Author's Note:

This story was written about…10 years ago. I was searching my computer to find old documents to delete and I found a certain little Digimon story entitled "Lost Hope". It was my first work of prose and it strived to be a romance/mystery with a small pinch of character study. This story was…for a lack of a better term: terrible. It was choppy, short, and written like a child with an over-enthusiastic fantasy about the TV show.

So here I am, 10 years later sitting at my computer thinking what to do.

Rockefeller once said, "A museum has to renew its collection to be alive, but that does not mean we give [up] on important old work."

So as a museum of my own work, that is exactly what I intend on pursuing.

No mystery this time: just straight romance…though maybe not in the most obvious sense.

What We Lost

"Hey, buddy. I think you better go home for the night. I'll get you a cab."

"No…I want another one"

"Look, buddy. I can't serve you another. Hell, one more drink and you'll be that much closer to being as belligerent as you were last week. I don't want to have to throw you out again. You're a good guy, but I think it's time you went home."

"I said…give me a damn shot!"

"I'm calling the cab! You're going home"

"What the fuck? No give me my goddamn shot!"

"That's alright, sir; I got him"

"Who are you?"

"Why the hell are you here?"

"Please take him home…I trust you'll do that for me"

"WHY ARE YOU HERE?"

"Let's go home, buddy. Thanks, sir. And no worries, I'll make sure he gets home."

Tai woke up in the morning on a wooden floor; his face was resting sideways on a firm and uncomfortable pillow. His neck ached from the awkward sleeping position and his body fell a little weak. The sun shining through the window had a pinkish-golden color that made Tai feel welcomed. It was almost as if the sun was smiling straight at him, Tai groggily picked himself up and sat up against the bed that was to his left. He must have fell off the bed somehow because the blanket was lazily hanging off the bed frame. The room he was in felt homely; it had the glossy floors in addition to a wooden wardrobe standing majestically right next to the open window. The walls were painted a light greenish-blue. Only then he realized he wasn't in his own house; it was really clean. Tai then put his hands to his head immediately as he felt a headache coming on.

"What the hell happened last night?" Tai thought to himself still confused by the unusual surroundings. He looked around searching for a clue as to where he might be. His heart started to race and his breathing heavier. He got up and stumbled out the door and into a narrow hallway with the same colored walls. He saw posters and bass guitars lining the hall and walked up to one of the posters advertising a band. Instantly, Tai let out a sigh of relief and slowed his breathing.

"Matt," Tai said quietly as he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. The poster contained a large picture of the band Teenage Wolves, Matt's band from the end of college. As Tai walked down the hallway, he was sent on a musical journey as he saw the band slowly evolve into Wolf. The members were considerably older by the eleventh poster and almost unrecognizable from the first one he saw.

"After all those years, Matt, you still hang on to the name 'Wolf,'" Tai said out loud.

"Why the hell are you here?"

Tai turned around in an instant and saw an attractive, slender woman in a casual yellow dress glaring at him holding a cardboard box labeled "KITCHEN". The woman had long brown hair that curled at the tips with a blue hair clip on top. She looked familiar to Tai but he was speechless because of the whole situation.

"Well answer me! Shit, Tai. It's been twelve years since the reunion at Davis' restaurant and I haven't seen you at all since then! And all of a sudden you're here in my house?" She had a glare in her eyes, a glare that could only belong to Sora.

"Look Sora…things haven't been going well for me…"

"And you could have called!" Sora dropped the box on the table angrily. "What happened? You used to keep in touch with me; anytime there was a problem, you called me, walked over to the apartment or made an attempt to find me. We used to get dinner after work all the time."

"You know what happened, Sora. Things…"

"I know damn well what happened but that doesn't give you an excuse to not talk to me and keep me out of your damn life."

"Look you don't understand."

"I do, Tai! Ever since you found out about Matt and me. I know you loved me…and it killed me everyday to know that I never told you till the day he proposed."

"Sora, but I moved on."

"Yeah with Mimi! I honestly can say I was a little upset when I heard about you two getting married. Maybe I was a little jealous but I got over it. I thought things were fine at the reunion. We all had a few drinks and talked over good times. I thought things would work out. Then you stop calling and stop talking to any of us, including Matt! How the hell could you do that to us? I tried every day to call, even writing, but you never responded to me at all!"

"Shut up!" Tears rolled down Tai's eyes. Sora was taken aback by the sudden response. "I know you guys called. You didn't think I felt like shit not picking up the phone at all? Well guess what, I did. It burned me all the way to my core knowing I was leaving the people I loved outside of my life."

"Then why did you leave us in the dark then, Tai?"

"Because…" Tai's eyes swelled up even more as he bit his own hand and started to cry. Sora's anger slowly disappeared and transformed into sincere concern. Tai leaned up against the poster on the wall and slid down to the ground, taking the poster with him. Sora walked over and knelt beside him and lifted the sagging poster away from Tai's face. He had aged considerably since she last saw him: his hair remained the same long length but was unkempt and untidy. His chin had a bit of stubble and his cheeks caved in a small amount. Sora sat beside Tai and waited for him to speak.

"Sora, Mimi isn't a bad person. I love her so much. I don't understand why you are so caught up in the past with us…"

"Tai, I'm sorry…"

Tai sniffed and caught his composure for a second.

"I've lost so much. And I'm losing more every day," Tai said quietly to the ground. Sora placed her hand on his shoulder and looked at him. Tai turned and looked Sora straight in the eyes.

"Alzheimer's…Mimi's fucking thirty six and she can't even remember my damn name."

"Tai, I have to tell you something."

"Yeah what is it Sora?"

"You're a great guy and all…and I know we've spent a lot of time together."

"Yeah, it's been great! I think we have a good thing."

"That's…the thing. Matt proposed to me…and I said yes."

"Oh…"

"I should have told you, I'm sorry"

"No…it's OK...I'm happy for you."

"No, Tai don't walk away like that"

"I'll talk to you later"