It wasn't fair.
None of it was fair.
Why did it have to be my daddy?! Suzie thought to herself as tears streamed out of her ocean blue eyes onto clenched fists. She sat on a bench in the hospital waiting room.
"I'm so sorry, Suzie," said the concerned, blonde haired nurse, standing over the crying child. "I know how hard this must be for you..." The woman reached out a comforting hand to the young girls shoulder but Suzzie shrugged her off and jumped to her feet.
"NO YOU DON'T!" She bawled. "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO LOOSE THE ONLY PERSON WHO HAS EVER CARED FOR YOU!" Suzzie was suddenly furious. She glared up at the nurse, challenging her. Then something unexpected happened- the nurse bent down and wrapped her arms around the girl. Suzzie gasped in surprize and stiffened her muscles. After a moment she relaxed, letting the woman's warm embrace wash away all her anger and fear. Once Suzie had calmed down, and her tears had turned to sniffles, the woman let go and stood back up.
Just then, an elderly woman entered the hospital. Her gray hair was pulled away from her face in a tight bun and she wore a long, dark dress. She gazed at the pair with stern eyes as she strode over to them. "Suzanne, I am your Great Aunt Beatrice. I trust you remember me from our previous encounter?"
Unfountunintly, thought Susie as she nodded her head at her aunt. The woman was a complete killjoy.
*******
A few years back, Suzzie had taken a visit to Aunt Beatrice's house with her father. The house was actually more of a mansion, and was filled to the brim with old people niknaks- or "pretties" as Aunt Beatrice liked to call them- and dusty books. When Suzie had gotten board with the visit, she picked up a decorative egg and started tossing it in the air. The older woman had nearly died of a heart attack when she saw this and gave the young girl the scolding off a lifetime. Blah, blah. Personal property this, respect your elders that. Blah, blah, blah.
After a couple of minutes of lecture, Suzie's father interrupted, "Suzie-loo," he said using his current pet name for her, "why don't you go outside and play, while the grown-ups talk?"
"Alright, Dad," Suzie replied in her tomboy voice.
An hour later Suzie had come back in, grinning form ear to ear. She was covered from head to toe in mud and had tracked quite a bit of it into the house.
"YOUNG LADY!" Shrieked a disgruntled Aunt Beatrice.
"Well, would you look at the time!" Said Suzie's dad after a beat. "It's been nice talking to you Aunt Beatrice, but we really should get going." He quickly turned his daughter around and pushed her out the front door, pulling a twig out of her hair as he went. "Goodbye!" He yelled, closing the door before the older woman could spout off on another lecturer.
*******
"Suzanne," Beatrice was talking again, "Since your father has passed, and I am your next closest relative, I have graciously allowed you to come live with me..." She continued talking but Suzzie had stopped listening after she heard "live with me". There was no way she was going to move in with that prissy old hag.
Suzie turned on her ankles and rushed for the door. Beatrice grabbed her by the arm, but Suzzie twisted out of her grasp and kept running. Both the nurse and her aunt took chase but they were no match for the young girl's speed. She ran all the way to her house, three blocks away.
Once inside, Suzie grabbed her magenta colored backpack and filled it with food, a water bottle, a sleeping bag, and some money. She picked up her purple helmet of the kitchen counter and placed it overtop of her short brown hair, a curl stuck out from the front. Suzie then dashed back outside and climbed onto her scooter, riding it to the forest at the edge of town.
*******
Suzie's mom had died during childbirth, leaving, only her dad to raise her. Maybe that was why she was such a tomboy. He had struggled at times to make ends meet, but he made sure to always come through for his little Suzie-loo For her fifth birthday, he had gotten her a blue and red scooter, which quickly became her favorite toy. He used to joke with her about how she and the scooter were practically conjoined at the hip, and that's when her nickname changed from Suzie-loo to Scootaloo.
Sometime after that he had been diagnosed with cancer. He tried to keep it from his beloved daughter for as long as he could, but he knew he wouldn't be around for much longer. He had arranged for her to be taken in by her Aunt Beatrice; he knew she wouldn't like it, but it would be good for her to have a female role model in her life- and it was still better than foster care, right?
He had told Suzie about the cancer while they were on a camping trip. It was one of the worst things he had ever had to do. He dreaded telling her he was dying, even more than he dreaded dying. When he finally told her, her eyes watered up and she gave him a hug, saying that he forgot the hospital bill on the counter.
He was stunned for a moment then hugged her all the tighter. My smart little Scootaloo, she already knew.
*******
When Suzie reached the forest, she paused to catch her breath and collect her thoughts. She closed her eyes to think about everything that happened in the past day. Even though she knew it was coming, her dad's death had turned her world upside down.
Suddenly, a bright light flashed against her closed eyes, and when she opened them again everything seemed slightly different. There was still a forest in front of her but it wasn't the same one. She looked down at her hands resting on the scooter's handlebars, and shrieked. Inplace of her hands were orange hoofs. On two legs, then four, then two again, Suzie stumbled over to a small puddle. What she saw took her breath away. She was an orange pony with magenta hair and purple eyes. Oh, and she had wings.