Chapter Text
Trixie walked around the Dimmsdale mall. The stores where everchanging. New places opened up as others closed down. The children's play area gained new slides as it lost the fish tanks that were there for her entire childhood.
It was a busier day than normal. The crowd continued to push through as Trixie held onto her bags. She looked downwards at her side. She didn't want to lose her shopping partner amidst all the chaos. Veronica was half her height, still the same even after all this time. When was the last time they spoke to each other? Probably fifth grade before her parents divorced.
Veronica had the same wannabe cheerleader outfit she sported back in the fifth grade. It was more of her dream than Trixie's. The desire to go to all the boy's football games once they got to high school and cheer them on. It sounded great in theory but a lot of hard work in practice. School and managing popularity was already enough of a hassle.
God, why was Veronica still talking? “And then I was all like ‘no, and then you are’ and he was like, ‘no, but you are’ and I was like, ‘I kinda am?’ So long story short he’s kind of my boyfriend right now.”
“I am so pretty…” Trixie touched up the loose strands that had fallen out of sync with the rest of her hair. Those small elegant pieces had to frame her face just right. She caught sight of her own beauty as they walked past a wall with her plaster on a giant billboard.
Veronica's words began to muffle in the distance. She was a waste of time to begin with. It had been real annoying as kids to manage a friendship when she didn't care about Veronica in the slightiest. Especially after she broke into Trixie's home. Wait… Why was she here anyway?
Why was she hanging out with Veronica? They hadn’t talked to each other since Trixie found out that Veronica was obsessed with her. Like serial killer levels of obsessed. Owning a picture of a friend was one thing, but it was another to have a wig in the exact same hairstyle and secretly pretending to be her.
Trixie turned around to confront Veronica's childhood weirdness but the blonde was gone.
“Veronica?” She asked. While she didn’t like the little stalker, she didn’t mind her company. Freak company was better than no company. In fact, there was no one around anymore. Her heart dropped as she recognized this scene: a brightly lit empty mall.
"No… No." She dropped her bags and started to run. The floors were still marked with footprints of the people who used to walk these paths. All her cries were met with echos.
“Shit, not again.” She dropped onto the floor. The displays of cozy living spaces and backyard gardens closed in on her. “Don’t do this to me again.”
Her breathe picked up speed.
She used the little strength she had left to call out the names of her popular friends, "Veronica? Rebecca? Sophia! Are you out there?" Her voice cracked in discomfort, "Dad…? Mom? Please anyone."
No response.
The mall stretched out into infinity. Bright lights that shined on a dusty floor. Shoeprints covered the ground, and they were the only trace of anyone around. The dust slowly floated in the air.
Trixie held herself with her arms. It was always like this.
Alone.
What was a life full of grandeur if there was no one else to boast to about it? The applause, the boys, her friends, her family. While her parents were divorced they still cared about her. They still made an effort, even if it was once a week. Once a week was still better than nothing. Dozens of friends was better than one.
The math was simple. Zero, nothing, was always bad. Her breath clawed her way out and pushed down onto her. She needed to get a grip.
"This isn't real. This isn't real. None of this is real."
Her place in the world was more than this. More than this mall.
She woke up.
That stupid fucking nightmare. The same one that kept her tossing and turning since she was a child. The dream started off normal or as normal as a dream could be and then everyone would suddenly disappear. No trance of anyone for miles.
At least she was awake now. Alone in a dark room. The curtains let in nothing, not even a shrivel of moonlight. The panic was still there, forcing her hand to shake. It wasn’t fair.
The panic was starting to rise again. What if she was truly alone? Like in her dream? What if everyone in the world was gone and she flipped it open and pressed the call button.
She moved to the edge of the bed. The side where it had a night stand. She felt around until she bumped her phone. From there she flipped open her phone. The light blinded her momentarily.
Trixie slammed the call button. There had to be someone out there. Who better than the last person who called her?
The phone rang.
“Please pick up.” She whispered to herself.
The phone rang a second time. Then a third. She was a fool. There was no one else on Earth.
Finally, there was a response. “Hello…?” It was a groggy but it was still something. She exhaled and fell back onto her mattress. That one voice was enough to soothe her irrational worries.
A new fear set in, “I’m so sorry.” She hung up the phone and threw it at the end of her bed. A hard thud let her know she threw it too far. It didn't matter.
She face planted onto her pillow. What was she thinking? It was the middle of the night, what kind of weirdo calls someone in the middle of the night?
The room lit up. Her Britney Britney ringtone blasted to every corner of the room. She scrambled towards the edge of the bed and stretched out to grace the smooth metal of her phone. Her first idea was to grab it and end that call for good. The second idea came to her with a hush want, to answer.
The called ID shined. Her eyes got used to the loud brightness.
Timmy Turner was calling her back. She knew it was the most logical conclusion but it still made her hand twitch. She pushed through her nerves and grabbed her phone and hit the answer button.
"Hi–" She tensed up. What the heck was she doing?
“Trixie? Is that you?" Timmy asked. "Ugh, and I just finally went to sleep.”
“I’m sorry.” Trixie eyes darted around the dark room but there was nothing to distract her from the awkward mess she created for herself. “I had a nightmare. I’m sorry I don’t know why I even called you.” That was a lie. She knew exactly why she called him. She called him because he was the most recent person she previously called. A stray late night phone call just to satiate her own paranoia.
“I just don’t want to be alone…” She confessed to the quiet darkness. Trixie pulled her blanket in closer. Ugh. she was such a child, needing comfort like this. It was so embarrassing and
"Hey, it's okay. I understand. I understand." Timmy said, his voice washed over her worries and she let herself believe him. It was okay. "Hold on, just one sec okay?"
Trixie stayed quiet. She could hear a few bit of movements like a door opening or feet shuffling quietly over the phone.
"Okay, sorry. I just wanted to go in the bathroom so I wouldn't wake up my fish." Timmy said, a bit louder this time.
She blinked in confusion, "What?"
"Goldfish have very delicate sleep cycles."
"Huh?"
"They um, you just really don't want to wake up a toddler goldfish." A moment passed. "That sounds... Stupid."
"No…" She lied. "Just, unexpected." She truthed.
“So are you okay?”
“As okay as I can be after having a nightmare.” She laid back in bed.
“No- I meant. Ugh what did I mean?” He paused for a moment. “I meant what happened? In your nightmare I mean. If you don’t mind me asking.” He tacked on at the end.
“I was at the mall…" She took a deep breath. "With Veronica.”
“Veronica?”
“Yeah," She said. "From elementary school.” She hadn't thought about her in years.
“I remember, you two were friends right? I heard she went to a psych ward or something.” The memories of their last interaction flooded her memory, Veronica breaking into her room and trying to take Trixie's life. Everything. It was hard to make some friends after that but important her popularity. No matter the discomfort.
“Yup. She’s a freak. You know she wanted to be me, like told her mom to call her Trixie levels of wanted to be me.”
“Jeez, that does not sound good.”
“Whatever, so we were talking and suddenly she disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“It wasn't just her, it was everyone. Everyone in the entire world, poof. Gone.”
“Everyone…?” He sounded concern, an weirdly invested amount of concerned. “Like everyone, everyone?”
“Yup.”
"Uh oh."
"It's stupid nightmare but it just won't stop."
"I'm so sorry."
"There's nothing you can do about it."
"I know, it just–" He sighed. "It just sucks I can't do more to help. That you have to deal with this in the first place."
"It's not all bad." She smiled, and twirled her hair. "It led us to talking again– I mean, I like the company is all. Most people don't call back so late at night."
"I'm like most people! I'm like, completely average."
"According to who?"
He mumbled something like 'my theme song' but that doesn't make any sense.
"Could you repeat that?"
"Doesn't matter." He said much more clearly. "So…"
"So?"
"Since we're here, what do you want to talk about?" Timmy asked.
Everything. "Nothing in particular. Wait, what was keeping you so late before we called?"
"School stuff. I tend to fall behind."
"That sucks."
"Ya know, I'm really good at school. But not like–Super good. Just good enough." God forbid she attaches the smart Asian stereotype onto her. Or worse, considered her a nerd. She shivered at the thought.
"Just good enough might be able to save me."
"You think so?"
"It's better than what I'm working with right now. My dumb ol'brain."
"You're not that dumb."
"You should see my grades."
"Grades don't make a person."
"You should tell than to my friend. His entire world, well he and his rival/girlfriend are obsessed with their grades."
"Yeah?"
"Yup." Timmy ended up talking about his friends for once. Not that he opened up often. It was crazy to think it was so easy to read him but somehow their were lines between the fine print. More to learn, more to discover. For the first time in a long time, Trixie few relationships in a positive way.
Not in a romantic way, just… Relationships in general. Like friendships. Yeah, she could use a genuine friend.