A/N ; Welcome to "Alternative"! Updates will be every Saturday unless otherwise stated.
Chapter One: The Start Of Trouble
My life was... well, to put it simply, it sucked. Now, before anyone starts assuming things, I want to make it very clear that this is not, under any circumstances, some stupid sob story. I'm not going to go on and on about how hard my life was or how much I hated things because guess what? It honestly doesn't matter. All the details, no matter how small or insignificant, bad or good, aren't important. No, what is important, what is the problem, is what ripped that life away from me. It may not have been the best life, it was far from perfect, but it was mine. My family, my friends, my job! Everything about it, every single major or minor thing, was mine. I'm not going to lie, there have been many, many times, where I've wished things were different, or that I could just disappear, sometimes I even wished I had never been born or that I could trade my life for another persons. Honestly though, who hasn't thought of or wished for something like that at least once? I wouldn't have given up my life for anything... I worked too hard for too long to get where I was and I still had so much left to do... so much I wanted to...
Just so many things that now, I would never get the chance to do.
I remember the day it happened... it was fall, the fourteenth of October...
xxXxx
Too early. Waaaaay too fucking early to be awake. "Hoooooot..." Rolling over onto my back, I kicked the blanket and top sheet off of me... off of the bed, actually, and stretched. Thank goodness for sleeping in my underwear, because even with just that, I was sweaty. Living in the south was absolutely horrible, because even in fall, it can hit over a hundred degrees during the day, which was made worse by the fact that at night? It was cold enough that you'd actually need to bundle up.
Opening my eyes, being momentarily blinded by the sunlight, I rolled my head to the left, focusing my vision so that I could actually see my clock. Seven. It was only seven and it was this fucking hot?! Goodness, how had I not died of heat stroke yet, ugh.
I rolled out of bed, sluggishly making my way to the dresser, to grab some clean underwear and a pair of shorts. I may have woken up sweaty and disgusting, but I wasn't going to stay that way.
So, after a very quick shower, I made my way down the hall. All the lights were off, so that meant no one was awake... well, other than the dogs, but they woke up as soon as you make noise, so they didn't really count. Kibbles looked up at me, and I gave him a pat on the head before he laid his head on Bits. Yeah, I know, original right?
Anyway, not wanting to wake anyone, I settled for a glass of orange juice for breakfast. It wasn't particularly satisfying, but since we didn't have cereal and making a smoothie would wake everyone up, and likely have them all furious with me... yeah, not going there.
I took the glass back to my room, setting it on my desk as I sat down, and booted up the computer. To be honest, I don't have any idea why I bothered getting on to check the social media sites that I had accounts on. I never, and I'm not exaggerating, had any notifications, never had any messages, meaning virtually -ha- no one ever attempted to talk to me. It was more or less just a way to check up on other people's lives, seeing as no one really cared about mine. Hell, the only time I got any real form of communication from anyone other than my parents was when someone thought I was going to off myself, at which point, I'd get some bullshit speech about how "I have so much to live for and everyone loves me and blah blah blah". Then, they'd disappear again, being satisfied for having done their "good deed" for the year.
Actually, you know what, I didn't care. There wasn't anything there for me to see, and nothing particularly interesting to keep me online, so I shut down the computer, sighing as I leaned back in my chair. I didn't really know what else to do, honestly.
I didn't have work again until Tuesday -it was Sunday-, and I wasn't in school... so what could I do?
Something that didn't involve me being stuck inside the house by myself the entire day sounded pretty nice. I guess I could go for a walk... Not something I got to do often thanks to the area we lived. Crummy trailer park filled with creepy, disgusting neighbors and surrounded by a ridiculously humongous forest. Walking alone around the neighborhood scared the ever-living hell out of me, though. They would stare and mumble, some would make obscene gestures... others would very clearly express their dislike for me, which has before resulted in my being hit in the ribs with a fucking rock.
Then again, the forest was filled with snakes, spiders, and some coyotes with attitude issues... So this was pretty much having to choose the lesser of two evils. Hmm...
Actually, if I take Kibbles with me, taking a walk around the neighborhood would be fine! After all, he's a right mean looking dog, despite his size, so I really don't think anyone would mess with us. I'd take Bits too, but she was pregnant, and I didn't want to put any unnecessary strain on her.
Besides, it was also early, so if I was lucky, no one in the area would be awake either, or they'd be at work at least... or at least I could hope it'd be that way.
"Kibbles, c'mon, we're going for a walk." The over-excited corgi jumped up and over his mate, standing at my feet, staring up at me expectantly as I opened the front door. Though as soon as I did, I closed it because holy fuck it was cold. How in the world could it be an oven in my house but a freezer outside?! Geez, fuck.
I snatched a hoodie off the sofa, hoping it was mine, and slipped it on. It wouldn't do too much, but it was better than nothing, especially considering the fact that I really didn't want to go change. "Well, let's go."
He jumped out of the house, bouncing around on the porch in excitement, and I let out a small chuckle. Silly dog. "Bye Bits. We'll see you later, girl." She barked once and wagged her tail, which I took as a "Have fun!", and locked the doors behind me. I paused though, standing on the steps... something... something felt really, really weird.
I looked around, but nothing looked wrong or out of place... It was probably just because it was early in the morning, or, well, the fact that it was going to rain.
"Well, let's go Kibbles." I jogged over to the street, though slowed my pace as I began making my way towards the back of the neighborhood, Kibbles matching my steps and padding along beside me. "Looks like it's gonna rain..." The dark clouds were a dead give away, which also likely meant a thunderstorm. "We'll just have to make sure to get back before it hits." He barked in response, running in a circle around me, tail wagging furiously. Of course he wouldn't care if it rained or not; he loved playing in the water. Personally though, I didn't want to end up getting sick.
As we made our way down the street though, that weird feeling started building up in my stomach. Paranoia kicked in, and every little sound had me on edge. All of the homes we passed by were... dead, for lack of better terminology. There were no cars in the driveway, all the lights were off... and any animal that was kept outside was hiding in the furthest, darkest corner of their house or cage..
The animals would usually be going crazy, barking, snarling, just about breaking their necks to get at us. I'd blame the weather, but Kibbles wasn't effected at all. Maybe they all felt what I was feeling...
Getting close to a particular house that I did not want to be near, I broke into a sprint, not stopping until I was two houses down from it. The weirdest, most perverted creep I have ever had the displeasure of encountering lived there, and on the off chance that he was actually home, I didn't want him to see me. Ugh.
Kibbles caught up to me quick enough, actually running past me when he did. He barked a few times, panting happily, tail wagging as he ran in a circle... then he stopped. In the middle of the street, he just stopped, everything, his ears folding back, tail going erect. Slowly, he turned, his attention completely centered on the forest. His lips curled into a snarl, and he emitted noises that I had never heard him make.
As far as corgis go, with their so called ever lasting cuteness, this was scaring even me.
I approached him, slowly, not wanting him to turn that attention on me, and directed my gaze to the forest. I watched, waited, listening for any sign of movement; anything that would have set him off.
After about five minutes of absolutely nothing, I nudged him with my foot, sighing, "Come on, you. There's nothing out there." Other than the usual anyway, which he typically wasn't afraid of.
He didn't move though, didn't even look up at me. He barked once, twice, and took a few steps forward. I squatted down next to him, pointing at the forest, "Look. It's just a bunch of trees," Most of which he's urinated on, "There is nothing... there..." Oh well fuck me.
There most definitely was something there, and I have no idea how I didn't see it before. It's figure was hidden by the darkness, so I couldn't tell what it was, but a pair of big, bright blue cat-like eyes stared at me, almost glowing. I stared, unable to turn away from them. It turned it's gaze towards me, and as eye contact was made, the eyes narrowed, and I could almost feel the creature smiling. It sent a shiver down my spine, and I reached for Kibbles, intending to just snatch him up and run like hell back to the house.
Right as I laid a hand on him, the blue eyed creature took off, heading further into the darkness, and of course he took off after it. Cursing angrily, I stumbled to get to my feet, and ran into the forest after them, despite everything inside of me screaming to not do so.
Thanks to my hoodie, my arms and torso were protected, but twigs, picker bushes, and thorny vines prodded and cut into my legs, and unfortunately, my face. I managed to avoid any major damage to my face though, but after a couple of minutes, I was a hell of a lot more angry than I was scared.
"Dammit to hell! Kibbles, would you stop already!?" I couldn't even hear them anymore, but I knew that they hadn't stopped. There was no way I'd catch up to them now; I didn't even know where they would have headed! I didn't even know where I was...
Luck was so not on my side either, because as I went to avoid a rather large picker plant, my left foot slid into a hole hidden by the leaves, twisting my ankle and causing me to tumble painfully forward.
I wanted to cry so fucking badly. "Can this day get any worse!?" In my frustration, I grabbed a rock off the ground and threw it as hard as I could at the bushes.
"Ow!" Just great, I hit someone. Lovely.
Sigh. "Sorry." I didn't know what else I could really say... Wait a second. "It's like eight in the morning; why the hell are you out here?" It wasn't hunting season around here or anything... not that there's anything in this forest worth hunting.
"I could ask you the same question." I heard shuffling, getting closer of course, but what emerged from the bushes was not exactly what I was expecting. It wasn't even human. The strange creature held out a clawed hand, the rock I had hit it with sitting in it's palm. "Would you like this back?" Well, at least I knew it was a girl now.
"Ah.. no... that's okay." With a shrug, she tossed the rock elsewhere, staring at me, looking me over... I did the same, unable to look away from her. She was... well, to put it simply, she looked like a giant talking stuffed cat. We caught each others gaze, and I held back a gulp as I directed mine downwards to my bleeding legs. "So..uhm.. have you seen Kibbles?"
"The dog?" I nodded. "No idea. I hid and he just kept running." That was just great. Now I'd have to spend the rest of the day hunting his butt down. Sigh.
"Lovely.." I mumbled to myself, plucking a thorn out of my calf.
"Tell me, boy, are you the human known as Theodore Fletcher?"
Curious, I raised an eyebrow at the oddly colored feline, scooting back a bit, "Who's asking?"
Stepping forward, a smirk on her face, she responded, "You may call me Gatomon." The hell kind of a name is Gato...mon... Ah shit. "I am here under the orders of Lord Myotismon to retrieve you."
At this point, I was very seriously hoping that I was either still asleep or had his my head on a tree or rock when I fell, because as what she said starting clicking into place, my panic sensors hit an all time high, and I started shaking. "Oh, well, ah.. sorry, but wrong guy. My name's," think fast, think really fast, "Markus." Yeah. "Markus Parker." Good job. "Theo's my neighbor though, so I can tell him you're looking for him after I get home." I offered a smile, fighting back the shaking and trying to look as calm and collected as possible.
"Well then, Markus Parker, tell me why I don't believe you."
Fuck. "Because I'm a horrible liar when I'm scared?" Just played right into that one, didn't you, dumb ass? This is why we need to work on getting that brain-to-mouth filter to work properly, because without it, your stupid mouth gets you into way too much trouble. "Look, I'm not a digi-destined. I'm not even a kid! I'm twenty-two! What would Myotismon even want with someone like me?!"
Her smirk widened, "Why don't you just ask him yourself?" I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as she raised her hands -paws?- at me, "Lightning Paw!"
That was the last thing I heard before my entire body was overcome with a burning, blinding pain. It felt like my heart was going to explode; like my body would just give out. It felt like I was dying. But I didn't. I blacked out, which I'd normally be worried about, but being unconscious was a hell of a lot better than having to feel that pain anymore.
Chapter One : End
