Healing
By Aa-chan
The city was grey and rain fell in torrents, the gloominess of the overall atmosphere seeming to seep into the people in the streets. Cars jammed together noisily, and those unfortunate enough to have been caught in the storm ran for cover. All of them did but one skinny figure, drenched as she slowly made her way down the sidewalk.
-
Yolei shivered slightly and pulled a strand of soaking hair out of her eyes. Not that it mattered, really; her glasses were beyond useless in this weather. It seemed to reflect her mood.
Michael had left for America today. And, surprising even to herself, it wasn't that that made her feel so…depressed. The date they had just been on together before he had to leave had left her feeling unfulfilled, somehow.
It wasn't what she had expected. Her sisters had spoken of such feelings of excitement and love, though Yolei somehow doubted they had fallen in love on their first dates, whatever they thought. The problem was that she liked Michael, but not as any more than a friend. She just didn't feel that way—whatever "that way" was—when she was with him.
She always had been prone to falling for guys too quickly, then finding them disappointments later. Take Ken, for example. She had thought she loved him, but when his identity as the Digimon Emperor was revealed, she felt nothing but distaste for him. Even now that he had reformed and was a fairly nice guy, she had realized he wasn't really her type—he seemed sort of complex, sort of confused, something she just couldn't deal with.
She had to start looking deeper.
"Yolei? What are you doing out here?"
She glanced up from the ground with a start to see Izzy. He was sheltered under a black umbrella and wore a look of concern.
"Oh, Izzy, hi!" she said, forcing a laugh. "I was just coming from the airport. Michael left today." She really didn't feel to talk to anyone right now.
The redheaded boy stepped closer. "Care to share my umbrella? Well, um, are you okay? With him gone and all?"
He was blushing, and Yolei couldn't help but giggle softly. Anything to do with love and romance seemed to embarrass him. "Yeah, I'm fine, I guess." The couple started to walk together down the streets.
"Well," Izzy said, after a slight hesitation, "Do you want to come over or something? I downloaded a new computer game the other day I think you might like."
Yolei started to refuse, but then shrugged. "What the heck, sure."
-
Two children, slowly growing up and discovering more about the world and themselves, hunched together over a monitor. As they laughed and talked with one another, the clouds outside broke and rays of sunlight bathed the city in subtle softness. Citizens suddenly remembered how to smile again, and the atmosphere changed to one of happiness and healing.