- A World without Her.

Angelica put on her jacket and backpack, and, holding Cynthia, walked out of her bedroom as quietly as possible. She passed next to her parents' bedroom, and placed a hand at the door.

"I'm sorry, Daddy. Please, don't feel bad, Mommy." Angelica quietly said, and then noticed Fluffy, her cat, rubbing her head at the girl's legs.

"Sorry, Fluffy, but you can't come with me. Someone has to stay and take care of Mommy and Daddy." Angelica petted her cat that immediately lowered her ears at her human's sad tone. "Be a good kitty, and now you can sleep in my bed… just don't scratch it, okay?"

Angelica walked downstairs, with Fluffy looking at her from the corridor. The girl went to the kitchen, and once she used a chair to reach the dining room's table's center, where her father normally dropped his keys, she opened the back door and walked down the street, not saying a word until she was a few blocks away from the house.

"This is for the best, Cynthia. Now, they'll all be happy without me always being mean with them and getting everyone into trouble."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, Cynthia, it's…" Angelica got a shocked expression and wide-opened her eyes at the doll.

"No, it wasn't Cynthia, Angelica. It was me." Angelica turned back, and almost fainted when looking at a girl that looked a lot like her, but she used a white shirt, golden shorts, white sandals, and, amazingly, she had a golden halo over her head and two little blue wings at her back; finally, instead of Angelica's trademark pig-tails, her hair was in a bun, just like Angelica used it at special occasions.

"Maybe those cookies were really bad after all." Angelica finally found her voice back. The other girl chuckled a little, and walked closer to her.

"No, Angelica, the cookies were okay, but you shouldn't eat that much and so fast or you'll be fat as a hippo before you turn 10; and you already forgot when you got sick for eating too many cookies?"

"Okay… who are you, and how do you know so much about me?"

"I'm your Guardian Angel, Angelica." The girl told her, "I'm in charge of taking care of you so you can be safe and fine."

"Hey, if that's true, then why I got stuck last week on Spike's door? Or what about that time I tripped with the rug? And…" Angelica was cut by the angel moving her hand in front of the girl's face.

"Take it easy, girl! I don't work that way. Most of the time, the guardian angels do our jobs whispering at the people's ears, you know, to give advice so you can do the right thing… and, sadly, most of the time you don't want to hear me."

"Oh." Angelica got her sad expression back, and looked down. "You mean, like today?"

"Yes, like today." The angel got a severe tone, but softened immediately while placing a hand on Angelica's shoulder. "But I think this time you might hear me; okay, first of all, why do you want to leave?"

"Because I'm a very bad girl, and the only thing I have ever done around here is making people sad or even getting hurt." Angelica cried. "They would be much better if I had never existed!"

POOF!

"What was that noise?" Angelica asked the angel, confused.

"Your wish."

"What wish?"

"The one you just made; now, you had never existed." The angel told Angelica, who immediately got a puzzled expression.

"You make wishes true? Then, I want a pony, and a candy store, and…"

"Calm down, Angeladdin! I already told you I don't work that way." Angel (AN: I'm calling her that way from now on, ok?) sighed, and then took a little remote out from her shorts' pocket. She pointed behind Angelica, and a red electric car, perfectly sized for the girls, appeared from nowhere.

"It's your car? I like it; I have one like this, but I couldn't take it out to run away because my daddy hided the key because of my grounding." Angelica told Angel, who invited her to jump into the car. A moment later, Angel was driving back to Angelica's house.

"I can't go back, Angel! I'm running away, remember?"

"Yes, but I told you that in this world you don't exist." Angel told the girl, who obviously still didn't understand what the angel meant. Angelica then noticed it was no longer night, seeming it was about the time she usually wakes up.

Angel parked her car at the backyard, and motioned Angelica to follow her. Then, Angel grabbed the girl's hand, and, surprisingly for Angelica, they phased through the wall.

"How you did that? And how I did that?"

"I told you, in this world, you don't exist, so you can walk through anything and anybody, like that ghost kid that wants everybody to be his friend."

"The one from cartoons?" Angelica asked while rubbing her chin. "So, I can also fly, and scare people, and…"

"No, you can't do that; and people can't see or hear you, so don't even try to do it or you're going to feel very confused and frustrated after a while." Angel informed her, and, at that moment, Charlotte entered the kitchen, talking at her cell phone. Just like Angel said, she didn't notice the girls, and even walked through the angel's body.

"Wow! Did it hurt?"

"No, but sometimes it tickles." Angel informed her. Then, Drew appeared at the kitchen's door, not noticing the girls either, with a sad expression. Charlotte stopped talking at the phone, and looked at him, sad as well.

"So… you're leaving now?" Charlotte said to Drew, trying to keep a normal tone, but her sadness was evident.

"Yes… I'll send for the rest of my things." Drew rubbed the back of his neck, obviously uncomfortable. Charlotte then hugged him, and, after a few seconds, he returned the embrace.

"Too bad this didn't work." Charlotte sighed.

"Yes… but, maybe we can, you know, have dinner together at times or something." Drew proposed, but his expression didn't change.

"If our agendas allow it." Charlotte chuckled slightly, and then separated from him. "Good luck, Drew."

"Same here, Charlotte." Drew gave her a little kiss at her cheek, and then walked away. Angelica rushed out of the kitchen, and looked at him picking up a suitcase and a large back pack, and leaving the house.

"What's going on? Why my daddy left so sad, and why he was carrying those things?" Angelica asked Angel, and then noticed Charlotte sobbing at the kitchen. "And why my mom is crying?"

"They divorced, Angelica."

"What's that?"

"It's when a husband and a wife can't live together any more, and they decide to separate to live by their own. The same thing happened with Kimi's mom and her first dad." Angel sighed while looking at Charlotte.

"But, why they did it? My mommy and my daddy love each other!" Angelica exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes, but they have a problem, Angelica; they are 'workaholics', which means they hardly can stop working. They are so busy with their jobs they almost don't see each other, or talk, or have fun together any more; so, they decided to divorce, because they are no longer as happy as they were when they got married."

"But they are always working, and they are always happy when they're together!"

"That's because of you, Angelica." Angel told her. "You see, when you were around, even if they worked a lot, they always tried to make some time for you; your dad took you to buy toys, and eat ice cream, and many other funny things, and, even if your mom is always talking at the phone, she always went to your kindergarten's festivals, bought you nice clothing, made cakes with you, and other things… sure, they also spoiled you a lot buying you everything you wanted, but my point is that they always made a little time to spend with you, and by doing that, they also made time for them, so they were still as happy as the day they married, and even more, because they shared their time with someone they both loved… you."

Angelica got silent and walked at the door, looking how his dad's car left the house and he left her mom. The girl felt pretty sad for them; she never imagined how much their parents needed her to be happy.

"Come; we still have more things to see." Angel made Angelica follow her back to the car, and they drove away.

"Where are we going now?" Angelica said after a few minutes of silence.

"To your school; don't you want to see if your classmates are happier without you?" Angel replied, and, as she said, they were parking at the kindergarten's yard a few moments later.

Angel and Angelica entered the classroom by phasing through a wall, and Angelica noticed everything seemed to be more or less normal, with kids running around, playing with the toys, and Savannah bossing Harold.

"Wait a minute!" Angelica exclaimed after giving Savannah and Harold a second look.

"Hurry up, Harold, and bring me more crayons."

"Okay, Savannah." Harold dashed to bring the crayons. He was stopped by Dulce.

"Harold, I want you to go get my chocolate from my backpack."

"Yes, Dulce, in a moment." Harold replied in a hurry. He grabbed the crayons from a nearby shelf, and dashed back with Savannah.

"Now, give me a piece of paper so I can draw." Savannah told him. Harold nodded, and, after picking up Dulce's chocolate bar, grabbed a sheet of paper from another shelf, and gave the girl her candy. He was about to give Savannah her paper when other two kids, Clark and Jake, stopped him.

"Harold, can you bring us some clay? We want to make a superhero." Clark told him. Harold sighed, but replied with his usual friendly smile, and dashed to give Savannah her paper.

"I'll be back in a moment, Savannah. I'm just giving Clark and Jake something." Harold told her, but, when he was about to go get the clay, Savannah extended her foot in front of his, making him to trip, and almost all the children to laugh.

"Harold, are you okay?" Miss Weemer asked the kid while approaching him for a check up.

"Yes, Miss Weemer… it was just an accident. I'll be more careful." Harold told the teacher, and then walked away, rubbing his belly and elbows, to get the clay he was ordered to bring.

"Hey, that's not fair! Why everybody is bossing him?" Angelica asked Angel without losing sight of her assistant.

"Because you're not here to boss him, that's why." Angel started explaining, "Harold is a very nice kid, but since he is very clumsy many children don't like him around unless he is doing something for them. He always do things for you because he considers you a friend, and wants to make you happy, but, since you don't exist in this world, he feels he must to do things for everybody to be liked. And, as you see, all the kids are taking advantage of him."

"And why nobody defends him? How about Susie?"

"Well, when you were around, nobody dared to be mean with him because he was your assistant, and you protected him from the other kids' abuse… and, well, Susie is no longer interested in protecting him." Angel pointed at a corner of the room, where Susie was sitting and watching how everyone was bossing Harold, with a sad expression.

"Carmichael, what's wrong with you? Go help him; he is your friend, remember?" Angelica snapped at Susie, but got no response.

"She can't hear you, remember? And the most she does for Harold is not bossing him; she is the only kid who isn't mean with him, but that's all." Angel sighed sadly. "She already has a lot of work at home, so no longer tries to help anyone."

Angelica wide opened her eyes in shock; Susie, not helping people?

"But Susie always helps people and tells us when we do something wrong! Why she stopped doing that?"

"Well, there are two reasons… the first, as I told you, is that she has to do a lot at home, so she tries to forget about helping anyone when she is at school. The second reason is that, well, now she is alone when trying to defend someone; when you were around, she always had someone for support, at least when you weren't the one she was lecturing, but now she is alone against the whole classroom the other kids usually ignore her."

Angelica looked sadly at Susie, the Afro-American girl not nearly close to her usual cheerful mood, and then at Harold, who now had a fake smile when obeying orders instead of the natural and honest one he always had when Angelica was his boss.

"You said Susie has a lot of work at home… what she does that makes her so sad?" Angelica asked her guardian angel.

"Come, I'll show you."