Chapter 2: The Medical Help Room

The strange lizard made his way into the town. He was amazed by every part of it. The town itself seemed to be a joyous one, as everyone in it seemed to be smiling. The only problem was he still had no idea whether or not this town really did bring you back after death. But, of course, he was going to find out one way or the other. He took a good look at those around him before he set his sights on a father bear with his son. He kept watch on them until the father left to get his hungry son another ice cream cone. The lizard worked his way over to the baby and, when no one was looking, picked him up and ran to the nearest road. After setting the child down on the ground, the lizard gave him a pat on the head and pushed the baby into the road.

The father, whose name was Pop, panicked as he realized that his son wasn't where he left him. He ran around the park, frantically searching for his only child. He stopped dead in his tracks as he heard what sounded like a crash and the sound of a liquid hitting the pavement. He turned his head around slowly, fearing the worst. His fears were realized when he saw his child's lifeless carcass in a pool of blood on the nearby road. He ran to his child and fell on his knees. It wasn't exactly out of the ordinary for his son Cub to die, but it still hurt deeply.

The cruel lizard made his way over to the mournful father. "I'm so sorry", the lizard said with fake sympathy. "It must be hard to lose a child."

"Yes…well…it just gets more painful every time…" Pop cried.

This sparked the lizard's interest, "Every time you say? But how is that possible? You can only die once, after all." The lizard held his breathe as he awaited the bear's response. After all, whatever the bear's response was would determine whether the last thirteen years of the lizard's life were worth it.

"Not in this town" the bear sighed.

The lizard let himself breathe and almost jumped in the air out of joy. He had found it! His thirteen years of searching were over, now he could settle down in this town and really get down to business. Pop was feeling better knowing that his son would be returned to him in a day or two. The lizard was beginning to take his leave when Pop turned to him and said, "You're obviously new here, what might your name be?"

The lizard turned back at Pop and stared at him for a moment or two, as if he was in some kind of a trance. "You can call me Doc, that's what everybody else calls me." The lizard walked out of Pop's sight, "Doc, huh?" Pop thought. He looked down at his dead son, "If he really is a doctor, I'm sure he'll be an improvement over Lumpy."

Flaky fluttered her eyes open to see that she was still in the park, only now the sun was beginning to set. Next to her was Flippy, who was looking away and hadn't seemed to notice that she had woken up. Cuddles wasn't around so he must have left, probably to take Giggles on that date he had been promising her for days.

"F-flippy?" the little porcupine shifted her body so she could face him. He immediately turned to her and guilt washed over him. "Flaky! I'm so sorry! Really, I didn't know I could throw it that hard and that it would hit you!" Flippy couldn't bring himself to stop apologizing. The hit gave her a black eye, but Flaky didn't see it as a big deal. As long as the day didn't end with her being skinned, strangled, or burned to death, Flippy could give her all the black eyes he wanted. When Flippy was finally done apologizing he offered to escort Flaky home, an offer Flaky happily accepted.

The two walked in silence for a few minutes, all the while Flaky thought about the odd dream she recently had. Dream? More like a nightmare, Flaky thought. It all seemed so real; the pain that took over her body, not to mention the cold table she was strapped to. The thing that she found most peculiar was how she wasn't her current eighteen year-old self; she was a five year-old living in an orphanage. Before she could finish her thoughts, she was in front of her home. She looked back at Flippy, he didn't have that same look of guilt he held a few minutes earlier. "T-thank you for walking me home, Flippy", Flaky said in her usual shaky voice. "Not a problem, Flaky, it was my pleasure", Flippy smiled. Flaky loved his smile; it was always so warm and caring. Not anything like his evil side's smile which was sadistic and cruel. After waving goodbye, Flaky entered her small home and went into the kitchen. She made a simple bologna sandwich instead of actually cooking anything, on account of being much too tired. After eating her sandwich she put on her pajama shorts and an old tank top before lying down in her bed. She then let out a long yawn before slipping into unconsciousness.

Flashback

The sleeping quarters were cold, as was the rest of the orphanage. Now that she was out of the examination room, Flaky was permitted to change out of her hospital gown and into her everyday clothes. Which consisted of an old dress shirt, a black pleated skirt, and worn brown boots. It was late fall and very cold out, so she decided to throw on a worn out brown cardigan sweater which she often used as an extra blanket when sleeping. After tying her boots, a white cat with a similar outfit except with mary-janes instead of boots and a cleaner looking dress shirt called over to Flaky.

"Flaky! Let's go to the second floor! I'm starving!"

Flaky looked up to her friend, "Okay, Winter I'll be right there!" Flaky called back rather weakly. The 'examination' had taken a lot out of her.

Flaky and Winter moved through the long hallways as fast as they could, afraid that they would get caught. What made it worse was that they were near the medical help room. The children were absolutely forbidden to wander near the medical help room, but many children did anyway since it was so close to dining quarters. Nobody knew what went on in there; all they knew was that once you go in, you don't come back out. Some of the children think it has something to do with why they lock doors to the sleeping quarters at night, and why you can hear footsteps in the hallway when you're trying to fall asleep. But not ordinary footsteps, actually it differs from time to time. Sometimes they're slow as if someone is trying to maintain their balance, and other times they sound like someone is moving very fast on all fours.

The two girls sighed in relief when they realized that they had made it outside of the dining quarters. Unfortunately, a certain other little girl wasn't so lucky. An angry voice could be heard around the corner of the hallway. A voice which Winter and Flaky followed. The two girls poked their heads around the corner and watched the scene before them. An old polar bear in a suit looked down with angry eyes at a little mouse girl who couldn't be a day over eight years old. She wore glasses and an outfit similar to Winters, the little girl had apparently been caught wandering the hallways. The little girl had begun to cry, causing the polar bear to drop his angry expression and replace it with a more sympathetic one.

"There there, sweety" the polar bear soothed, rubbing her shoulders the entire time. "I know getting in trouble is no fun…but if I just let you run off without getting a proper punishment then you'll just break more rules in the future."

"I-I w-w-won't d-do it again" The little girl said in between sniffs "I p-promise!"

The old polar bear shushed her and led her to a nearby room. "I'm punishing you so you'll grow up to be a responsible young lady. You'll have to go to bed without supper, but look on the bright side. When it comes time to go to bed, you'll be so tired you won't even want it."

The little girl only cried harder.

I hadn't decided whether or not I would find a place for the pedophilia scene, but I thought it would be a good way to end the chapter. The old polar bear will most likely appear again soon so there will probably be future scenes similar to that one, not that many though since it doesn't play that big of a role in the story.

Reviews will be greatly appreciated! No Flames!