Blown Away by Sarah Green
A/N: Second songfic! So excited to hear from you guys! I still don't own Pokémon, but I sure wish I did! Thanks to the little Mermaid friend that gave me my idea ;D love ya Ariel!
There's not enough rain in Oklahoma
To wash the sins out of that house
There's not enough wind in Oklahoma
To rip the nails out of the past
Shatter every window till it's all blown away
Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away
Till there's nothing left standing,
Nothing left of yesterday
Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away, blown away
Lightning crackled across the sky one, two, three times as the little redhead silently stared out the window in awe. Thunder boomed for miles around, shaking the small log cabin with every roaring clap. Her sea foam green eyes, far more knowledgeable than any six-year-old's should be, took in every detail, trying to escape the despair well-known in her young life. At least storms were more enrapturing than the cold, hard memories of the past.
She jumped lightly when she heard the door slam behind her drunken father. No matter how many times she'd heard that door slam, it never failed to turn her skin pallid or make her blood run cold. She quietly wondered how he'd torture her today. So many horrid things he'd already done, so many he could repeat in an instant, and there would be nothing she could say or do to change his inebriated mind. At least he couldn't kill her angel of a mother again. That, she considered a small blessing of its own.
The keys clanged onto the counter, rusty and worn out like the small blue pick-up he drove, and he crossed the room with a bottle of whiskey in his right hand. "So, sweetie, hear a storm's brewing today?" But before she could answer, he'd turned on the old black-and-white television and crashed on the couch, out like a light. He wasn't going to hurt her. Not today, at least.
She turned toward the television, drawn by the weather man that had appeared on the tiny screen. He was well-dressed, much better clothes than the rags she had to scrounge around for, with dark hair and pale eyes. She guessed they were blue. He was announcing the news for her region, Kanto, and her ears caught on the bit he said about her town.
"As for Cerulean City, it's best to go down to the cellar or storm shelter as soon as possible. The twister could appear at any moment, so please heed my warnings. Find. Shelter. Now."
Find. Shelter. Now. The words rang in her mind as she began to race through the house to collect the things she knew she might need. She found a small, red flashlight and weather radio in one of the kitchen drawers, grabbed the keys to a car she knew she might not see again, and took the small suitcase of clothing she'd practically lived out of since her mother's death.
She threw it all down the cellar stairs, knowing there wasn't much time left before it was too late. It crossed her mind that she was deliberately leaving her intoxicated father for nature to take him away. She also realized she was leaving his one Pokémon with him. She ran back and pried the Poké Ball from her unconscious father's belt loop. Taking one last, long look at him, she turned away and rushed down the steps.
She couldn't have woken him anyway, and they'd both be dead if she tried to carry him down to the cellar by herself. Still, that slight feeling of satisfaction burned deeply, and she knew in her heart she didn't want to save him anyway. Not after everything he'd done to her. Sweet revenge, she called it.
As she locked the cellar door behind her, she slumped against the cement wall, already starting to freeze from the ever-falling temperatures. "Just blow it away," she prayed quietly. "Just blow it all away." Curious about the Pokémon he'd owned all this time but never shown to her, she released it, revealing a Staryu. Her mother's only Pokémon.
Staryu knew who it was with, and knew it would be safe with the little redhead. She embraced it, holding it close as the tears fell freely from her face. The wind screamed in her ears, and she just knew that tonight it would really be the end of it all. No more drunken fits, no more sleepless, hopeless nights. But nothing would ever take away the scars of her past or wash the sins out of her memories.
Misty woke with a start, the thunder clap in her waking nightmare all too realistic. "Misty, you okay?" Ash asked, leaning over to check on his startled friend. Apparently he hadn't been able to sleep because of the storm raging above them. No matter how safe the Pokémon Center felt, it still didn't provide the security either of them needed at the moment.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she muttered, trying to turn her head so he wouldn't see her wet cheeks.
"You didn't seem like it while you were sleeping, Misty. Are you sure?" She wanted so badly to tell him the truth, to tell him why storms scared her so badly. Because they reminded her of her past, scars and sins she never hoped to relive again. But she couldn't bring herself to do it.
"I told you, Ash! I'm fine." Blow it all away. No, she wasn't fine. Far from it, actually. And he could tell that she was lying to him.
"Misty, you know you can trust me." The words, as touching and heart-wrenching as they were, had little effect. She refused to let him break her so easily.
"I…Don't want to talk about it," she grumbled, hoping he'd stop pestering her about it.
"Misty, please tell me! At least tell me what your dream was about. You kept mumbling something that sounded sort of like 'Blow it all away.' What were you trying to blow away?" That did it.
"I…was?" she gasped, horrified by the nod he gave her. "Nosy little brat! Don't listen in on me like that! For all you know it could've been something very personal to me!" And it was. She never planned on sharing her broken memories with anyone.
He raised his eyebrows, definitely unappreciative about her insane accusations. "Well excuse me for being awake while you were busy having some dream about blowing something away! It's not my fault you were sleep-talking!" She sighed.
It was pointless to continue arguing with the stubborn ten-year-old. "It was…my home. My home that blew away." What on earth was she saying? This certainly wasn't what she planned on doing.
"What? You're nuts! The stadium's just fine, Misty! No storm could blow that thing away!" She face-palmed.
"Not that home, Birdbrain. The home my father blew away in when I was little. Before Daisy, Violet, and Lily took me in."
"Oh." He'd certainly never known her to be adopted, so this came as quite a surprise. "Why didn't you tell me before, Misty?"
Instead of answering his question, a wail escaped her throat. "I wanted him to die, Ash. I let him die. I prayed for that house to blow away, so I'd never have to see him again. He killed my mother, Ash. Beat her to death in another one of his drunken rages when I was five years old. I had to watch the whole thing, too. As if that wasn't enough to scar a girl for life. After they buried her, he began to do horrible things to me. Things I refuse to repeat to you or anyone else to this day. I'll never be able to describe all the ways he hurt me; all I know is I'm glad he died. People called it taking shelter. I called it sweet revenge. He was the only person left in my life that could love and hate me all at the same time. And the feelings were definitely mutual."
Silence filled the air as he took in the full horror of what she was telling him. No wonder storms freaked her out so badly. "So, you're not really their younger sister?" She knew he was referring to the Sensational Sisters, and shook her head.
"Nope. Not even relatives. They found me on the edge of town and took me in when they found out about my family."
"And Staryu? I remember you saying its name in your sleep."
"Oh, Staryu. That was my mom's only Pokémon, and yes, it's the same one I carry with me every day." The story itself had already begun to wear her out, so the questions just added to the fatigue she was feeling. She clutched her mother's Poké Ball to her chest after she realized it was in her hands, and leaned up against Ash, who had stopped questioning her and resorted to stroking her hair quietly as her eyes drifted shut. She yawned, her eyes watering slightly as she felt his warm lips press against her hair.
"I love you, Misty." And that was the last thing she was coherent to before sleep took over once again, no longer tainted by the memories of her horrendous past.
Blow it all away.