update!
Nyctophobia
The fear of the dark.
Saturday did not officially start for May until 10 in the morning. Before that, the teenager felt like she was phasing in and out of reality, whether it was waking up at 4 or 8 am. It took her a while to finally jump start her brain, finally not feeling like death as she had at last reclaimed her missing hours of sleep. Which, by the way, were villainously stolen by Brendan, and she wouldn't forget.
She shoved herself out of bed, grabbing her cell phone and checking for texts. Brendan would have slept in as much as she did, so May was unsurprised when he had left no messages. They lived on the same street, anyways. There wasn't that much of a need to text as they saw each other constantly, but it wasn't worth biking down the street just to exchange quick words. She slumped into the chair at her desk.
Dragging a brush through her hair, she switched on her computer monitor and bothered to read the address Maxie had emailed her. Apparently his house was on one of those high class private roads, and frankly, the brunette wasn't surprised in the slightest. No wonder he had such an ego for a teenage boy. She switched it back off and dragged herself downstairs, feeling quite suddenly hungry.
A half hour and an exasperated conversation with her mother about what had fucked up her sleeping pattern later, she had been fed and was ready to start the day. In her tiredness, May'd forgotten to get her PokeNav. Returning upstairs to her room, she called Felisha back into her Pokeball and suited up for a day that promised
"Bye, mom!" May called as she ran out the door, hastily stuffing her Shinx's Pokeball into her messenger bag. She tugged her bike out from its rack by her house and mounted it, ready to visit the Poke Mart. For a moment, she struggled internally about what she'd do after that, but finally a general plan formed in her head.
Okay, first get the damn communicator, then finish your homework and see what the hell you need to make for this project exactly so you don't have to spend more time than truly necessary tomorrow. Solid plan. And now that that was out of the way, she pedaled down the street, passing Brendan's house and turning onto the road to where the Poke Mart was.
The store itself wasn't particularly impressive, much smaller in size and selection than some of the bigger ones she'd visited in cities on training trips over the summer. Still, there was always that lightness of visiting a PokeMart that was inside her. She'd just selected a blue PokeNav (it matched her eyes) when a blaring voice sounded behind her.
"Hey! I see you got a blue one, too?" Archie. He leaned against the counter and grinned, pressing his trainer ID card onto the flat surface while an exhausted looking employee took a spot near the register on the opposite end.
"Yeah, I did," May herself slipped her card out of her purse, passing it to the cashier. Trainer ID cards were needed to buy 'trainer equipment', even though the PokeNav was basically a glorified cellphone with some extra features. "Are you going to fight me for having the same color phone?" There was a sense of easy familiarity that came with talking to Archie.
"Exactly," The employee passed May the box to her new PokeNav. "Put up your dukes, Maple." Archie leaned back, curling his hands into fists, his grin growing wider. Archie Seiller was an easygoing type of guy, well built, tan-skinned and on numerous sport teams. He had a good natured way of talking; so May naturally took well to him.
"Kay, well, I'm a bit of a boxing champion, so I'd step the hell off if you wanna live, son." This earned a hearty laugh from her counterpart, and May slipped the electronic out of it box as Archie received his own.
"Actually, though, you should register me," He ripped the box open, holding his own blue PokeNav up and activating it. "I can send you some awesome ass selfies when I go sailing tomorrow, though I could snapchat ya if you gave me your username."
"Both options promise a pretty spectacular time, I don't see why not!" A moment later and the two were on their way out of the PokeMart, and May slid her bike out of the rack.
"Hey, maybe you should come sailing with me to tomorrow night? There'll be a couple other people, drinks, all on a boat!" The tanned boy stepped gingerly in front of her bike. "You can bring Brendan, too."
For a moment, May contemplated this. It was a pretty difficult offer to refuse. A party on a boat, hot damn. But she knew Maxie'd be on her ass for a month if she bailed, and she kind of valued her grade more than she should.
"Eh.. Sorry, can't. I gotta work on a project with Maxie tomorrow at like, three. It'll take a while." She tried not to let disappointment in through her voice. But Archie only broke off into a short, funny little laugh.
"Oh Arceus, that must suck, having to work with the nerd king. Sometimes I think he's an ass on purpose," He frowned and hooked his fingers into his jeans. "Maybe you should ask Ms. Chris to let you switch partners, I know there are plenty of other stuffy kids for him to pair up with." the tall boy leaned back with a shrug.
"Besides that, you should stay away from him. I've heard of who his parents are, he's a real rich kid. I mean, real rich. Probably never worked for a thing in his life and he still has a bad attitude." May felt like her friend was under fire, and defensiveness boiled in her chest.
"Okay, hey, hold on a sec. He's actually kind of cool when he stops with that whole superior act. I don't think he means to come off as-"
"-Pompous?" Archie interjected, but it was obvious he was otherwise done. He put his hands up in surrender when he saw the scowl forming on her face. "But hey, I was just giving you advice. Guys like him are so tightly wound, eventually they snap like old rope. When you see him tomorrow, make sure he doesn't strap you to an operating table-"
This time, it was May's turn to interrupt. She promptly punched his arm. Archie jumped back, laughing slightly.
"I can take care of myself, he hardly has any muscle mass from what I can tell, I'll be fine." She hopped onto her bike, wheeling it forward a few inches with her feet.
"I expect you to send me a lot of pictures of all the mad science experiments he's done on past project partners, okay?" He walked along with her as she rolled the bicycle to the end of the store's small parking lot. This drew a smile out of her.
"Okay, okay, I promise I'll tell you if he has anything illegal. I'll call you!" May waved in farewell before quickly pedaling back up the street, an odd feeling in her stomach from the encounter. It was unlike Archie to not get along with someone. Sure, Maxie was stuck up, but that didn't warrant the aggressiveness his opposite had just shown.
Archie said he knew his parents, maybe they did something to him? Frowning on this thought, she rode her bike back towards home.
The brunette rolled to a stop in front of her house, waiting. For what, she didn't know. She just waited. The early spring air felt soothing, this week was incredibly warm, and promised a blistering summer. Summer meant graduation, and graduation meant freedom. The thought of finally being able to go on a real journey with Felisha smothered any college or job worries she had before.
The Shinx's Pokeball warmed suddenly, as if she, too, felt May's excitement. Suddenly, a much better idea than going inside came to her, and she quickly biked past her house, past the road signs and onto Route 101, abandoning her bike once she skittered off the path. After taking a few steps into the woods she released Felisha, who stretched with an excited yawn.
The pair wandered the woods for a while, admiring the wild Pokemon before eventually settling in the grass near a small pond. Anxiety nagged at May, Archie was acting so out of character. Something had to be wrong, or something serious had to have happened. She contemplated asking Maxie about it, maybe he knew. Then again, maybe he didn't, either.
She rolled over, gently rubbing Felisha's stomach, who purred contentedly in response. The two stayed like that, and May almost fell asleep. The warm weather a combined with the calm of the afternoon was ridiculously sleep-inducing. She still had more than a few hours to kill before she'd have to be home to start project research.
Just a short nap… A short… Nap…
…
Fire swirled around her legs, the flames licking at her skin, but she felt no pain. Only a heavy feeling in her chest as the land around her collapsed into brittle scorched earth and rock. Horrified, May swiveled to identify where she was, steep landscape towering around her. Never had she felt so small before.
May forced her legs to break into a run, away from the fire and the destruction, the blood roaring in her ears, but a hand snatched at her wrist and dragged her backwards. Uselessly she dug her heels into the ground, but it gave way too easily.
"Let go of me! Who the hell-" The girl twisted violently around to view the owner of the hand. All she could see was a dark figure, obscured by smoke and flame. She pulled, hard, at her captured wrist and he still did not let her go, holding her prisoner in an iron grip. When the man spoke, his voice sounded like the crackling of fire.
"I won't let you go," He leaned forward, and May felt the heat of his entire body. Flaming orbs met eyes of pale blue. Fear surged through her chest and she squinted, desperately trying to figure out who this figure was. His stature was becoming eerily familiar as his voice rose. "I will not let you go! I won't!"
His other hand snaked out to grab her free hand, and she immediately kicked at him. It was like kicking a brick wall, and he smoldered under the contact, but he did not falter to her dismay.
"What do you want with me?!" May's voice cracked, and she felt so tired. So very tired. But the stranger did not reply. Fire swept up from the earth, scorching both of them with its reaching flames. She winced, waiting for the pain to overtake her.
When she opened her eyes, it was the tops of trees she saw and the gentle breeze she felt. A dream. It was just a stupid dream. Relief flooded through her, and May shakily sat up. She hadn't had a nightmare in years, this really caught her off guard. Nudging Felisha awake, she called the small Pokemon back into her Pokeball, and quickly stalked out of the forest.
She'd slept way longer than she should have and cursed under her breath, the red light of sunset filtered through the trees. In the quickly fading light, the forest and its inhabitants didn't look so friendly. Jumping at every sound, she rushed to her bike. Why am I so jumpy?!
Irritated with herself for being spooked by a silly dream, she forced herself to not race back home and get herself killed by a car for paying more attention to going fast than the road. The brunette's legs itched to move faster, but she forced herself to stay calm.
Sliding her bike against the front of her house, just relieved to be home, May stepped inside. Her mom was in the kitchen, she heard the gentle hum of the bread machine. On the way to her room, she flicked on a lamp here, a hall light there. Darkness wasn't desired right now, and when she reached the bottom of the stairs, she practically ran to her room.
Panting, she released Felisha and kicked off her shoes. Her room was painted a deep scarlet by the light, and she knew she should be feeling safe. May exhaled, staring hard at the dramatic shadows cast from the window as if the man of smoke and flame would appear to her at any time.
If that was just a dream, then why am I so scared?
im so hecking sorry about the late update, im going to try rlly hard to update regularly from now on and the storys officially off hiatus. ;v; i changed around a lot of my original ideas so now the story feels a lot more adult to write and honestly i have a better vibe about it. thank u all for the reviews and follows!