Pink Elephants on Parade (Wally Darling x reader)

Isn't

Your expression fell.
Was that really it? Was that puppet just a regular prototype? Was him and the Wally from your dreams even related? But then how did Wally know about your day-to-day life? It didn't make sense.
You leaned closer, now listening to every word she was saying.
"You even *stole* a toy phone from school one day!"
So that was why it didn't have your name on it. Because it wasn't yours in the first place! This wasn't the kind of information you were looking for, but what you've stumbled upon was even more disturbing.

When you were a child, you weren't a huge fan of the show because you didn't have any friends. You didn't have any friends *because* you were a huge fan of the show!
What kind of spell were you put under?! Did Wally charm you into obsession? Like when you stayed in bed for two days straight?

"Thankfully, it's all over and you're normal now." she sipped her tea. "I had to finally put my foot down after that thing happened."
You frowned.
"...What happened?"
Her eyes widened, like she just realized what she just said. She then looked at you with furrowed eyebrows. Another unusual thing. It gave you the hint that whatever she was talking about, it was serious.
"Oh honey... Listen, you were a young child, you were under ten years old. But... Blaming a puppet?"
"What happened mom?" you pressed.

She opened her mouth, but said nothing. There was a moment of silence, during which you were fixing her with all your might, like you were trying to silently convince her to talk. You tried really hard to remember by yourself, but you drew a blank. Being your mother, she could see it on your face. She hummed, her lips pursued.
"Believe me honey, it's best that you don't remember." she finally said, waving a hand. "Sometimes, the brain knows what's good for you."
You leaned back in your chair with a long sigh.
"Don't huff young lady. You're not a train nor a boiler."
You frowned again. Now she was just saying things she'd tell you as a kid. You were at an impasse and now you were also angry. Great.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. With a groan and a huff, she left to answer. Curious – and not surprised by that subtle play of hypocrisy – you followed behind her to see who it was. It was some religious people asking if she wanted to talk about the lord or whatever.
This was your golden opportunity. Despite being a religious woman herself, your mom found door-to-door people in general "annoying as all hell". And she was known by the neighborhood to talk the ears off of anyone, *especially* those she didn't like. This will give you plenty of time!
So while she went on yet another rant, not giving anyone a chance to speak – a really one-sided debate – you discreetly left the scene and went upstairs, to your old room. There must be something there that could give you some clearance about how it all started, ended. And maybe about "that thing" that happened too.

The furniture was still there, though it was very dusty and much less colorful than the last time you saw it. Your drawers were now full of old documents and family pictures, dating back generations before yours. You searched for childhood pictures of you, in most of them, you had a Welcome Home plushie in your hands, or you were wearing some kind of merch.
Your eyes widened when you saw child-you hugging the Wally puppet. From the scene around you, it would seem like it was a Christmas present. You checked the date, it was one year after the show premiered. You frowned. You didn't remember any of this. You'd sometimes recall upon seeing the pictures, but for the rest, it was like you saw these for the very first time. Like you were looking at someone else. You sighed and kept looking. Checking the dates on each one, you began to organize the pictures chronologically. Welcome Home was presumed to have aired between '70 and '74. So far, all pictures within that timeframe had you with at least one thing Welcome Home related. But you couldn't have stopped being a fan at the same time that the show stopped.
So you wondered, when did you stop? When did you forget?

You almost gasped when you finally found one where you had zero Welcome Home related thing with you. It was a picture of you and your mom, standing in front of the new house, so you must've just entered middle-school at the time. You didn't look as happy as you were before. That made you sad.
But then you noticed something. You had a bracelet on. You squinted your eyes and looked closer. Then you realized, that wasn't just any bracelet. That was the kind of thing they'd made you wear at a hospital.
You felt a shiver down your spine. You went to the hospital? You didn't remember anything about ever going to a hospital. Not in middle-school anyway.