- The Worst that Could Happen.
Angel drove her car heading to Angelica's uncles' home. Again, she parked at the backyard, and Angelica followed her.
"We're going through the wall again, right?" Angelica asked Angel, but, before she could reply, they heard well known voices from behind the fence.
"You think Tommy will come and play with us today, Phil?"
"I don't know, Lil; maybe he's still angry with us."
"I miss him a lot, Phil."
"Me too Lil… me too."
Angelica phased her head through the fence, and saw Phil and Lil, looking at the Pickles' home, with sad expressions and holding hands. She then turned to look back at Angel.
"Why they are so sad? And why Tommy is angry with them?"
"I'll tell you later. Come on, let's enter the house." Angel told Angelica, and they were at the Pickles' kitchen a few moments later. Didi was serving some tea to Stu, who had a pretty tired expression.
"I swear, Didi, my boss is trying to kill me; sometimes I think I'll lose my mind in that office."
"Maybe you should try your old job back, Stu; I can't believe I'm saying this, but I kind of miss those noises coming from the basement when you were working on another invention." Didi told him in a caring tone.
"I miss that too… but I can't do that again, Didi. I promised myself to never, ever, design another toy… after what happened." The man sighed sadly.
"You can't blame yourself forever, Stu; I don't want you to end like your father. He hardly talks to anyone these days." Didi embraced him, a lot of sadness in her voice. The couple stayed quiet, sobbing slightly.
"Did anything bad happen to my grandpa?" Angelica quickly asked her guardian.
"Not exactly to him, but yes, something pretty bad happened here, so bad, it made your uncle to stop inventing toys, and your grandpa to move to the retirement home… and he is so sad, he hardly talks with anyone, so he never married Lulu."
"Just because I don't exist?" Angelica asked in disbelief.
"You saw your parents and your friends, Angelica; everyone affects all the people around them, so, if you don't exist, there are many changes. Just look at your cousins." Angel pointed to the kitchen's exit, and Angelica walked out, looking for Tommy and Dil, finding them at the living room.
"Play?" Dil asked Tommy, who sighed and shook his head.
"No, I don't want to play with you."
Dil got teary eyes, making Tommy to approach and give his baby brother a hug.
"I'm sorry, Dil, it's not your fault, but I no longer want to play as much as before; but I'm still taking care of you… you and Susie are the only friends I have left."
"What? Okay, I demand an explanation, now!" Angelica turned at the angel, half-shocked, half-angry.
"That bad thing I told you, well… it was so bad it made Tommy get angry with Phil and Lil, so he no longer wants to play with them; their parents had noticed that, so they aren't forcing them together any more. That's the job Susie does here; she has to cheer up Phil and Lil, and your cousins as well, and, the few times when they're all together, she keeps everyone from fighting. The saddest thing is that Tommy is also a little angry with Dil, so he hardly wants to play with him either."
"Susie and Dil are his only friends… but, what happened with Chuckie, and with Kimi?"
"Well… for starters, in this world, Chuckie and Kimi aren't brother and sister."
"Don't tell me that, without me, his dad and her mom stopped liking each other too!"
"No… they never knew each other. I'll show you." Angel placed a hand on Angelica's shoulder to make the girl follow her out of the house. Angelica gave one last sad look at her cousins, and phased through the wall.
This time, the ride was a lot longer, and Angelica could almost swear they were flying. Angel decided to tell her why Chuckie and Kimi weren't siblings in that world.
"Do you remember how Chuckie's dad met Kimi's mom?"
"Yes, we all went to Euro-Reptarland so my uncle could repair that giant Reptar toy he invented, and Kimi's mom worked there." Angelica replied.
"Well, in this world, the bad thing that made your uncle to stop inventing happened before he made up the Reptar toy." Angel explained. "So, he never built it, the dinosaur wasn't sent to Paris, he never was called to repair it, and he and his friends and family never traveled there."
"So Chuckie's dad couldn't meet Kimi's mom!" Angelica exclaimed, understanding the problem.
"And, because of that, they never married." Angel sighed, "And, do you remember who wanted to marry Mister Finster?"
"Yes, that Coco woman," Angelica frowned at the memory, "She never gave me the ponies she promised... and I also helped her to almost marry Chuckie's dad." Angelica got back her sad expression, remembering how sad Chuckie was when realizing his new mom would be the meanest woman ever.
"But you also helped him, and you made Coco lose her job." Angel reminded her in a proud tone. "I'm glad you heard me that time."
"Yes… I'm too." Angelica got a little smile.
"Unfortunately, in this world you don't exist, so Coco didn't lose her job." Angel told her, "She didn't marry Mister Finster, because they never met either, but she faked a wedding with an actor and a kid she paid his parents to pose as the man's son. And, since her boss wanted her to be a family woman, Coco got a promotion… that's a more important job."
"Great; the only one so far who has a better life in this world, and it's the ugliest and meanest person I had ever known." Angelica folded her arms and frowned.
"That's not the worst part." Angel said, getting Angelica's attention again, "Coco used her new job to steal a lot of money from her company... that means she stole from her bosses, and it was a real lot of money!"
"How much?"
"Enough for you to buy a candy shop, a toy store, a truck loaded with Cynthia's accessories, and a bigger house and a lot of new cars for your parents, and even more."
"Wow! That much?"
"Yes, but, eventually, her bosses realized someone was stealing money from them, and made an investigation."
"And Coco was caught, right?" Angelica wide smiled for the first time since she entered the world without her.
"Not exactly… what do you do when you do something bad, and want to avoid the grounding?"
"I look for someone to take the blame…" Angelica wide opened her eyes, "Coco did the same?"
Angel nodded while finally stopping her car. They were at the middle of a street Angelica didn't recognize, and there were a lot of people and police cars in front of them. The girls jumped down the car, and, since they could phase through people without being noticed, they quickly advanced in front of everyone to see what was happening.
Angelica got stunned; in front of her, there were a bunch of police officers speaking French, and two of them were dragging Kimi's mom inside a patrol. The woman was crying and trying to escape while looking at the distance. Angelica turned her head to see what Kira was looking at, recognizing Kimi, crying loudly and trying to reach her mom, struggling in the arms of another cop.
"No… NO! SHE IS INNOCENT! COCO IS THE BAD ONE!" Angelica yelled at the cops. "SHE IS KIMI'S MOMMY! DON'T YOU SEE HER CRYING? DON'T TAKE AWAY HER MOMMY!"
Angel hugged Angelica to calm her down; the girl struggled for a minute, but eventually remembered nobody but her angel could see or hear her, so cooled down but started crying a little when noticing Kimi bursting in tears.
"Kimi will be okay, Angelica; the cops will send her to Japan, with her mommy's family… but her mom will get Coco's punishment, and they'll hardly see each other for many years." Angel explained Angelica, who couldn't turn her sight away from Kimi, and hardly noticed when Angel called her car again and made her sit in there.
"Angel..." Angelica, sobbing, found her voice back after a few minutes of silent driving, "That very bad thing you mentioned, the one that caused so many horrible things… what was it?"
"It was something really bad, Angelica, and I don't know if I should show it to you; the things you already saw are very hard for anyone to get over, especially for a little girl."
"But… I have to know. What horrible thing happened in a world without me?"
"Okay then, I'll show you." Angel nodded, and then pressed a few buttons on the car's remote control. "To see this, we have to go to the past, right at the moment it happened. Are you ready?" Angelica nodded in reply, and, a few moments later, the car was covered by a blue light. After a couple of seconds, they were at the middle of a forest.
"Where are we?" Angelica asked the angel, suddenly getting a weird feeling about the place.
"At the forest where your friends got lost when Phil and Lil tried to return Dil to the hospital." Angel replied, stopping her car, after the girls jumped down, leading Angelica through the place. After walking for a minute or so, they spotted Phil and Lil hugging Dil at the Reptarmobile, looking at the distance.
"Do you think Tommy can save him, Phil?"
"Of course he can; he is Tommy, remember? Hey, look, they're coming back!"
Angelica saw at the same direction as the twins, and gasped. Tommy was helping Chuckie to walk; the redheaded boy was badly bruised, most of his clothing was ripped, and it seemed he had several biting marks. Tommy had a few bruises and bites as well.
"Don't worry, Chuckie, we are safe now." Tommy told the elder boy, who nodded at him, getting a little smile.
"It's always an adventure with you, right, Tommy?" Chuckie joked, making him and the DeVilles to smile as well. Angelica, on the other hand, was almost crying at the view of Chuckie and Tommy's injuries.
"What happened to them?"
"Monkeys," Angel sighed and rubbed her forehead, "They tried to get Dil, and Tommy couldn't defend him alone, but Phil and Lil helped them, and Chuckie got the monkeys' attention making them to chase him, but, in this world, Tommy didn't have someone to help him rescue Chuckie from the monkeys."
"Well, I bite a monkey's tail to recover Cynthia, but I never really scared them away."
"No, but Spike did it." Angel reminded her. "Remember; Dil had Cynthia when Phil and Lil took him away, and, to get your doll back, you tracked them with Spike's help; that dog found the babies, and helped Tommy save Chuckie, but, in this world, you didn't brought Spike, and Tommy had to save Chuckie at his own while Phil and Lil were taking care of Dil, so Chuckie got a lot of bites and hits before Tommy could scare the monkeys away throwing them rocks and dirt."
"Poor Finster… at least they'll be safe now, right?"
Angel looked down, and took a deep breath; the next part wasn't easy for her to say.
"Spike fought something else besides the monkeys that time, remember?"
"Oh, yes, he fought…" Angelica paled when realized what Angel meant.
"WOLF!"
Chuckie's yell made everyone to turn, gasping at the sight of a huge gray wolf slowly approaching the babies.
"GET AWAY FROM THEM!" Angelica snapped at the animal, and then dashed in front of him, but the wolf simply ignored her and phased through the girl's body. Angel dashed next to Angelica, and covered her eyes.
When the wolf attacked the babies the first time, Spike was with them for protection, and the wolf's main target was Angelica, the most noticeable prey because of her size and bright hair.
Now, there was no Spike or Angelica, and the wolf directed against the largest and most injured prey he found.
WAAAAAHHH!
Angelica pushed Angel away to see what was going on. Tommy was kneeled, looking at the distance, with some tears rolling down his cheeks; Phil and Lil were crying loudly; Dil was covering his eyes and breathing quickly, trying to understand what just happened; the wolf was gone.
And so Chuckie.
Angelica, in a zombie-like state, moved next to Tommy, who now was holding something in his little hands; a broken set of purple glasses. Then, both Pickles yelled at the same time, harder than they had ever done in their young lives.
"CHUCKIEEEEEEEEEE!"
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Angel allowed Angelica to cry on her chest while moving away from the babies, who were crying as well. Angelica didn't separate her face from the angel's body until hearing the voices of her uncle and the other adults, as well as many other persons who arrived at the place. The blonde had to bury her face in the angel's chest again when hearing the loud cries from Chuckie's dad when the man found the glasses and saw the wolf's tracks.
"Chuckie's dad felt so bad for this that he ended in a hospital, and, when he was out, moved away." Angel explained the girl, "And your uncle and your grandpa never forgave themselves because they were the ones taking care of the babies that day, plus your uncle was the one who invented the Reptarmobile the babies used to get in here; that was the end of Pickles Toys. Tommy never forgave Phil and Lil because they were the ones who started the whole problem by trying to return Dil to the hospital, and he became a little angry with his brother too for not being able to help his best friend because he was too busy protecting Dil."
Angelica sobbed loudly; even if, as most three years old, she couldn't understand death as well as a grown up, she knew a little more about it than other kids because of her asking her parents about what happened to Chuckie's first mother and Grandpa Lou's first wife. To Angelica, it meant Chuckie was gone forever, and nobody would ever see him again… Angelica wouldn't see him again.
"I want to exist."
"Excuse me?"
"Don't you wash your ears?" Angelica snapped at the angel, more sad than angry, "I said I want to exist! This world is horrible! My mommy and my daddy must be happy and together; Harold doesn't have to stand all the other kids' abuse, and Susie has to tell everyone when we do something bad; Tommy has to be a good brother, and a good friend of Phil and Lil; my uncle has to invent toys, and my grandpa has to marry Lulu and be a nice old man who talks with everyone; Kimi has to be with her mommy, and… she has to be Chuckie's sister… and Chuckie… his daddy needs him! Tommy needs him! And Kimi, and Phil, and Lil, and Dil… and… and… I NEED HIM!" Angelica cried loudly at the last part, hugging the angel.
"There, there." Angel comforted the girl, "Are you sure about this?"
"Yes… they are lost without me." Angelica smiled sadly at the angel, "And I'm lost without them. Please, take me back."
Angel smiled at Angelica, who got a real happy smile a moment later, when Angel placed a hand on her forehead, and the rest of the world became a blank space.