Love Helps Life

A Doll Story: A Question

Lou lay awake that night. He didn't get much sleep.

Or the night after.

Winter couldn't go outside anymore. Suddenly, the outside world was a germ harbinger of doom. At least her mother had started caring more. Lou could count on that.

He sighed, and turned over in the bed, his nightclothes rustling. Winter lay next to him, her face, as always, radiant without her glasses to hide it. She always seemed to glow in the dark, literally and figuratively.

When things were dark, she glowed.

Lou sat up and ran a hand over his face. All those years of being lonely...was he about to lose again?

Why did this always happen to him?

Sure, it would be easy to blame those Uglydolls, arriving out of nowhere and turning everything- Lou's whole world- upside down. But...he couldn't bring himself to do that. Not after everything they'd done to earn his forgiveness.

He looked around the room, the room he'd grown to know and love. Every other toy was asleep. How could they be, when everything was so gray?

Lou looked at his girl and snuggled closer. He immediately knew they were a match made in heaven. And if Winter fell to this sickness, he could easily be given to another child. But Winter...she was special.

Lou couldn't lose her. He knew it would have to happen someday, but not yet. Not so soon.

It hadn't even been a year.

Her parents had tried everything to make her feel better. Movies and gifts, promises of trips to wonderful places after her sickness passed. But he could tell the father was already giving up, believing his girl would pass to this disease. Jakoda had been sent away to camp to keep from bothering his little sister. Lou hoped he stayed away for good. Big brothers were supposed to look after their little brothers and sisters. Lou knew that from experience.

And through it all, Lou had been by her side. He'd sat with her during numerous hospital visits. He laid in her arms while they tests her eyes, her nose, her throat, her reflexes. He didn't see anything wrong. But the doctors did, somehow.

Lou didn't see it. That made it all the more...terrifying.

What a word. A word he needn't use for years. Not since he was made.

Finally, he couldn't stand the darkness anymore. He slipped carefully out of bed, and sat on the window seat bench, staring at the stars. The sky always seemed so beautiful to him, even when it was covered with gray clouds. They always seemed so sad, but there were shapes in there, covering a sad person like a blanket, because somewhere in the world, there was always someone sad.

Lou thought about this many times with fascination. Who was sad now? And why?

Why must there be sadness?

Lou wondered how things would change if he'd never been sad. Would he not have the friends he has now, or get the help he so desperately needed? Would he have even taken control of Imperfection all those years ago?

Would Winter live to see her eighteenth birthday? Would she survive the next five days, much less the next five years?

Lou hated it when this happened. But he learned to let the sadness wrap around him like a blanket, a comfort somehow, like knowing there was sadness and just letting it flow...so much better than fighting it.

H leaned back on a pillow and thought of the wonderful world he and Winter made. Everywhere, there were thousands of children using their imaginations, and yet, only he and Winter had made something that grew to real life...in the doll world at least. But Lou had always believed Winter would go on to bring her dreams to life and create something great, something magical, something wonderful for the whole world.

She WOULD get past this. It seemed impossible for her not to.

'Nothing is impossible.' That was the motto. The one he and Winter learned to share. 'The world itself says "I'm Possible!'

Would that come back to bite them?

Lou hated all these questions.

He also hated that there was nothing he could do about it.

Was there?

He couldn't go inside her body and fight away the infection. He couldn't give the doctors any new live-saving ideas. He could only be there for Winter. Somehow, she'd just have to be there for him.

One thought made it through his hope for selflessness.

What would become of him?

🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍

Ox was awake to, worlds apart, separated by a thin line of space. He sat in his armchair, stars blinking outside, and rubbed his head, also worrying. Lou hadn't been home in a while. Could something be wrong?

And if so, what could they do about it?

They were dolls. Nothing special out there. If it didn't concern one of their own, there wasn't much hope.

Unbeknownst to him, Lou was kneeling in front of Winter's many other toys, saying "Okay, here's what we do...it's risky...and we'll have to break a few rules..."

"But if it works, everyone will win."

Lou could only hope they listened to him.

He could also hope that he wasn't crazy.

Someone has offered to continue my story. I don't mind, I just thought there should be a heads up in case they do. But I'm running out of ideas here, so if you have anything, speak up! 💟 UD602