What was it about this cartoon that caught Roni's attention so much?
She didn't really ever get into cartoons, so why was she watching one
now? Why couldn't she press her finger down and change the channel?

If she could just do that, if she could just change the channel,
she'd be better off for it.

After a few seconds of being drawn to the television set, the main
character came on to the screen.

Superman.

She was watching Superman.

An animated form of Superman.

She swore to herself that she would never watch anything that had a
superhero in it ever again. Most of all, Superman. So why couldn't
she change the channel?

Roni's gaze was transfixed onto Superman. She began to shake.

The shaking kept getting worse and worse.

Roni began to violently shake in the chair she was sitting in.

Why couldn't she stop shaking? Why couldn't she change the channel?

As she continued to stare at the TV, she dropped the remote. She
tried to communicate with her brain to pick the remote up, but her
brain wasn't listening to her. She couldn't get the control. Even
if she did, she wouldn't be able to change the channel.

She wanted to change it, but she couldn't.

Jed and Abbey were walking to their bedroom when they heard a cry
for. . . Superman. They realized it was coming from the TV, so off
they went into the living room.

They stopped when they entered and saw Roni shaking in the chair,
unable to take her eyes off of the screen. Jed walked over and
turned the TV off, but Roni was still shaking. And her eyes were
still fixed on the television set.

Was she really watching Superman?

No.

No, she wasn't. The show had just brought all those memories back
from that day. . . from the recent events in her life. She began to
replay all the things through her mind. That's why she was shaking.

Turning the TV off wasn't going to help.

Maybe if she never turned it on, maybe that would have helped. But
she had. There was no way to go back in time and change that. She
turned the TV on. She stopped it on Superman.

The same time that Jed was turning Superman off, Abbey ran to Roni.
She grabbed her and tried to stop her from shaking. But it didn't
help. Somehow, Roni managed to fling her arm and away went her
mother.

Now it was Jed's turn to try.

Jed walked over and abruptly grabbed his daughter. Then he pulled
her into him. He didn't give her the chance to buck him off.

Wrapped up in her father's arms, Roni began to cry.

And cry.

And cry.

She couldn't stop crying.

"Shh, it's going to be okay, Roni. You just let it out." Jed tried
to calm her down.

Finally, Roni found her voice again. "NO IT WON'T! It won't be
okay. Don't you understand? Don't you get it? It will never be
okay again. It can't!" Roni managed to push Jed off of her now too.

Free from arms holding her down, Roni quickly transported herself
back into her wheelchair and rolled off, leaving Jed and Abbey
standing there, wondering what the hell just happened.

TBC…