A few nights later, while Andy and his family were at a school function, his toys were downstairs in the living room watching an older movie they'd never seen before. On the screen, a careless visitor attending a party at the family home of the main character was puffing on a cigarette, then he threw it away without extinguishing it. The camera zoomed in on the lit cigarette, still smoking. All the toys gasped at the troubling scene. "Oh, I hope somebody finds it and puts it out!" Mrs. Potato Head exclaimed, clasping her face with her hands.
"That dumb bloke ought to know better than that, but he's obviously too stupid to think any sense." Potato Head muttered.
"Oh, I sure hope nothing happens," Bo said worriedly. She was up on the sofa, close to Woody.
"So do I!" Slinky agreed from his spot on the floor.
Mitsy's eyes were wide with fear and her heart was pounding. "I don't like where this is going!" She whispered shakily. She braced herself and gulped. The movie scene ranged on the family and guests enjoying the party then shifting into afterwords with the family settling in for the night, unaware of the danger they were in. Eventually, the cigarette did become a small flame. The toys gasped again.
"Ah!" Mitsy shrieked frightfully. "No, no!" She was grasping her face.
Bo Peep noticed the princess's distressed reaction and felt bad for her. "Psst. Mitsy?" She said lowly, but the princess didn't hear her.
"Mitsy, hey," Woody tried to say a little louder. Snake poked Mitsy to get her attention, but it startled her. He cocked his head toward the sheriff and the shepherdess. "Hey, Little Bit, come on up here next to us," Woody smiled, patting the small, empty spot right between him and Bo Peep. Mitsy wasted no time and climbed up on the couch, crawling close to the cowboy. Jessie was sitting astride the arm of the sofa, next to Bullseye, Wheezy, and then Bo Peep. She'd seen what just happened.
As the movie went along, a fire was climbing up the front side of the house and nobody had noticed yet, as the characters were all in bed! All the toys were yelling and hollering at the TV.
"Get up! Get up, people!" Potato Head shouted urgently. Mitsy was shivering and clung tightly to Woody. He had his arm firmly around her. She faintly screamed.
"Oh, Your Highness. It's okay. It's not real," Jessie remarked casually. Woody glared at his sister.
Mitsy buried her head deep into Woody's shoulder, and he placed his hand over her face so she didn't have to watch. "Let me know when it's over!" She begged, shaking vehemently and clinging to the cowboy for dear life. Instantly, Jessie guiltily realized that she had said the wrong thing.
Aww. Why, the poor thing's scared to death, Jessie thought to herself.
"Guys, maybe we should turn it off," Buzz, who was sitting next to Woody on the other side, said. "It might be too scary." Most of the toys groaned.
When the movie was over, the toys headed back up to Andy's room. Mitsy walked safely between Woody and Bo Peep. Mitsy was glued to Woody like a leech: she stayed close to his side, gripping his arm. Jessie caught up to Bo and pulled her to the side where the others couldn't hear too much. "Bo, what's wrong with Mitsy?" She asked in hushed tones. "I mean, I can see that she doesn't like fires, but..."
"Oh, no one's told you yet? Mitsy was in a house fire, before she came to Andy's," Bo Peep explained.
"She was?" Jessie gaped, wide-eyed.
"Yes. It was soon after her owner died. The father was drinking alcohol and smoking at the same time which caused a fire to break out. Mitsy managed to escape, but she lost everything she'd ever known, including her friend Jack. Maddie was the first and only family she'd had before Andy's mom brought her here from Goodwill." Bo finished.
"I didn't know that," Jessie hung her head, thinking of her ignorant remark earlier. Bo sensed Jessie's thoughts and touched her shoulder.
"It's okay." Bo smiled sweetly at the cowgirl.
"Poor princess," Jessie said wistfully, "Well, I'll be sure to remember from now on."
"She's scared of sirens too," Bo Peep spoke. "She says they're related to bad things, which they are, but they remind her of Maddie dying from the car accident and the night of the fire."
"Oh. That's understandable. Thank you. Thanks for telling me. But who was Jack? And he didn't make it out?"
"She never found out. It's 98% chance that he didn't. Jack was Maddie's other favorite toy, and he'd been with her since her birth. He was a realistic-looking stuffed dog. He was Mitsy's best friend."
"Wow," Jessie sighed. "I won't tease her about that again!"
Bo smiled again. "You know what it's like, Jessie, to experience loss. I think you and Mitsy relate to each other in a sense." Jessie bit her lip. Her own heartache from Emily abandoning her still hurt so much even after all these years and she didn't like talking about it, but maybe Bo was right. Jessie thought of her conversation the other day with the princess. Maybe they did have something in common.