"Shazzaam"
'I hate you.'
She sat clenching her teeth, staring ahead with unfocused eyes. The same thought kept running through her mind.
'I hate you.'
Her mother's words were meaningless to her. Every insult, every sarcastic remark went in one ear and out the other.
'Why does it matter if I don't think I can sing? Who cares if I memorized "Version Up" but can't sing the songs my choir conductor tells me to? Who cares if I'd rather do my math homework at lunch? Computers are a good place to hide, but they're not always on my mind, you know'
She didn't try to think of something else. It was effortless. So, she thought about nothing. She let her eyes unfocus, and her mind unfocus as well. It centred on nothing. In the back of her mind, the music to "Outside the Frame" played slowly, softly drowning out her mother's yelling.
Hours later, she was laying in her bed, eyes closed. Plots for Digimon fan fictions ran through her head as she tried to forget the little ordeal. 'It doesn't matter' she thought. 'It doesn't matter at all.'
Her gaze strayed to her backpack, where inside lay The Digivice. At least, that was what she called it. It was one of those handheld virtual pets, a Digimon, to be exact. It was shut inside the backpack, untouched, the box unopened. Until now, she had thought she would keep it that way.
She remembered how she had aquired The Digivice. Thinking back on the past month, she recalled seeing the advertisement on a small web site lost in cyberspace. "Digimon Virtual Pet: Experimental Model," the ad had read. The Digivice had been a prototype for a new line of Digimon toys, a breakthrough in virtual pet technology. But the plans had been changed, and the only copy had been sold. And now, she was the new owner.
It was only now that she was beginning to wonder about its authenticity. It's probably just a fake, she thought. Probably just something that some weirdo slapped together out of Tamagatchi and Pocket Pikachu parts. Still... the package looked real enough....
Sighing, she retrieved the Digivice from her backpack and flopped back onto her bed, staring at the thing, trying to figure it out. 'Even if it IS a real one, it'd be in Japanese' she thought. 'Oh well.... might as well give it a try.'
She tore open the package, tossing it asside. The Digivice fit nicely into her hands... it was as if it had been made for her. And unlike most of those cheap virtual pets, this one didn't have a belt clip. It was made to look as if it was one of the digivices of the Digidestined....
"All right, now, let's see what this thing can do," she muttered, flipping it over. But to her surprise, there wasn't anything to start it up. No buttons, no squitches, no nothing. Just hard silvery plastic...
'I knew this thing was a fake. Shouldn't have wasted my money...'
And so, the Digivice was left on her night-table, forgotten for the rest of the day....
It was a Thursday night, and that called for the usual routine of staying up until midnight to watch Gundam Wing. She glanced at her clock radio, eyelids heavy with sleep. If only it didn't come on so late.. she wouldn't have to stay up, wouldn't have to deal with the boredom of waiting in her room until the hour. The hinges of her door had been greased with hand cream so that they wouldn't squeak, but still...... what if she got caught? It was such an annoyance...
And then, her irritable thoughts were interrupted by something. A very obvious something. A very bizarre something. That something was the Digivice.
It was laying on the night-table where she had left it, perfectly still as she expected it to be.. but there was one thing different. It was glowing.
Yes, glowing.... with a lovely purple light, in fact. 'Maybe it's programmed to start at a certain time?' she thought, mind racing to find an explanation. Yes, that had to be it. It was the only thing that made sense. So, she reached out to touch it.........
There was a sudden light, and a sudden darkness. Down, down, falling down.... like the Zipper ride at the Blueberry Festival, tossing and turning, over and under, air rushing by her in a tremendous wave of.... something. It was like falling through wine, falling through perfume, falling, through clouds, falling... falling... falling....
She landed in a heap, the breath being knocked out of her in a loud "whoosh". It took her a moment for her to come to her senses... what had happened? Where was she? It was as bright as day..... but another thing popped into her mind. Why had her landing been as soft as it was? She had been falling so fast. It was like she landed on a pillow or a cushion or a-
"Would you PLEASE get off me?!"
She blinked. And blinked. And wondered where that voice was comming from. And then.... she looked down. "Oh.... um... sorry," she said, blushing slightly. She'd fallen on someone. Naturally.
"Fine, fine.... just get off of me, okay?"
She did so. "Man, I am SO sorry... I usually don't... drop in like that. The name's Katt Monroe... who the heck are y... y.... y..." Her smoothe speech quickly turned to blind stammering as she lay her eyes on the person she had fallen on.... who just so happened to be the one she drooled over, melted over, worshipped like a mini-god... Koushiro Izumi.
To be continued... if I decide to. ^_^