Stephanie wakes up hearing her family all having a serious discussion in the kitchen. There were parts of the conversation that were getting them to speak louder almost shouting. It wasn't like her family to shout or be anything like this and she wished she could understand everything they were talking about.
"Stephanie do you need help?" Michelle asks having been sat on the sofa not having been invited to the discussion in the kitchen. She was told to check on Stephanie incase she needed them. That's what she had been doing, waiting until she woke up.
"What are they shouting about?" She asks Michelle giving her the first real thing she has asked since coming home from the hospital.
"You. You've been well depressed. No one knows what to do anymore. We just want to help you feel better. No one knows how." Michelle says to her not wanting to say too much or to upset Stephanie further.
Stephanie doesn't say anything and just lays there quietly, listening as best as she could to what her family were saying. The discussion eventually ended and she still hadn't really heard much of it, she was too far away.
"Do you want one of my cookies?" Michelle asks holding an offering of her cookies she had hidden in her pockets.
Stephanie nods and takes one from her and starts eating it. She hadn't eaten anything for days, she still felt depressed, confused and angry so good hadn't been important to her, but if Michelle was giving up one of her cookies then she must have really been worried so decided to be kind and take one.
"Here you can have this one aswell." Michelle says as she places another cookie down next to Stephanie's hand so she could take it.
"Thanks." She manages to muster up. It wasn't easy anymore to speak to her family. Though nothing was easy anymore.
The rest of the day went by as normal, she didn't really do anything much and stayed within her usual places. She was speaking a little more when asked something but she still kept everything she was feeling within her, unable and unwilling to open up to her family.
She had questions she was burying deep down, she still didn't know what had happened, she didn't know what was going to happen, she didn't know where her friends were, and she didn't know how she was going to be able to live the way she was. Keeping all of this stuff to herself was the longest she'd ever kept a secret, but she couldn't let her family in on how she felt, what she thought none of them would understand or know what to say.
"Can I have the chair?" She says to no one in particular hours later. Her wheel chair had been left near the door until she was ready to start using it. She had been avoiding all use of it, thinking that meant she was accepting what happened. She wasn't doing that but she wanted some air and wanted to be alone, this was her only option.
"Sure Steph. Joey you lift her into it and i'll open it up and bring it to you both." Danny says stopping the cleaning he was doing to help her.
"Got it." Joey says as he get up from the the small table he and the twins were playing at together. He picks Stephanie up in his arms and then places her into the chair.
She sits in it for a few minutes regretting what she was going to do. But then convinces herself she wanted to be outside, that being alone was the best option.
"Do I just move the wheels?" She asks out loud, she hadn't ever been in a wheel chair and wasn't really sure what she was expecting by being in one. But it suddenly felt harder to move.
"Do you want me to take you?" Danny asks hovering by her side wanting to make sure his baby girl was safe.
"No I want to be alone. Do I just do this?" She asks as she moves the wheels and finds herself going backwards.
"Other way Steph." Joey says seeing her face after she rolled backwards.
"This is just a temporary one from the hospital, you will get a fitted one soon." Danny says clarifying that she wouldn't be using this particular wheel chair forever.
Stephanie tests it out again and this time figures out how to move it forward, she goes really slowly still not being used to what she was doing. She rolls through the kitchen and directs herself at the back door. She reaches out to the handle but wasn't able to reach it. She keep shuffling herself in the chair, hoping to be able to grab it and get the door open. But she wasn't having much luck.
"I got it Steph." Rebecca says as she comes down the stairs and sees her trying to get the door. She opens it for her and let's Steph out. She rolls herself out and just waits until Rebecca leaves her alone again.
"I can't even open a door myself anymore." She says to herself once she was alone feeling frustrated that she couldn't manage to do anything now.
"Why so blue you?" Kimmy says as she walks up to Steph and then stands next to her, staring at Stephanie's glum face.
"Just what I need Gibbler." Stephanie says before making a huge sigh that her peace was ruined already and by none other than Kimmy Gibbler.
"My brother Garth was in a wheel chair once, broke his leg climbing a wall." Kimmy says thinking out loud. "Or maybe he was walking down the stairs?" She says to herself a different prospective idea of how it happened in her mind.
"Yeah well at least he can still use his leg. I can't." Stephanie says angrily to her. Wishing Kimmy would just leave her alone.
"Oh right, I forgot." Kimmy says suddenly remembering that DJ has told her Stephanie was paralysed. "Not everyone stays like that forever you know. Maybe one day you'll be able to use them again."
"What do you know Gibbler, you've never met anyone like this. You have no idea what it's like." Stephanie says to her all her words said sharply with pure anger through them.
"I was just saying, no need to bite my head off." Kimmy says before walking away and inside the house calling DJ from the kitchen.
Comet comes up to Steph from the kitchen and sits at her side. She puts her hand down and starts stroking him. He was calming down the anger she had built up, but it didn't stop her feeling so low.
"When will my nightmare end boy? I just want to wake up and everything be the same as it used to be. My legs working again, my family not treating me differently. I miss school and my friends. This isn't fair, I just want it to end." Steph says speaking to comet while stroking him, tears dripping slowly down her cheeks. Still trying to process what has happened, still just wishing it was as it used to be.