X Chapter Two X X Chapter Two X

"Marlena?"

"Flynn," I murmured back, exhausted.

"We need to leave."

It was Friday night – I mean Saturday morning. Shinx was asleep, and I was about to do the same. I was sleeping over at the tree house. Flynn and I were lying on the floor under a down blanket. The clock said 3:17 AM. I sat up.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, it's been two months since Shinx was hatched, and we need to leave." His face was close to mine. His brown eyes stared into mine.

"And go where, exactly?"

"Anywhere."

"When?"

"When does the next ship come to port?"

"Sunday," I sighed, knowing what was coming.

"Sunday."

"I'd need to ask my parents. I mean, I can't just leave."

He smiled at me and lay back down. I followed suit. He pulled the covers over us more. His eyes were still locked on mine.

I sighed again, "Sunday… Okay, Flynn-stone… Sunday."

He pulled me into a hug. I became aware that he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Thanks, Marl-boro," his hug tightened, then released.

X X X X

The next morning, I woke up alone on the floor. It was 1:34 PM. I collected my things and left, knowing Flynn was at work. Mom was vacuuming when I got home.

"Oh, there you are, Dear. Go fold the laundry, please, and put your stuff away."

"Mom, I need to talk to you and Dad."

She turned off the vacuum with a concerned look. "What is it?"

"Will you and Dad just have a seat?"

Dad was already in his recliner. I stood while they sat.

"I – I want to, uhm, go on, uh. I want to go on an adventure. With Flynn. Around the world. To, you know, make something of myself,"

"Make something of yourself?" Dad scoffed, "Like what?"

"Well, I'd like to be a… a Pokémon master."

"A Pokémon master?" he guffawed, "Did you hear that, Judith? Marlena wants to be a Pokémon master! Here's the deal, sweetie, you don't have what it takes. You think it's easy? Like your coursework? You weren't even in the top three of your class! What makes you think you can be a master?"

"I – I don't… know."

"You will never be a Pokémon master, Marlena, NEVER!"

"Curtis," Mom started.

"Just shut the fuck up, Judith! You will not leave to go on some adventure with that Rotherham boy. Why don't you do something more realistic, huh? You will only amount to some desk job, and maybe not even that! A secretary! You'll only amount to being a secretary!"

"I'm going to leave. You can't stop me," I shouted. I was beyond angry.

"If you leave, don't even bother coming back here!" he was actually screaming now. My eyes started to burn. I had to leave right then. I ran out the door with the intent of leaving it open, but I turned back to slam it as hard as I possibly could. The glass on it cracked. I knew that would bother him the most.

I walked down the street, tears streaming down my face. With nowhere to go, I went down to the beach. Lilah and Karina were there tanning in skimpy swimsuits that captivated Trevor and Jason. Karina looked over at me a smirked, making me painfully aware that I was still in my boxer shorts and Weezer band t-shirt.

"Ya doin' alright there, Marlena?" Lilah said in a nasally voice. I knew she didn't really care.

"As a matter of fact, Lilah, no I'm not doing alright. So just fuck off," I sneered. Why I always put up with those two, I'll never know.

I turned away from their shocked faces and walked up the beach to the parts shop. I got dozens of weird looks from passersby. I was a mess, still in PJs with tear-stained cheeks and red eyes. There were no customers in the store, luckily. Flynn was leaning on the counter reading To Kill a Mockingbird for the zillionth time. It was his favorite book. I started crying again when I saw him. His cheery smile immediately turned to concern as he rushed over to hold me.

I told him what happened, and his anger rose with every detail. I could barely talk between sobs, but he held my head to his chest and it felt good.

"I'm still going," I said when my weeping had calmed to the occasional sniff.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Tonight I'll pack my stuff and tomorrow we'll leave for wherever."

He sighed and rested his chin on the top of my head.

I spent the rest of the day in the break room eating tortilla chips and watching movies on TV. When Flynn got off work at 5:00, we went to get Chinese takeout and went back to the tree house. Flynn had apparently been planning this for a while because he had quite a stockpile of camping equipment in the shed. His parents were all for his adventure.

I spent the night again, and at about 2:00 AM, we snuck back into my house to get my things. Dad had been drinking, so he was out cold with empty beer cans surrounding him. Mom had most likely taken her sleeping pills, so I wasn't too worried about either of them randomly waking up. I snuck into my room, pulled out my biggest duffel bag and began packing all my clothes and shoes and anything else I felt like I needed. I threw the bag out the window to Flynn because I knew I wouldn't be able to squeeze it through the narrow hallway quietly enough.

I was all set to go until I turned around and noticed Growlithe's lonely eyes staring at me from the doorway. My heart melted. I knew I couldn't leave him here alone.

I snuck into my parents' bedroom. Mom was snoring loudly. I lifted the top of her jewelry box off. There it was. Growlithe's pokéball. He hadn't been in it for years. I returned him to it, then stuck it on my belt next to Shinx. Now I was ready. I would miss this place – well, parts of it – but I had to go. Flynn was right.

I joined him outside. It was 3:15. The SS Gemini would dock in five hours.

"Today, before work, I told Willow what we were doing," Flynn said as we started walking back.

"And?" How could he not tell me this? What if she told my parents? Or the cops?

"She gave me a Pokémon and said good luck."

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier, Flynn-stone? Let's see the little guy," I laughed. He pressed the center button of the pokéball he had on his belt. A black creature about the height of my hip appeared. It had a red ear and three red feathers for a tail. It had a yellow oval on its forehead and chest, and razor sharp claws.

"Sneasel," it said. Flynn looked incredibly proud. It was his favorite Pokémon after all.

"Oh, and she gave me two pokédexes," he said, pulling the two devices out of his pocket. "They're pretty cool. They can do a lot of things, like play music, display maps, call people, and plus they're solar powered."

"Sweet!" I said, opening it up. There was a cord for me to connect to my iPod to transfer the music over. A good thing, too, since I had neglected to charge my iPod before leaving.

We spent the next hour in the tree house messing with all its capabilities. I registered Shinx, Growlithe, and Sneasel into it. When I showed Flynn that I had taken Growlithe, he frowned, but agreed it was for the best. Mom didn't take care of him like she used to, and Dad has made it well-known on numerous occasions that I was the only reason it was still around.

At 5:30, we relocated to Flynn's aunt's house. I wasn't sure when my parents would wake up, but I knew Flynn's house would be the first place they'd look for me. At 8:00, the ship's horn filled the air. I knew if my parents were up, they'd go straight to the ship now. They'd notice that Growlithe, almost everything in my room, and I were missing, and they'd know for sure. My heart quickened and I struggled to take deep breaths.

"Hey, hey, hey, shh, shhhh, Marlena, it'll be okay, shhh," Flynn tried to comfort me, taking my shoulders, "It will be incredibly crowded. They won't find you."

"Yes they will. That's how my life goes. Every time I have a great chance, it's ruined by them."

"That's not true. You have Shinx."

"That's because I didn't tell them!" I was a wreck. He pulled me in for another hug. "Don't let go," I whispered.

"I wouldn't dare."

"Kids, the ship is here. It's going to leave soon," Flynn's aunt said from the door. We were huddled on the front porch. I sniffled and stood up. Flynn grabbed our stuff and loaded it onto the back seat and saddlebags of the motorcycle.

The loading space for vehicles was separate from the regular passengers' entrance. We parked the motorcycle and stood in our line on the other side of the ship from the regular line. I scanned the crowd constantly, never taking my eyes off it, my heart beating wildly.

I noticed a disturbance in my peripheral vision. I spotted Dad shoving people out of his way to the ticket man. His face was scarlet as he screamed and demanded a ticket. I felt sick. His face turned up to our line, scouring each face. I ducked down and pulled Flynn with me.

"He's here!" My face must have conveyed my terror because his face shifted from confusion to worry to anger. He pulled his hood over his head and stood up, keeping his back to my dad. He reached for my hand and pulled me up. His shoulders, wider than me, kept me hidden. I peeked over his shoulder to see Dad jabbing his finger into the ticket man's chest. Security rushed over to haul him off. Just past that scene, I saw Mom. Staring right at me. She nodded once, as if giving me permission, then turned. I hoped she wouldn't tell Dad, and I'm almost certain that she didn't. The thousand of knots in my stomach and throat loosened and I slumped into Flynn's arms.

"You're safe."

I couldn't say anything.

We got through the line. Apparently, Mona's friend's dad's cousin or something was the captain, so we got a voucher. Our room was 113B. We didn't leave the room much. There was a massive window so we could see outside, plus room service, cable TV, and Internet access. There was no real reason to leave aside from sheer boredom of the lack of scenery changes in the room. The ocean was nice and all, but after a while it was all the same. At those times, we visited the pool for a bit. Some girls from Sinnoh hit on Flynn and invited him to a party back at their room. We did not go.

We landed in Kanto on the following Friday. A full week since the decision to leave was made. Five days ago, I gave up my entire life for a new one.

Oh, Arceus.