Kari opened her mouth to scream, but not a sound was heard as piedmon
dove at her. Tai tried to run to save her, but he couldn't move. Now he could
her screams of terror and pain. He couldn't hear himself yelling, but he knew
he was. Then there was complete silence, and Tai knew she was gone.
Tai pulled himself up in his bed. Sweat dotted his forehead, and his
breath came short and hurried. Tai put his face in his hands and started to cry.
It had been four years since she died. Tai was convinced that her death was
all his fault. He and the others had left the digital world and Tai had separated
himself from them. They reminded him too much of Kari. Tai cried himself
too sleep, something he did too often.
Tai woke up early, only to lay in bed for an hour, wondering if it was
worth it to get up. But at 7:00 he finally summoned the courage to face the
world. He changed into clothes that he could be seen in public wearing. Then
pulled on his jacket and shoes. Tai had to take a walk, he couldn't stand to sit
around the house for another Saturday.
Tai could see his breath hanging in the cold morning air. He liked the
cold, but didn't know why. Tai looked upward at the cloudless, icy blue sky, and
wished it would rain. Something suddenly hit Tai, knocking him to the ground.
"I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking…"a girl said.
"It's OK, it was my fault." Tai said, still a little surprised. He helped her up,
then looked at her.
"Sora?" Tai asked. The girl looked at him carefully.
"Tai?!" She yelled. Tai and Sora threw their arms around themselves.
"oh my god, I don't believe it's you!" Sora said excitedly. "You, um,
disappeared for four years."
"Yeah, I guess I kinda did." He admitted.
"You wanna go get some coffee here and catch up?" Sora asked.
"I can't, um I'm busy." Tai lied, he didn't want to talk."Sorry."
"That's OK Tai," Sora pulled a slip of paper and a pencil out of her bag and
wrote down some numbers. "Here's my number, call me when you're not so
busy."
"OK Sora, see ya later."
"Bye Tai." She said and the two walked off in two different directions.
Tai pulled himself up in his bed, the dream had come back. His throat was dry,
making it hard to breath. Tai stumbled out of bed and into the kitchen where
he poured him self a glass of water. He glanced at the slip of paper with Sora's
number on it. Tai looked at it for a while. It felt good just to have it, just to
know he had some connection to the out side world. Someone who wanted to
hear from him. 'Should I call her?' Tai thought. He looked at the phone and
then gave into his compulsion.
"Hi, Sora, it's Tai."
"What, Tai?" Sora said incoherently "What time is it?"
"It's, um 4:41."
"a.m.?"
"Listen Sora, I'm sorry I called you so early" Tai apologized. "I'll let you get
your sleep, bye."
"What, no Tai. It's OK." Sora yawned. "What do you want?"
"Well it's stupid." Tai said. "I had a nightmare…about Kari," Tai mumbled,
embarrassed that he was calling her this early in the morning because he had a
nightmare. 'How old am I again?' Tai thought.
"What happened?" Sora replied.
"Well, um…you know she was…" Tai choked. "killed. I saw her dying, and I
couldn't do anything to help her. It was so real."
"It's OK Tai, it was only a dream" She reassured. Tai smiled to himself.
"Your right, it was only a dream." Tai said.
"It's OK Tai, I understand." She said.
"Hey, you wanna meet for coffee tomorrow, at that place I ran into you?"
"Sure Tai, at 11:00?"
"OK," Tai said. "I'll let you sleep now. Bye."
"Bye."
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