyes, including his wonky eye, grew tears at the story.
Stephanie whipped her tears away with a napkin, "After a month, we had a funeral for mom. Since there was no relatives left or no aunts or uncles, Timmy said he would watch us, but he wasn't listed as family, so by law he couldn't keep us. We got sent to a foster home 3 days after the service."
"But…what about your dad?" Wilt asked.
"My mom and dad got divorced when I was 10...he wasn't in our lives much so he paid no mind on what happened, nor did he care. He was living in a different state when it all happened…He said that we were not his responsibility." Stephanie hung her head down, putting a hand to her face, "…but…still…" Stephanie started to cry, "there has not been a day that goes by when I don't blame myself for mom's passing…it was all my fault!…I wish I never said those awful things to her!"
Wilt looked at her shocked and glared at the thought of a father neglecting his children. He stood up, sat next to Stephanie and wrapped his arm around her hugging her close to him.
Stephanie was shocked a little when she heard him say, "its alright to be sad…" she relaxed in his hold and held him dearly in her arms.
Wilt looked at her, "She knew that you didn't mean what you said that night…She would never hold that against you…no matter what…and she wouldn't want you to blame yourself for what had happened. What's done is done…things happen, but she saved you so you could continue on with your life…you have done so many things on your own, you helped raise your sister, you are doing a job you love doing, you have a place to live…and you still have the greatest imaginary friend ever who will never think less of your…no matter what had happened."
Stephanie looked to Wilt then at group where Sarah was, seeing her laughing with Stacy and Mac as Bloo walked on top of the table with two straws hanging from his teeth chanting, "look at me I am a walrus, ARU ARU!"
Stephanie smiled, "yeah….your right."
Wilt smiled a little before looking to Stephanie, "Stephanie?" he started, bringing her attention back to him, "I…I know I am not a fatherly like imaginary friend and I know I am nothing like Sarah…but, if you ever need anyone to talk to or just hang out with, I want to let you know, I am will always be there for you too…for anything you need, just let me know."
Stephanie looked into his eye and smiled brightly hugging him once again in a strong embrace as he hugged her back.
"though if its any girls stuff, I am completely off the list to talk to about that," Wilt said trying to cheer her up a little.
Stephanie laughed as a few tears came down her face, "that's sounds fine by me."