An Interlude with Toby:

Toby had been running.

Mere seconds after he had fought his way out of the bushes, he could hear a stranger's voice speaking to Sarah, so he had immediately hit the dirt, to make sure he was out of sight from the window. He heard Sarah say something snarky to the stranger, and despite his fear, he grinned a bit to himself. His sister might be many things, but "easy to intimidate" had never been one of them in his memory.

Sometimes he wondered why. He had even asked her one time, before the accident, after Sarah had stood up to a large, yelling woman who had been upset with Toby for calling her son a "stupid bully" in her earshot. Toby had been standing miserably defiant, as Barry had deserved it. He shouldn't have been picking on Danny like that, and so Toby had done what the heroes in Sarah's stories always did, and stepped up and spoken out.

Sarah, upon spotting the woman yelling at him, had walked up and asked what the problem was.

Toby had immediately blurted out the story before the woman could get a word in.

"I want this boy out of this soccer team! I will not have my Barry on the same team as someone who calls him names!"

Sarah had cocked her head to one side.

"And what did my brother call your son again?"

"A Stupid Bully!" the woman was purpling with rage, and Toby cringed.

Sarah had set her feet, looked the woman up and down, snorted dismissively, and then replied "I see it runs in the family." She had then turned on her heel, called "Come on Toby!"

Toby had jogged to keep up with her, and they had been walking away when Barry's mother had spluttered, "You wait until I tell my sister-in-law this! She's a lawyer, you know?"

Sarah had not even deigned to look back. "To charge me with what? Going into a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent?" Sarah turned then, coolly looking the woman, who was a good foot taller than her, right in the face. "Don't. Make. Me. Laugh."

Toby had looked at his sister's expression then, and never been gladder that it was not directed at him. That look reminded him of a documentary he had watched on the TV. The leopard seal had had a similar expression on its face before it hunted the penguins.

Sarah had taken him by the hand and pulled him away from the scene before the woman could muster up more than a few indignant splutters.

Sarah had told him later that she was proud of him, for standing up for his friend.

Toby however thought his sister was the real hero.

After the accident, he had seen that she was about to fall slowly into despair. There were so many things she just couldn't do any more, and it made Toby want to cry. His brave, strong sister, reduced to this.

But then one day, about a week after Sarah had woken up, Toby had a flash of inspiration. Sure, there were many things that Sarah couldn't do any more. But the best thing about Sarah in his opinion was not that she could walk or see, but rather the stories she could tell. Eyes and legs were... what was the word Sarah liked to use- oh- irrelevant for storytelling.

Sarah was still as strong and tough and brave and fun as she had ever been. He just had to remind her. She was as much his sister and his heroine as she had ever been.

Case in point, the scene in their house not fifteen minutes ago.

He had told her what he saw, and Sarah did not hesitate. She sent him out the back window, and distracted the strangers holding the guns so that he could get away. He had crawled across the back garden, then, without looking back, climbed over the fence and ran to Mrs. Kinnear's back door, just like Sarah had told him to.

But it was then that the plan failed. Mrs. Kinnear wasn't home.

Toby thought desperately about what he should do, frozen with indecision. Wait! Didn't Mr Wallace, Dad's friend live just across the street? Toby was about to make his way across, when he heard two loud bangs.

Was that... gunshots?

Toby might be nine years old, but he wasn't an idiot. He had seen action movies. He knew what happened to people when guns went off. And no one in his family owned a gun...

Toby sank onto the ground beside the house, his eyes wide.

"No," he whispered. "No, no, no, no!"

Then a third shot, followed by a loud scream.

Sarah!

But if she was screaming... she was still alive!

Toby scrambled to his feet, and started to run to Mr Wallace's house. He was half-way across the street, when suddenly, he heard high-pitched giggles, and tiny clawed hands grabbed at his legs.

"She said the words! The right words!" was all he heard, and then suddenly, he was not in the street any more.