GONE WITH THE WIND
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended; I do not own Digimon nor do I own the song "Mess of Me" by Switchfoot. The only thing I do own is the storyline.
2. MESS OF ME
Tuesday, 20th of April 2010. A regular annoying Tuesday like any other to many, meaning it was the day that comes after Monday and the one that precedes Wednesday. The annoying part was that it was the day after the day of a new week, which meant it was too soon to long for the new weekend already, it being too far away, and also indicated that the daily drag had been adjusted to, unfortunately. Thus, Tuesday was not a welcoming day and did not have a very good reputation amongst the majority of the human population. Other than that though, nothing noteworthy could be said about it.
However, this particular Tuesday did have a special meaning. Not because it is some sorts of state holiday, or a day to celebrate. Definitely not.
Not in the mind of the 18-year-old boy lying wide awake in bed anyway, or what appeared to be a bustle of blankets and brown hair. This boy, who obviously had difficulties sleeping, was tossing and turning feverishly to get rid of his disturbing thoughts and memories. He genuinely dreaded Tuesday. This Tuesday. The 20th of April.
Letting an angry and defeated growl escape his mouth, he gave up his fight with the linen cloths, and closed his eyes to beg for some sleep regardless of the awkward position he was currently in.
For him, Tuesday the 20th of April was a merciless reminder of what had been lost exactly two years ago. A day very much like the one to come; at least, according to the weatherman (who's always wrong). That fateful day in which his whole life had collapsed.
It's funny actually when one thinks about the fact that an entire life, one that's 16 years long, that had been built up day after day, could fall apart in but a moment. He had always thought it would take some time to undo what has been done, but no. The ironic twisted sick taste of humour that Fate mocked everybody with was not appreciated by most people and it remains to this point a notion unknown to mankind why Fate had it in for some and smiled at others all the time.
Let's just say that this brown haired boy who was far from happy and Fate weren't the best of friends.
The feelings of helplessness, guilt, pain and anxiety returned to him, bringing along equally painful and bitter memories. By now, his eyes were shut so tightly, tear drops were forming in the corners of his eyes.
Needless to say, Taichi Kamiya was not fond of this day at all.
Groaning again, he reopened his eyes and glanced at the alarm clock on his left to see school didn't start for over two hours. But even though it was only 6:04AM and he had the possibility to sleep in for another hour, he knew himself and there was no way he was going to fall asleep again.
Throwing his blanket off of him, he silently began to search for his school uniform through various piles of clothes, soccer related items and probably food residues, that were scattered around his room. This appeared to be more difficult than he had suspected, as a low thump could be heard not a minute after he had left the safe haven called a bed.
He righted himself and found that today's clothes were right next to where he now was sitting/lying.
'Okay, maybe I should've just put on the lights first.'
Picking them up, he went into the bathroom down the hall and remembering his last mistake, switched the light on to see another worn out boy looking back at him from the mirror.
The reflecting glass bluntly told him he looked horrible. Bags under the eyes, most likely a result of the two hours' sleep of the previous night and nightmares that had been playing the same record over and over again for a week now. Pale skin because of a lack of sun shine, and a slender body.
Not caring about this disturbing sight, he stripped down and stepped into the shower. He decided to put the water extra hot and let it pound his back ruthlessly. He had been doing this shower routine for two years already, on the days... that were more difficult to handle, simply because he felt as if the water could wash away more than just dirt and soap. He guessed he kind of craved this, because it made him feel as if the heavy burden was slightly lifted and made him numb enough to forget about it once in a while.
Numbness was good.
Today however, the familiar method wasn't working. He had hoped it would though, but he had no expectations whatsoever.
After drying himself off and putting on the trousers and shirt, he combed his hair without looking at the steamed mirror again and left for breakfast, knowing he probably could not eat anyway.
By then, the sun had begun to wake up from its slumber as well and some strokes shone through the curtains in the kitchen, shedding blinding light on his face when he opened them.
Tai met them with a grimace and poured himself a large cup of strong coffee.
Taking a swig out of it, he thought: 'Yep, it's going to be one of those days.'
Meanwhile, at the other side of town, another boy was already up and about and was on his way to a place unknown, with a humongous headache coming on. His blond locks ruffled in the wind and although it was already April, the coldness it possessed sent a shiver down his spine.
As he walked around like a knight errant, he tried to remember what had happened the night before, because he had no recollection of getting home after his small gig in one of the local cafés, which, anyone had to admit, was kind of disturbing.
'Say, you look pretty tonight' he complemented the orange haired girl in front of him, who looked at him admiringly.
'Me?' she asked surprised, eyes dilating and voice squeaking.
He winked and flashed her his trademark lopsided grin to make his flirting more convincing and saw that the groupie girl totally fell for it, as she looked like she was about to turn to pudding any minute.
His irresistible attraction powers he had mastered over the years never lost their effect.
'Sure. Do you want to go and have a drink after I've played another song or two?'
She squealed in excitement that the (in)famous lead guitar player and singer of the well-known band 'The Teenage Wolves' would ask HER out, an average girl from down the street.
He took this as a yes and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before winking again as he climbed on the improvised stage again to do what had to be done.
'Silly girls' he thought smugly.
Letting a sigh escape his mouth, he closed his eyes and let the spot light penetrate his eye lids. A metre or so behind him, the drummer smashed his drum sticks against one another and a genuine smile erupted on Matt Ishida's face. The music started to play and as the beats pounded on his ear drums, his own heart beats grew accustomed to them, having done so plenty of times before. His eyes flashed open and he sang. Just sang, and completely forgot about the world around him.
By now, his headache had developed in a throbbing pulsation that overmastered his attempts at reminiscing and, groaning at the consequences a hangover entailed, he yielded to the simple explanation that he will never exactly know how he managed to get home soundly and have the aforementioned girl lying next to him, seeing as the last thing he could recall was going out with her.
Well, you didn't have to be an Einstein or an Izzy to work out what had happened next of course and perhaps he didn't want to fill in the blanks.
He had kicked her out just now and felt no remorse or any other emotion but annoyance, although the groupie sincerely swore they had shared something special.
'Special, my ass. Just as special as all those other girls probably.' The frequency of these events had not contributed to his friendliness or any other positive sentiments. Just plain annoyance until he found another one and put up his seducing mask again to repeat the cycle.
He was fully aware of what day today was and did feel a pang of surprise and shock at the familiar looking creature this morning when he opened his ice blue eyes. But he had rapidly shook off such ridiculous thoughts as the girl in question had turned around and greeted him lovingly. Only, it wasn't the loveliness he had anticipated and unfortunately for the lookalike, he had sent her out without a second thought.
Maybe he had been a little too harsh on her.
'I don't even remember her name.'
Maybe he should've kicked her out more friendly.
'Yeah, like that'd make any difference' he sourly thought. 'Can people even kick someone out in a friendly way? Isn't that a paradox or something?'
This brought him back to today, Tuesday the 20th of April. He huffed at the memorial date.
Memorial, the term people use when they talk about a day on which a lot of important people have died and are commemorated. Commemorating. Dead. AKA the point of no return.
He recalled his teacher had told him once there was a Memorial Day in the US every year, a day on which everybody grieved for forgotten souls who had nobly given their lives for the good cause of the eradication of slavery over two centuries ago. Although, the cause wasn't really that noble when one gave it some thought; the authorities had just played around for their own benefit and Lincoln hadn't intended to abolish slavery, that was just a euphemism the civilians had concocted to give it a patriotic illusionary meaning, what it still is up to today. Lincoln wasn't near as renowned in his own era than he is now; the saviour of the slaves, the knight in shining armour. Probably another major historical jerk that the course of history had adulated. However, now only few still think about the reasons a nation has for instituting a holiday; people are just glad they get to stay home for a change. At least, that was his opinion whenever he got to stay home, perhaps the Americans were far more nation prone.
He was somewhat surprised his brain still had enough cells, and working ones as well, to think that elaborately. But then again, when you replace the authorities by a Japanese investigation team and the people by the news anchors, it seems very similar, if not identical, to a certain situation two years ago.
"Which I can't get out of my freaking aching head!" he more than spoke out loud. This earned him various curious glances from random people who were walking to school or were on their way to work around him.
"He he... He." He embarrassedly put his hands up in an attempt to preserve his sanity in public, but at 7:30 in the morning, people had difficulties believing this.
Deciding the day would not go by more quickly when he yelled to himself in his mind (or out loud), he stepped into the nearest café to order a large espresso – no milk, no sugar – only to find himself hallucinating again. Auburn shortly cut hair, ruby eyes and a gentle smile he would recognize anywhere met him when he entered the small coffee smelling edifice.
It must be a coffee shop like the ones they had in Europe or something, because..
This. Could. Not. Be. Real!!
BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!!
Izzy Izumi awoke with a start, alarmed by the alarming sound his good old Pineapple laptop was emitting. Purple covers flew up in the air as a red spiky mass of hair and orange and red lined pyjamas rushed out to cross the neatly arranged bedroom and drop down on the swivel desk chair on the other side of it.
His highly developed brain however, like every other normal human being, could not instantly grasp what the electric piece of equipment was trying to communicate. Red signs flashed frantically across the screen and, for a moment, that was all he could make out.
It had been a while since the last time he had used this particular computer, but this was not the reason why he couldn't make out what was happening.
It's not every day that you get an outer world message.
After adjusting his sleepy eyes to the vivid colours, he managed to focus his professional eyes, and saw that it was a message of great importance. Only a couple of words were needed to indicate its severity.
"Emergency" and "Digital World" was all it took for the local boy genius to sober up from whatever sleeplike condition he was still experiencing.
And after the initial shock, he furiously began to type away on the overused keyboard, but although the letters and signs had faded almost entirely, he knew exactly where to slam his fingers to get out of the fuzzy message what he needed. Years of computer experience had taught him where to start looking for specific codes and other geeky stuff no one bothered to listen to. Pretty stupid though, as he had unravelled a good many technological mysteries and even managed to stop a governmental missile once from wiping out a big part of the Odaiban population. People admired him for his qualities, but no one outside his own computer club or internet acquaintances could really appreciate and understand this.
Now if only he could figure out this mystery. Unfortunately though, the message was damaged pretty badly so it wasn't really like opening your email.
Half an hour of increasing despair in deciphering later, he decided that when you try 36 ways to obtain something, it would be best to just let it rest for a while.
No, he had not forfeited at all, but time had caught up with him as his mother knocked on his door at 8AM to ask him whether he shouldn't get ready for school yet, seeing as how it started half an hour later.
"Yes Mum! I'm up! I just have to call the others and then I'll be out!"
"But Izzy, if you don't hurry up you'll be late for school. You'll see them there, won't you?"
'Yes, but I'm not so sure if telling some of them in person will be such a good idea', he grimly thought.
Mimi Tachikawa was late, and by that, I mean very late. Due to her lack of sleep, she had forgotten to set her alarm clock and now was bearing the inevitable consequences of her unthoughtfulness.
"Late, I'm so late! Ugh, what day is today?" She frowned at herself for not even remembering the days of the week properly as she glanced at her home-made calendar that hung above her desk, while at the same time trying to figure out if her pink T-shirt would match the trousers she wore yesterday.
The creases in her forehead grew even more when she realised that she had even forgotten that.
'Crap. Today just isn't my day, huh?'
Remembering she was in a hurry, she tore her mascaraed amber eyes away from the calendar and once more faced the dilemma of clothes she encountered daily. Others may think this is kind of weird, since she had such a good eye for stylish items, but she countered that this was normal when the size of your closet equals the one of your actual bedroom.
Mentally kicking herself for even wasting such valuable time in thinking about her clothes (pink always matched her trousers, so it was pointless anyway), she hurried out of her room after propping a couple of needed books in her backpack and set off to school.
"Mom! I'm going to school now, okay? And I'll probably be back later today, so don't worry yourselves if I'm not home at 4 o'clock like I know you always do!" she yelled from the doorpost.
"Alright honey, but remember to take an umbrella with you! The weatherman said there is a good chance that it'll rain cats and dogs and I don't want you catching the flu or something. And be careful!" her mother good-heartedly shouted back from the kitchen.
"Sure Mom, I'll be careful. Bye!" And with that, our diva smashed the door shut.
An engine roared to life and with swift movements, the car drove down the driveway.
The blonde inside silently cursed and scolded herself for forgetting such an important date and in spite of her feelings of dread, her mind took her back to Japan, to all her old friends and to one in particular.
'How can I forget such an important date! What's wrong with me?! I mean, I know I haven't exactly been having a lot of time to think about anything different than school work, prom organization and Michael... but really, these are no excuses for not thinking about it. Just listen to yourself here, Mimi! I must be the worst human alive. Normal people, caring people don't usually forget the date of their best friend's death. I really must be..'
Coming out of nowhere, a girl around her age crossed the street Mimi was driving on, coming close to her car. Very close actually. Too close.
With screeching tyres the red Mini Cooper came to a halt and Mimi felt it collide with the person in front of her. All self-pitying thoughts vanished from her mind as she was dazed by what had just transpired in a time span of mere seconds.
"Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no!"
"Come forth my child", an eerie sounding voice spoke.
The creature it belonged to was currently sitting on what seemed to be a throne, but one couldn't be too sure when all around, darkness was lurking, only allowing the minimum of light so that its inhabitants would not bump into the walls.
A gust of wind rang throughout the room and with it, a figure with black wings was seen making its appearance.
As soon as the wind had appeared with a flash of light red, well light, the flames of the candles that lit up the room shook vehemently, trying their hardest to stay alive. Thankfully, the breeze was not strong enough to do just that, which was probably due to the grand size of the room now two creatures were residing in.
"You called master?"
The wings that were visibly present when the unknown figure had appeared, were now inserted into the back of the human (because now, one could clearly see that the form was definitely not digital) and she (for the voice that had responded to the abiding of her lord sounded too high-pitched to be male) kneeled before the throne to show her status of inferiority. The creature in the high chair had taught her this important lesson of etiquette towards him a long time ago and looked pleased with his apprentice.
"Yes. I have important business to attend to, but first, I have the pleasure to give you the information we have all been waiting for for a long time now."
A wicked smile crept onto the creature's face.
"It has begun."
The girl responded with nothing more than a cold look and a bow to her master, but it was anticipated, for the "master's" smile increased as she kneeled before him.
"Dismissed."
And she disappeared in another reddish light, accompanied by a stronger gust of wind, this time extinguishing the few rays of light the candles were emitting.
A/N: Thank you for reviewing! :D I really appreciate it! And I'm sorry for the pretty late update (especially in comparison with some people who update weekly, I really admire them) but I just can't bring myself to write huge amounts of text in one or two times. It's like my minds shuts down then or something. So if I update again, it'll probably be another month or so. Yeah. I also blame it on the upcoming exams though :P I'm in my "paasblok" now, which literally translates in "Easter block". Basically, it's just another period where college people are supposed to study because they don't have the time to do so when the actual exams are there. Sorry, I'm rambling now :P
Till next time! ;)
-x-