Penelope is forty now and Ralph is sixty-three. Penelope knew that Ralph had some health issues in recent years but was generally doing good. Ralph was in the hospital and he had never been in the hospital the whole time Penelope knew him. That's what scared Penelope the most, she knew it had to be serious. Penelope had just clocked out from work when she saw that she had a voicemail from Felix on her phone. Felix explained that he and Tammy stopped by to visit Ralph and everything was normal until he felt very lightheaded then briefly fainted. Tammy called for an ambulance after Ralph fainted and he came to before the EMTs arrived still feeling quite lightheaded with Felix and Tammy helping him stay alert while they waited. They were downtown at the hospital and according to Felix, Ralph still felt a little weak so he was worried about Ralph. Penelope rushed to her car very emotional and she probably should not have been driving but she drove all the way to the hospital anyway. Penelope tried to ask the receptionist for Ralph's room number but the receptionist couldn't understand her. "Ma'am." she said "You need to calm down. I can't understand what you're telling me." "My friend was admitted here earlier after he fainted and I need his room number." Penelope explained calmer and she gave the receptionist Ralph's name. The receptionist looked up the room number with her computer then said after a short while "His room is on the second floor, Room 207." "Thank you." said Penelope trying her best to remain composed as she went into the elevator and put on her ID sticker. "You're welcome." said the receptionist then she helped the next person in line. Penelope called August who stayed with the kids as she headed to Room 207. Ralph was so happy to see her as she entered the room. He smiled as soon as he saw her.

"Hey kid." Ralph said. "Felix wasn't kidding." Penelope thought "He looks like he's about to fall asleep." "Hello there." said Penelope "Has the doctor told you anything yet?" "No." said Ralph "She came by a while ago to do some tests but I haven't seen her since." Then coincidentally, the doctor knocked on the open door then entered after she was told to come in. No one liked the sad look on her face then the doctor said "I have the results from the tests." She briefly paused then said that Ralph, was dying and unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done except make him comfortable. The news hit hard as the others were startled by the devastating and unexpected news. "Doctor, no offense but you can't be right. You just can't be." said Penelope as she was sobbing. "I'm so sorry ma'am. I know this is hard but, I'm afraid it's true that he's dying." said the doctor "I'll leave you guys to process the diagnosis and I will check in later to see how you all are doing and answer any questions you may have." Then the doctor left and there was a moment of uncomfortable silence except some quiet crying until Penelope said while crying "I just, I just can't believe it." She was shaking her head in disbelief. The news shook her to her core.

Eventually the doctor came back as promised and shortly after she left, Felix and Tammy left. Ralph and Penelope kept each other company and their minds away from the grim diagnosis until visiting hours were over then Penelope went home. She cried some more on the way home but no tears were coming out from all her crying earlier. Penelope opened the back door and August came by to ask her about Ralph as she took off her shoes. Penelope told him about what happened at the hospital and started to silently cry then was comforted by her husband who also started to cry. She also had to tell the kids, and Nick, being thirteen, understood what was going on and started crying along with his seven-year-old little sister who couldn't understand as she thought people get better at hospitals. Penelope explained to Katie that usually people do get better at hospitals but on the rare occasion, there's nothing the doctors and nurses can do and the patient dies. Katie seemed to understand after that and she wailed that she didn't want Uncle Ralph to "go away forever." Penelope held Katie close saying "Me neither. But that's not for us to decide." Penelope sniffled and wiped away her tears then she told Katie that it was time for bed and she helped Katie with her nighttime routine as Nick stormed off, locking himself in his room. He responded "Go away!" when his mom came by after putting Katie to bed and asked if he wanted to talk.

It was late and Penelope knew Nick was sleeping as she no longer saw a light coming from underneath his bedroom door but she didn't know for sure how long ago he went to sleep. August went to bed a few minutes ago so Penelope was alone with her thoughts. She looked up at the mantle above the fireplace in the living room and saw the newspaper article from when she won the soap box derby, thirty-one years ago. It hadn't yellowed as her parents used the club soda with milk of magnesia mix trick and she kept it out of direct sunlight. Penelope took the article off the mantle and held it in her hands as she read it. She held it close for a few moments then put it back on the mantle and went to bed. Penelope had a hard time sleeping that night as she felt that her world was shattered. Who was going to sing her a unique off-key version of Happy Birthday on her birthday? Who would stop by with burnt pies (Ralph never could get the timing and temperature for pies right so he would wind up burning them a bit)? She did prefer non-burnt pies like anyone else, but not wanting to hurt Ralph's feelings turned into her not minding the taste of burnt pies. It was the thought that counted as she knew they were made with love.

She thought about all he's done for her over the years. Even how Ralph made sure to bring Mr. McBun-Bun to the hospital and placed him so that she was holding him while she was still recovering from her appendectomy when she was sixteen, even though she no longer slept with or played with him or carried him around. At that point, Mr. McBun-Bun just lied on Penelope's bed when she wasn't in it and sat on her dresser when she was in bed. It was much appreciated though as Penelope hugged Mr. McBun-Bun the moment she found out he was the fuzzy thing she was holding. It felt nice having Mr. McBun-Bun to cuddle with as she felt very sore. It took a while for Penelope to fall asleep and unfortunately, she had a nightmare. She kept hearing people she knew calling for her (although not in a particularly panicked sort of way, more like they were calling from a distance, and the voices were echoey in an eerie sort of way) and when she would head towards the person calling her, she would fall through a crack in the floor that suddenly appeared, all the while, watched by the Grim Reaper. He did nothing but stand behind her with his scythe watching her and it creeped Penelope out. It didn't make any sense to her as she wasn't dying.

Penelope woke up and gave August a kiss goodbye when he went to work and he gave her an extra hug as she needed some TLC. Nick woke up irritable and didn't say a peep all morning then he snuck off to school without as much as a goodbye. Penelope dropped Katie off at school then drove to work and on top of her grief, she started worrying about Nick. He didn't want to talk last night after he locked himself in his room and now, he was still very upset and she knew it was about the sad news. Penelope's thoughts were eased a little after her coworkers offered their condolences when they asked why she was so distracted. She wasn't back from lunch too long when she got a call from the principal of the city's middle school. Penelope knew Mrs. Keller from way back when she was Ms. Miller in her first year as a principal when Penelope started sixth grade about twenty-eight years ago. Nick had never been sent to the principal's office yet but Penelope seriously doubted this was a "hey how've you been" call. Nick got into a fight with another boy at school and August had also been called from work to come in and discuss the situation. Why on Earth would Nick be fighting someone!? Penelope was absolutely furious with Nick.

Penelope and August made it to Nick's school and entered the principal's office with the same angry/disappointed look as Mrs. Keller. Nick sat in the middle chair in front of Mrs. Keller's desk with his arms folded and his head hung low still grouchy as ever as his parents sat in the other two seats. "Can I go and apologize to Tyler. I swear I'm not trying to lessen my punishment or run off; I just want to tell him I'm sorry." Nick said. "No." said Mrs. Keller "I need you here to discuss with your parents why you punched Tyler then you can apologize to him. I'm very concerned about what you told me." "Tyler was sitting behind me in class and wouldn't stop flicking my ear after I told him to please stop flicking my ear, so I got mad and punched him then it escalated." Nick explained. "You didn't mention that Tyler bothering you 'was the last thing that you needed today' as you have 'something going on at home' and you didn't want to discuss said problem with me nor the guidance counselor because 'there's nothing anyone can do, so talking won't help'." said Mrs. Keller. Penelope's heart dropped and she said with a hint of sadness "Mrs. Keller, I'm not saying it was right for Nick to fight another student but you have to understand that what's going on at home is that Nick is having a very difficult time dealing with the fact that his uncle is dying."

Mrs. Keller nodded in understanding then August said "We all are very devastated about the news from last night." Penelope looked at Nick with sorrow as she put her hand on his knee and said "Nick, I know talking about your grief won't change that Uncle Ralph is dying but you can't keep your emotions bottled up like this." Nick let go of his angry body language and was about to cry then Penelope said "You've already hurt someone because you're refusing to let yourself grieve by staying angry about it. Toughening up and pretending to not care because no one can stop it from happening won't help anyone." Nick started crying then his parents hugged him and Mrs. Keller asked as she handed Nick a tissue "Nick, would you like me to call Ms. Fish so she can take you to apologize to Tyler then to her office to talk about your uncle?" Nick nodded yes as he wiped away his tears with the tissue. Mrs. Keller told Nick and his parents that he and Tyler would have in school suspension tomorrow as punishment then called the guidance counselor who arrived shortly after to get Nick. "Penelope," said Mrs. Keller "I'm truly sorry about Ralph. I know how much he means to you." "Thank you." Penelope said while holding back tears.

Penelope came home from work then she and her family went to visit Ralph at the hospital and had a great time. Over the next few weeks, Ralph had plenty of visits from Penelope, August, and their kids as well as Felix, Tammy, and Penelope's parents. He even had visits from Penelope's college friends along with their spouses and kids as he had made friends with them ages ago. But of course, as expected, Ralph was getting worse. Penelope was visiting him alone one day and she thought he was close to the end and tried to hide her pain but Ralph saw through the façade and asked her what was troubling her as she removed her red scrunchy and redid her ponytail. She couldn't lie to him and said calmly "It's not fair. Why do you have to die soon? Why not at least a few years from now?" Ralph originally felt the same way but had eventually accepted that he was dying. He smiled and said to Penelope who was standing at his bedside "I had my fun. It's time I let other people play the game." Penelope knew what Ralph was talking about as she remembered what he told her after Mr. Chubbs died as Ralph reached a fist to her and caressed her cheek.

Penelope held Ralph's fist in between her hands (which made her hands look so dainty in comparison) as he touched her cheek while she said "You'll always be my hero." Penelope couldn't hold back her tears any longer and started sobbing then Ralph motioned for her to come closer. Penelope came closer and he gave her a hug as she was still crying. Ralph fell asleep (he was sleeping a lot more these days) then Penelope let go and tucked him in, hoping not to wake him. "Goodnight Stinkbrain." Penelope said quietly then she turned off the light above his bed and went home (this was the only light that was on making the room dark but now the room was pitch black except for the light coming in the open door from the hallway). She was exhausted when she got home and went straight to bed as it was August's turn to get Katie ready for bed. Well, she tried to go to bed. Penelope didn't get a good night's sleep though as she tossed and turned all night, feeling completely off. She tried everything she could think of to get to sleep and more importantly, stay asleep until morning came. August eventually tuned out his wife's moving about and muttering to herself but it was difficult for him. She did settle down eventually.

Morning came and Penelope didn't feel right at all. She was so anxious and feeling off that she called in sick from work. Penelope walked back home from taking Katie to school and she just entered through the front door when she got a call from the hospital telling her that last night, Ralph took a turn for the worse and wasn't expected to live past that day. Penelope was devastated and rushed to the hospital right away. Was this why she had anxiety for no reason since last night? She made it to his room, Felix and Tammy were already there as they lived closer to the hospital. Penelope called her parents, August, and her college friends so they could come over to say goodbye if they wanted to. The others came and stayed, then that afternoon, Ralph passed away. It was hard for all of them. Penelope was inconsolable as she loudly cried against August's body as he was tightly hugging her, in tears himself. Her best friend for thirty-one years, was gone. Penelope knew this was coming but it didn't make it any easier, not at all. She wished it didn't have to happen until some other year but at the same time, she knew it was out of her hands. It was time for someone else to play the game, a game called life. That's when she heard a baby crying down the hall by the maternity ward then the OB-GYN congratulating the new parents. Penelope whispered to herself "Every day a person or animal dies but at the same time, everyday a person or animal is born." This was the way of life and death, and Ralph's turn in the game, was over.

There was the wake then finally the funeral. Penelope thought it was crazy how sometimes, she could feel that Ralph was with her as if he never left. Moments like that were joked about that Ralph's ghost had visited. Nick liked the idea as he was into stories about ghosts. One night, Katie asked her mom to tell her a bedtime story as opposed to the usual reading her a bedtime story. Penelope thought about how Katie was into video games, even the old arcade games that Penelope used to play back in the day. Penelope took inspiration from her life with some exaggerations and characters that weren't based on someone she knew to make sense in the world she was creating, also adding some moments that didn't happen for either the same reason and or comedy or drama. She told Katie a very interesting bedtime story about an arcade in southern California that had been in operation since the early eighties called Litwak's Family Fun Center and Arcade. Litwak's Arcade was located in the fictional town of Los Aburridos and was owned and operated since day one by a kind, older man named Stan Litwak who loved his job.

Once the arcade closed for the night, all the video game characters hung out and had their own lives after work. Penelope went on to tell about how the good guys and bad guys didn't get along and the bad guys had a support group to help with the negative impact of the stigma of being a bad guy. She told Katie about how one bad guy named Wreck-It Ralph decided to attend a meeting after many years of the other attendees asking him to and admitted to the others that he was tired of being a bad guy due to how he has been treated for the past thirty years because of his programed job. Katie listened with intent as her mom told her how Ralph was not invited to the thirtieth anniversary party for his game and a bet with a rude NPC from his game set off a chain of events that changed Ralph's life forever. Ralph "earned" a medal in the new game that was across from his called Hero's Duty then was sent flying in a shuttle (with an enemy from the game hitching a ride) to another game, Sugar Rush Speedway. He met an adorable nine-year-old glitch named Vanellope von Schweetz who just wanted to race with the other racers from Sugar Rush. Ralph helped her at first to get his medal back then because he liked her as he realized, they weren't so different. Meanwhile his coworker, Fix-It Felix Jr., teamed up with the good guy from Hero's Duty, Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun, to find Ralph (and the Cy-Bug as well) and they start to fall in love with Calhoun originally not really feeling the same way about Felix but she did change her mind eventually.

The King Candy/Turbo Cy-Bug was defeated in a blast of diet cola lava with the other Cy-Bugs, allowing Vanellope to cross the finish line and be the leader and main character of Sugar Rush like she was programed to be (with the gamers loving her like Ralph thought they would). Felix and Calhoun got married and Ralph now lived in a proper home with his coworkers treating him nicer. Penelope added things like Tammy's middle and maiden names, incorporating her military background as the real Calhoun was once a sergeant in the USMC, having Jr. at the end of Felix's full title as the real Felix was also a Jr. being named after his dad, and having Felix be a handyman just like the real Felix (no magic hammer though of course). Penelope didn't really know how the real Felix and Calhoun met but made sure her version was very interesting and kind of funny as she thought how they met for real must have been as like their fictional counterparts, they have very different personalities but love each other very much (even after over thirty years together with the both of them now fifty-nine). Katie loved the story and was even making references to it the next day. The next time Penelope put Katie to bed, Katie requested another story about Ralph and Vanellope. Penelope had to wrack her brain to come up with another story for her.

She came up with a story about how six years after the first story, Ralph and Vanellope wound up getting the steering wheel for Sugar Rush broken through boredom and good intentions. They decided to venture through the internet after hearing about a new steering wheel being auctioned off on eBay. In an attempt to raise money to buy it, they tried to steal Shank's car then Ralph and Vanellope met the five main characters from Slaughter Race when they car chased after them to get the beautiful red sports car back but Vanellope kept outmaneuvering them at every turn, even Shank was impressed with Vanellope's skills. Vanellope quickly became enthralled with Slaughter Race but Ralph, not so much. He didn't trust Shank and her crew and wanted to leave the moment he saw how dangerous the game was. Eventually, Ralph caved to Shank's suggestion of going viral on BuzzzTube and made all the money they needed for the steering wheel. He was an overnight internet sensation! The problem was, Vanellope didn't want to go back home. She found Sugar Rush too predictable and boring, she wanted to live in Slaughter Race. Ralph found out and was furious. He did the stupidest thing; he got a virus from the dark web and unleashed it in Slaughter Race to make it less fun and exciting so Vanellope would decide to come home. Disaster struck when the virus locked onto Vanellope's glitch/insecurity causing Slaughter Race to glitch and slow down to a near halt then reboot, and Vanellope got hurt. Vanellope was upset when she came to as she thought the technical issue happened because of her glitch then Ralph confessed to what he did out of guilt.

Vanellope snapped! She was so fed up with Ralph's clingy behavior and now he tried to sabotage her dream! Ralph was apologizing up and down but it didn't matter as Vanellope ripped the medal she made him off his neck and threw it over the railing into the pit of dead websites. Ralph recovered it but it was broken in two. Arthur, the virus, returned and threatened the whole internet but Ralph managed to stop it by talking to it as it had locked on to his clinginess/insecurity and was now a manifestation of his possessiveness over Vanellope in the form of multiple Ralphs joined together to make a Ralphzilla. Ralph kept one half of the medal while Vanellope kept the other as Vanellope forgave him and started her new life in Slaughter Race after a heartfelt goodbye while Ralph went back home and joined some activities around the arcade to keep him occupied as well as keeping in touch with Vanellope once a week with the phone Yesss had given him. Penelope added in this story that Felix and Calhoun adopted the Sugar Rush racers and the racers were nice and polite now like how the real Felix and Calhoun had been foster parents since they've been married and every kid they looked after over the years never left mean and rotten. They had this special gift of raising nice and polite children and could never really explain how they did it.

Katie enjoyed this story too and she said goodnight to her mom before falling asleep. Penelope admitted to herself that it was kind of fun to make up bedtime stories. She eventually went to bed after some alone time and she felt that Ralph liked the bedtime stories she told Katie. She felt that he was listening to those stories from wherever he was. After she had been lying in bed a while, she whispered "Ralph, if you're listening, thanks for everything, and, I miss you a lot Stinkbrain." then Penelope fell asleep to the silence in the room. She had a dream where she was in her kitchen talking with Ralph over some coffee like the good old days of not too long ago. They talked about old times, laughing at all the good times and fun they had together. Penelope even filled him in on what's happened since his death. The subject of the bedtime stories came up and yes, he did in fact like them. Penelope enjoyed the dream very much and wished it could last. But she couldn't stay in a dream, she had to wake up and start her day. Would she ever have this dream again!? She didn't know for sure if she would but she sure did hope so.

In July, Katie wanted to be in the annual soap box derby, the same one her mom won all those years ago. Penelope took Katie to the attic to show her the kart she was saying would be perfect if she was interested in riding it. Katie looked at the kart and didn't realize what kart this was until she noticed the words "made by Penelope AND RALPH" as she was dusting the small layer of dust off the kart with her hand. Katie immediately accepted using the Candy Kart in the derby and was so excited about it. Katie won the race and now sat two newspaper articles on the mantle in the living room. The newer article mentioned how the kart Katie was riding was the same one her mother used when she won the derby back when she was nine and how Katie's mother built it with a friend she made when he defended her from bullies and offered to help her build a new kart. The article even mentioned how Ralph and Penelope had been very close since then with plenty of people around the city knowing about them and how Ralph sadly passed away a few months ago, having had a very long friendship with Penelope. Penelope looked at the photos from the two articles and it struck her more than usual just how much Katie looked like her.

Katie was two years younger than Penelope was when she was in the derby but they looked identical except for different hairstyles and clothes of course. Penelope sighed then said "I just wish Ralph was here to see this." "Me too." said August "He'd get a real kick out of it for sure. The kart you two built together winning twice in the same derby and this time it was your daughter who won, no less." "I did it for Uncle Ralph you know. I wish he could have seen the race too." said sweet little Katie whose parents didn't know she was in the room, right behind them. "And I know Uncle Ralph would be proud of you sweetie." said Penelope then she gave her daughter a little kiss on the forehead as she hugged Katie tightly. It was a bittersweet feeling for Penelope whenever something special happened in her life and Ralph wasn't there to share in the moment. She still cried about the loss of her dear friend from time to time but knew he was in a better place now, even though it wasn't right there with her. Ralph was by Penelope's side for so many years that at first it was so hard for her to get used to him not being there but it was slowly getting easier with time. It didn't change the fact that Penelope still missed Ralph dearly.