This story contains Taito and a lot of curse words. That is because one of the characters has Tourette Syndrome, which is basically an inherited disorder that makes those who have it jerk and shout things invoulentairily. My dad has it. Most people don't know about Tuorette Syndrome, so I'm hoping that this story will give at least a few people an idea. Okay, done ranting.
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. If I did, I'd be getting sued by angry parents for permanantly traumatizing their children. Also, some of the tics in this story (read it if you don't know what a tic is) were taken from the book "Icy Sparks" by Gwyn Hyman-Rubio.
TK Takaishi slowly walked down the hallway of his school. He had only been absent a week, but everything seemed to have changed. Or maybe it was just him. Already he felt sick.
'Why me?' he asked himself when a group of kids passed him. The pointed a snickerd. Some made strange "uuh"-ing noises; others jerked their necks and limbs; some mouthed curse words. TK stared determinatley at the tile floor.
He came to his locker and opend it, slowly. He did everything slowly now. Everything. Except think.
He finally snapped when he turned away from his locker to find a teacher walking slowly down the hall. She saw him and gave him a smile. But her eyes held pity.
They just didn't understand! He turned back and threw his books into his locker. They made a dull clang! as they hit the back and bounced onto the floor with a thud! It made such a racket that passing kids stared. He felt their eyes on him and stared back, breathing heavily through his nose.
Once they had left, he bent over to get his books. And he tried to remember. Remember when it had all started....
They never happend very often. sometimes months would pass. But then he'd jerk his head to the side or his knee would lift up.
He ignored them at first. His mother never noticed, so he guessed that everyone had to jerk the way he did from time to time. No big deal.
No big deal. What a stupid thing to think! No big deal.
He began to doubt that they were any big deal after his eleventh birthday. By then the urges were stronger and more frequent. More noticible.
Now, when his head snapped, his shoulder came to meet it and he'd bang his ear. Sometimes he did it so forcefully and so quick that he'd hear a dull crunch and his neck would ach for a while afterward. His knee still popped up. Now the muscles in his arm would get so tense that it was painful, and his hand shook. Occaisionaly one of these would be accopanied by "Uuh"-ing sounds. They came about twice a week now, sometimes once a day.
Matt, whenever TK saw him, thought that they were funny. Whenever he heard TK go "uuuuhhhhhhh" he'd laugh. For some reason, this made TK feel better, because he knew Matt was not poking fun at him.
With his mother, it was another story.
TK had noticed her wince whenever he jerked or made strange noises. He tried to stop, for her sake, but he never really succeeded.
One day she snapped.
TK had been going by her office shortly before they had moved. He jerked his head and made one of his "uuh"-ing noises. She slammed a bunch of books down on her desk and yelled, "TK! Stop that! It isn't funny anymore!"
He had tried to explain that he simply couldn't stop. He had to jerk and twitch. He tried to explain the need for him to obey the strange commands from his brain to his nerves. But she would not listen.
"TK, this is not the way to get attention! I am sick of it! Sick, do you hear! I don't want to discuss this ever again!"
TK shrank back. He had only seen her like this once that he could remember, and that was when she was fighting with his father before they divorced.
"Now go and pack," she said, coldly. "We're moving out in a week."
"Takaishi, you're late," said his teacher when TK enterd.
"Gomen nasai," he said, bowing. "Sensei, I am very sorry."
"Well, take a seat."
TK handed his teacher a note as well as his maek-up work. His teacher read it a raised his eyebrow. He looked up after a moment.
"Very well, Takaishi. Sit down."
TK found an empty seat and took it. He opend his notebook, absently taking down notes. Halfway through the lesson, after they had been given their homework assignments and were supposed to start working on it, TK moved back again. He saw Kari give him a worried look before his vision was filled with other memories.
But then came Februrary, when the big one hit.
He had been sitting in his Science class. He was bored half to death and was drawing a picture of the teacher, only he gave her fangs, horns, a mustache, a beard, and a tail.
He jumped when her hand came smashing down on his desk.
"And what do we have here?" she said, catching sight of the picture. She nabbed it before he could hide it. He did not like the look on her face.
"Class," she began, walking up to her desk. "Pictures such as this one are the reason why so many people get detention. This is why so many people flunk and become failures later on in life."
TK's face began to redden.
"Deadbeats are not allowed in this class."
TK was getting angry. He felt another urge to twitch.
"That is why Takaishi doesn't seem to use his head."
TK, who had been trying to surpress the urge, jumped up suddenly. He pointed at the teacher.
"Bitch!" he cried, jumping up and down on one foot. "Ugly! Mean old bitch! Piss on you!"
"Takeru, what are you doing!"
"Shit! Piss on you!" He kicked his desk. "Hellfire! Goddamn you! Mean old bitch! Fuck you!"
The teacher, who was looking quite shocked, said, "Are you insane?"
"Pot calling the kettle black! Hell! Shit and piss on you!"
"Daisuke, go and get the principal," the teacher hissed, reaching for her phone. Davis shot out of the room while the teacher called the ES, or Emergency Squad. All the while, TK kept hoping up and down and shouting curse words at the top of his lungs.
"TK, stop!" cried Kari.
"Piss! Shit! Piss on you!"
Twenty seconds later, TK was still hoping and cursing, though his voice was getting weaker. Then the principal and the Emergency Squad, which was just a bunch of teachers, rushed in.
"See!" shreiked his teacher. "There he is!"
"Piss! Piss!"
The principal just stood there, dumbfounded.
Now TK was really getting tired.
"Sh-it...Sh-it..." he said.
Then he passed out.
At lunch, Kari came up to him.
"Want to sit together?" she asked.
"Nah, I think I'll go off by myself, thanks," he said in a flat sort of voice.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Kari gave him another worried look and shrugged. Then she went to sit with some of her friends.
"Why do even bother talking to him?" he heard one of them say. "He's a freak."
TK moved away before Kari could reply. He fouls a seat near the garbage cans. No one sat there because of the smell. No one would bother him there.
He pushed his food around on his plate and sighed.
He wondered if being like this for the rest of his life would make it all more bearible.
"TK, are you up?" asked his mother. TK winced and sat up. His mother. They had called his mother.
"Hi, " he said. "How much trouble am I in?"
"Lots," she replied, filling a paper cup with tap water. She gave it to him to drink. It tasted horrible, but he drank it all.
"TK, what I don't get is why. Why?"
"I had to," he said. He knew it was futile trying to explain his jerks to her.
"TK, I've told you--"
The principal came in.
"Takeru," he said. "What you did today, the disprespect for authority, is just unbeleivable."
TK bowed his head. He knew what was comming next. He felt the need to scream again. He held it in, but it was very difficult.
"Takeru, I'm afraid we need to make the punishment fit the crime. And you have comitted a very big crime."
TK crushed his cup, trying to stem the need to shout. Curses zoomed around in his brain.
"Here, TK, give me that," said his mother, reaching out for the cup. Tk felt himself snap again.
"No! Son- of- a- bitch! Can't do nothin'! Can't make me pay!"
"TK!"
"Can't make me pay!" he screamed. "Can't!"
"Takeru!"
TK jumped up, pushed past the principal, then took off running. He could hear them comming after him.
"Bastard! Can't make me pay!"
"TK, come back here!" called his mother.
TK ran towards the stairs. He stoppd and turn around.
"Can't make me pay!"
"Takeru!"
TK slid down the banister and turned back u to them at the landing.
"Can't make me pay!" he screamed. And with that, he jumped the last ten steps and crashed on the tile floor. Then he blacked out.
Once school had ended TK walked home alone. He had left as quickly as possible, so that he would miss Yolei and Iori. They probably didn't want to hang aroung him anyway.
The wind blew into his face. It stung. He squinted and bowed his head.
His mother was not home when he got there. He walked into his room and closed the door.
"Matt?"
"Hi," said Matt, pleased that he had woken up. "You've ben out for about a day. You fell a long way."
TK didn't register what Matt had said. Then he rememberd.
"I didn't fall," he said.
"What?"
"I didn't fall," TK repeated. "I jumped."
"I know."
TK was silent for a while.
"I'm guessing that I'm in the hospital and that I'm hurt in some way."
"Yeah. Nothing's been broken, but you hit your head pretty hard. They did a CAT scan and junk. You just had a concusion."
"Oh," said TK quietly. "Where're Mom and Dad?"
"Outside, talking to a doctor," said Matt.
TK tried to sit up. But he began to feel dizzy and a wave of nausea hit him. His vision went black. Matt pushed him down again.
"Don't try to sit up."
TK mumbled an incomprehensible reply. He was seeing flashes of color. Eventually they subsided. When he could see properly again, there were three other people in the room. His mother, his father, and a strange man who TK figured was the doctor.
"Hello, TK," said the doctor, leaning over him. "I'm Dr.Nakayama. I see you're up. Do you mind if I ask a few questions?"
TK nodded. He hoped that the man would back away. He smelled horrible. Like the hospital. Hospitals always smelled too clean.
The man stood back up, out of TK's vision. He began to ask TK about his jerks and twitchings-- "tics," he called them-- and cursings. Then he made a "hhhmmmm"-ing noise.
"Well," asked TK's mother.
"Well," said the doctor, slowly. "May I talk to you two outside?"
TK bit his lip as his parents left the room.
"I've got cancer."
"No you don't," said Matt. "Don't be silly."
"I've got a tumor that's causing me to act strange. I'm going to die."
"TK, the CAT scan did not show the doctors any sign of any type of problem. You are not going to die."
"Yes I am!" wailed TK. He jerked his head and made an "eeeeeeeeee" noise. Then he saw the colors again.
"TK! Don't!"
"I can't help it. I have to."
"No, you don't."
"Yes I do! I can't help it! Why doesn't anybody get that!"
"Shhhhhhhh!! They might kick me out!" Matt hissed.
TK would have said more, but then his parents came in. They shut the door. Both looked a little worried.
"How many days do I have left to live?"
His mother gave a forced laugh. "Very funny."
"No, son, you're not going to die," said his father. "It's just..."
"Oh my God! I'm going to suffer memory loss from my concusion!"
"No," said his mother.
"TK," began his father. "Dr. Nakayama thinks that..."
"He thinks that you have Tourette Syndrome."
"Oh," said TK. "Well, then. When will I not have it?"
His parents explained troubled glances.
"Honey, it can't be cured."
"So I have a disease--"
"Disorder."
"Whatever! I have a disorder that can't be cured and I don't even know what it is!"
"Calm down, TK," said Matt. "I'm sure it's nothing....Isn't it?"
"Well, they can't be sure, but Dr. Nakayama says that the chances of it are pretty high," said his mother.
"It's a neurological disorder," said his father. "It causes people who have it to jerk and say things invoulentarily. Some people have it lightly, and some people don't."
"How bad can it be?"
"Well, there are a few people who tic every five mintues or so, sometimes more frequently."
"Oh, perfect!"
"TK, please! Chances are you won't get that bad! It won't prevent you from anything!"
'Except having a social life,' he thought, miserably.
He moaned and coverd his face.
Once that was done, he reached uder his desk and pulled the "T" volume of the encyclopedia. He opend it up to the bookmarked page. He smirked.
"It affects 1 in 2,500," he read out loud. "And I just had to be that one person." He put the book away. Then he had a tic.
"Dammit! Why me?" he said, rubbing his neck.
"Maybe your friends could help," suggested a voice in the back of his head.
"Listen, I am grateful to my friends. They brought me my homework. But I can't. They'll be labled freaks, like me."
"But--"
"Listen, I just don't feel like socializing right now." He stood up. "I'm going to bed."
He got up and left the room, passing a clock along the way, which read 8:01 pm.
TK stopped walking. It was Kari. Probably someone else was with her. He considerd waiting for them. Then he began walking again.
"TK!"
TK heard the sound of someone behind him. He would not run. If they wanted to catch him, they would. But he wouldn't talk to them.
Someone grabbed his arm and spun him around. It was Davis. Kari and Yolei were right behind him, followed by Iori.
"TK, why didn't you wait for us?" asked Kari, once she could breathe again.
TK looked away.
"TK? Why won't you talk to us?" asked Yolei.
"Yeah. You've been avoiding us all week."
"I need to get home, now," said TK.
"No way am I letting you go."
"TK, talk to us!"
"I don't want to!" TK yelled. There was a silence. TK realized that he had never used that tone of voice before.
"Why not? what's wrong with us?"
"Nothing."
"Then why won't you talk to us?" asked Kari, patient as always.
"Because there's a problem with me, okay! Are you satisfied?"
"TK, if it's because of your Tourette Syndrome..."
"Yeah, it is! I'm a freak! I'm not normal. Stay away from me." He tried to tug his arm away. Davis just gripped it harder.
"TK, we don't care what's wrong with you!" said Kari.
"Yeah," said Yolei. "You're our friend."
"But what about your other friends?" asked TK, still trying to break away from Davis. "They'll all dump you because of me!"
"No, they won't. Not all of them," said Kari. "The others...well, they don't have enough brain space to comprehend that you can't do anything about it."
"Let me go!" said TK. "I don't care. I want to be alone! Just stay away from me, okay!"
He managed to break free from Davis and ran. He ran down the street and around the corner. He ran until breath was hard to come by, until his legs threatend to give out. Then he stopped. They hadn't come after him.
TK sank down onto a bench, catching his breath. Then he looked around. He wasn't lost, he knew this part of town. He just had to go back a few blocks to get to his apartment. By then Yolei and Iori would have gone inside their own homes.
He sat there for another minute, catching his breath. Then he slowly stood up and walked back to his apartment. Yolei and Iori weren't out there waiting for him. He went up to his floor and opend the door.
"Mom?" he asked. No answer.
TK went into his room and shut the door. He did his weekend homework, which he disliked. (Why must teachers give you homework on the weekend?)
"TK?" asked a voice. His mom. She knocked on the door. "TK, I brough home dinner."
"I'm not hungry."
"TK, please."
"I'm not comming out."
"Fine. I'll put yours in the fridge in case you're hungry later."
"Okay."
TK felt bad about not having seen his mother in around a week, but he didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment. He didn't want to talk to anyone ever again.
"Hey, Matt. What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to talk to you," said his brother. "Um, can I come in? It's cold out here."
"Oh, sure," said TK, stepping aside so that Matt couled enter. His brother removed his shoes and coat.
"Why are you here?"
"Well, Kari wanted me to talk to you."
TK froze. "Why? Did she talk to you?"
"No, she told Tai. Then Tai told me. So I came here to talk to you."
"There's nothing to discuss," said TK coldly, turning away from Matt.
"Yeah, sure," said Matt from behind him. "There's no reason as to why you decided to avoid your friends. Everyone does that, right?"
TK made a fist. "I don't want them to end up labled as freaks. Like me."
"TK, they don't care."
"They will. After Kari's friends avoid her, and after Davis won't be alowed to play soccer anymore. After--"
"TK, please. You're you, okay? Unique. Everyone is unique. Different. People understand that."
"But--"
"And some people won't, but that's their problem. Why let it be yours?"
TK began walking away. Matt followed him.
"Do you understand?"
"Yes," admitted TK slowly.
"Will you at least talk to your friends again? Without running away?"
TK turned back to his brother. "Fine. I'll talk to them."
Matt smiled. "Good. Trust me. People will forget what happend. Something else'll happen and what you did will become old news."
About a week or so before the end of school, TK decided to pay a surprise visit on his brother. He sneaked up to Matt's apartment building, hoping to surpirse Matt. He was just about to turn the corner when the door opend. TK jumped back into the shadows. He cautiously peered around the corner.
"See you tomorrow night?" asked someone. It was Tai, Kari's brother. What was he doing at Matt's house?
"Yeah, I guess."
"Great. See you then."
TK would have assummed that Tai would have left right now, but instead he and Matt did something else.
They kissed.
TK's mouth hung open. He had never known that Tai was gay! With Matt he always guessed it, being his brother and all. But Tai...
They broke off and Tai left. TK jumped back into a little niche that the wall provided. Tai walked right by him without seeing him. TK breathed a sight of releif and turned the corner Matt had gone back inside.
TK paused before knocking. Maybe he should wait. Matt might suspect something if he knocked too soon to when Tai left. TK sat down and waited for another three or so minutes. Then he got up and knocked on the door.
"Hi, TK. I didn't know that you were comming," said Matt.
"Yeah, well. I just wanted to stop by. See what you've been doing lately. Anything new?"
"No, nothing new." Matt let TK in. TK removed his shoes and follwed Matt into the apartment.
"It's cleaner than the last time I saw it."
"Yeah, decided to do a little spring cleaning. That, and I made Dad tkae a shower, so the place smells better."
TK laughed. "Are you going out with anybody?" he asked, innocently. He knew it was mean, but he had to know.
Matt stiffend momentarily before replying. "No," he said. "Why?"
"Don't lie, Matt. I know you are."
"Oh yeah? And with who?"
"Tai," said TK quietly.
Matt froze. "How did you know?"
"I saw you two together. Matt, why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want anybody to know, okay."
"I'm your brother!"
"I'm sorry!" Matt yelled. TK was silent. Matt took a deep breaht. "I'm sorry, okay. I thought you'd freak if you found that your brother was a fag."
"I don't mind. Some people would, but I don't."
"That's exactly why I don't want you to breath one word of this to anyone, even Kari. Okay?"
TK bit his lip. He had read in the paper about the beatings and murders of gay people. He didn't want his brother to become the next victem.
"All right," he said.
"Thanks, TK."
"What are brothers for?"
Thursday, durring Math class, he snapped.
He didn't even see it comming. One moment he was turning in his final test, and the next minute he was screamming.
"Shit.Shit. Shit.Shit.Shit," he said.
"Takeru?" asked the teacher.
"Takeru. Takeru. Takeru. Takeru. Takeru," he repeated, starting to shake.
"He's having another tic," said someone.
"Tic.Tic," said TK, snapping his head. "Tic."
People were talking, and the teacher was trying to quiet them. TK kept on repeating words.
"Faggot! Faggot! Faggot!" he yelled. "Faggot!"
This shut the class up.
"Yama!Yama! Yama!" he said. "Yama!"
Then TK slapped himself. Hard. He stopped. Then he turned white, horrified at what he had said.
Then bell rang.
"Class dismissed," said the teacher, acting as if nothing had happend.
Kari met up with TK outside.
"TK, are you okay?"
"No, I'm not!" he snapped. "Never tell me to keep a secret, okay."
"Why?"
"Didn't you hear?" he asked.
"Yes, but..."
"I called my brother a faggot! Not directly, but.."
"You mean...?"
TK nodded. "Yup. him an' Tai."
"Oh my God. Tai hasn't said anything."
"Well, he's probably afraid of being beat up or something."
"I suppose so..or maybe he's afraid for, you know," said Kari, careful not to say Matt's name. "Nothing's gonna happen though."
"You sure?"
"I promise."
Yamato was at a club. He had just finished playing a gig and was putting away his guitar. He has just shut the black case when a group of guys walk up to him. Matt looks up at them. They smile, but something is off, terribly wrong...
"Ishida Yamato?" the one in the front asks. His outline is blurry, as well as his features. His voice is unfamilliar.
"Yes," says Matt, standing up. He is around the same height as most of the boys, but he is also thinner than they are.
"Nice concert," says the guy. "Me and my pals enjoyed it. In fact, we were wondering if you would like to share a drink with us?"
Matt shakes his head. "Maybe some other time. I need to get home."
"It's only eleven," sayd the boy. "C'mon, just one drink. It doesn't even have to be alchloholic."
Matt considers this a moment. "Okay," he says. Anyone could tell he had not thought it through. Already he wasn't thinking straight.
"Great," says the guy.
Matt gives his guitar to one of the band members. He looks a little worried.
"I'll be fine," says Matt.
The band memeber shruggs and leaves. Matt goes off to have a drink with they guys. While he isn't looking, one of them slips something into his drink. Matt finishes his beverage, unaware that it had been drugged.
TK broke off from the dream for a moment, but when he returned he saw Matt in a car with they guys that had drugged him.
He seems to be having a good time. Laughing and joking. He was most definatley drugged, and was drinking something out of a bottle that was being passed around. They strangers have good acting talents, but most people would have been able to tell that something was off.
Abruptly, the car stops and Matt is pushed out onto the side of the deserted street. Matt scrapes his cheek on the asphalt.
"What--?" he begins. He doesn't finish. Some one's foot comes out of no where and kicks him in the stomcach. Matt doubles over and cluthces his abdomen. But more feet come, from behind, kicking him forcefully and relentlessly.
TK tried to scream at this point, but his throat jammed up. He couldn't do anything. Only stand there and watch as his borther is harmed.
Thwack! This sound is not from kicking feet, but from a baseball bat. Twack! Twack, thwack, thwack!
"I't's my turn with the bat," one of them shouts. "Fag!" they scream. "Fruit, fairy! Faggot! Sick and twisted! You're a freak! Stop polouting our planet!"
TK finally managed a scream.
"It was just a dream. Nothing's wrong."
But dreams could predict the future. And weren't brothers supposed to have some psychic connection...?
"No," he said. "No, nothing happend."
But what if...?
TK didn't even consider going back to sleep. It seemed impossible. Careful no to make any of the floor boards creak, TK got out af bed and went straight for his phone. He dialed Kari's number.
The phone rand twelve times before someone answerd.
"H-hello?" someone yawned into the phone.
"Kari?"
"TK, what is it? It's one in the morning."
TK told her about the dream. He heard her gasp. He could almsot see her tunring white.
"TK, maybe it's just your anxieties..."
"No," he said, shaking his head. "Matt's in trouble."
"Is he at home?"
"I...I haven't called yet. Your number was the first to come into my head."
"Well, call his house an then call me back. I'll wait."
"Thanks, Kari."
"Don't mention it."
She hung up. TK hung up and dialed Matt's number. Someone answerd on the tenth ring.
"Hello?"
"Dad? Is Matt at home yet?"
"TK? No, Matt's not home yet. Someone from his band dropped by earlier, saying that Matt would be back later and asked him to drop his guitar off."
TK swallowed hard. "Did- did they say what Matt was doing?"
"He said some guys offerd to get him a drink or something like that."
TK lost the power of speech for a moment. His mouth worked, but nothing came out.
"TK?"
"I'll call you back, Dad. In the mean time, call the police."
TK hung uo and dialed Kari's number again.
"TK?"
"He's not at home. He went to get a drink with a group of guys."
"Oh..no..."
"Dad's calling the police. Wake Tai up and tell him, okay? I gotta go."
It was Kari. She looked like she hadn't slpet in a while or maybe she had been crying, TK couldn't tell.
"Kari? What is it?"
"Tai told me a few minutes ago....They-they've found Matt."
"And.."
She looked away. "He's in the hospital."