HOW IT FEELS TO DISAPPEAR. (Part 1: DESCENT)
FLASHBACK: ABANDON LONLINESS.
A retelling of Abandon Lonliness in how it unfurled in Missing Numbers.
This story will contain: Psychological Horror. Implied Animal Neglect. Animal Death. Implied Child Death. Unreality.
You never belonged here.
EXPLANATION | FIRST | NEXT
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YOU ARE A 12 YEAR OLD GIRL WITH LONG BROWN HAIR, AND HAZEL EYES THAT SEEM TO TOE THE LINE BETWEEN BROWN AND GREEN. AND YOU’VE NEVER BEEN HAPPIER, PROUDLY HOLDING THE TITLE OF THE CHAMPION OF KANTO AS OF ONE WEEK AGO.
TODAY, YOU ARE WITH YOUR FRIEND, BLUE. A BOY WHO STARTED AS YOUR ENEMY, BUT BECAME YOUR FRIEND THROUGHOUT YOUR JOURNEY. YOU ARE GLAD YOU UNDERSTAND HIM. YOU ARE GLAD HE TRUSTS YOU.
YOU ARE KEEPING HIM COMPANY AS HE GRIEVES A LOST POKEMON.
…
Your mind keeps wandering to the Championship fight. You’ve been trying not to feel too guilty- you won fair and square, after all. Neither of you held back. And even though you could see the hurt in his eyes when you did, he only forced a smile and congratulated you, leaving before Professor Oak arrived. You’ve talked about it several times since then, but he always repeated that you deserved it more than him.
It didn’t sit right with you, but you’ve been determined to ensure that this didn’t cause a rift between you two. You care so much about him, especially after he opened up… Even proving to you how he seemed to know just what to expect every step of the way- everything except for you.
Either way- you made a point to be a better friend to him than ever before. And if that means coming with him to this creepy, haunted graveyard, then… So be it! You’re not scared! No sir!
Being there for him matters more, anyways.
Though it’s been pretty quiet… A part of you must have expected for such a loud boy to grieve more openly, but you suppose he’s always been more… Restrained in this place. More respectful. As for you, though, you’ve never lost a Pokemon… Not yet, anyways. So, maybe you just don’t understand.
Still, you can’t help but feel a bit bored. You wouldn’t dream of doing anything disrespectful here, but your gaze does start to wander. You skim over the names on each headstone- loving nicknames of Pokemon since passed, usually settled over sentimental messages and last goodbyes, forever etched into stone.
But as you look around, you nearly jump out of your skin when you spot the movement of something small scampering away through the gaps of nearby graves. It takes a moment to soothe yourself enough to realize that it couldn’t have been a ghost… They don’t dwell on this floor of the Pokemon Tower, and this wasn’t the angry purples of a restless spirit, or a mischievous Ghastly or Haunter… You’re pretty sure that was… Brown?
Blue seems to have missed it, caught up in his own silent mourning.