Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
Yep, coming right at you: the epilogue of Prophecy Girl. I'm more of a tragedy kind of person, so naturally Romeo and Juliet is one of my Top 20 books to read.
Epilogue
"Is it me, or is Shinji particularly moody and blue these days?" Satoshi asked Kengo. Kengo nodded, fully knowing the reason why. Clueless Satoshi who got himself a girlfriend was completely oblivious about Shinji and Hikari's acting.
This time, Satoshi's assumption was dead on the mark. The last few months had gone by in a blur for Shinji. He was not accustomed to not having Hikari scaring him from behind ever so often and seeing her usual happy self.
"I'm home," Shinji called out as he reached home. No answer. The exception was the dog outside and the daily maid who came to clean the house. Aniki must have gone to the new dig site, he thought as he closed the door to his room and dumped his bag unceremoniously on a nearby chair. The drawn curtains made the room look gloomy, which was exactly his mood right now. He lay down on his bed, trying to get some sleep. These few weeks, he had recurring nightmares, all of them portraying the same thing. It was replaying the scene when Hikari left. Except a bit worse. In his dreams, he kept seeing Hikari, badly wounded and demanding why he had not tried to save her earlier. He knew that Haruka was the one who called for help. He knew that Satoshi had shouted in the background that it was an emergency. He also knew that Kengo had tried to find the owner of the long distance firearm. Despite knowing all this, the nightmares continued. All of them showed him the same horror every night. Reiji gave him some sleeping pills before he left and was the one to wake him up whenever he started thrashing around.
"This is endless," he muttered to himself as he went down to the kitchen. The phone's sudden ringing scared him. The house was extremely quiet with the occasional dog barking outside for some reason. Shinji picked up the phone.
"Oh Shinji. You're back. I was worried you are still in school," Reiji said over the phone. "So are you still having nightmares at night?"
"Yeah, I'm damn sleepy. Do you still have any of those sleeping pills you gave me before you went away?" asked Shinji.
"I guess so. I'm not too sure either," replied the older brother. "Oh yes. If there are still any sleeping pills left, they should be still in the medicine box. Don't overdose. I got to go. See you." With that, Reiji hung up. Shinji looked at the phone, still lost in his thoughts. He put down the phone and walked to the medicine cupboard. He found a bottle of white pills. The label read "SLEEPING PILLS. Dosage for adult: 1 pill per day." He remembered Reiji's advice on overdosing. Taking the whole bottle upstairs, he swallowed one pill and left the rest on a nearby table and went to sleep.
The sleeping pill had worked, but only for a few hours. He had that nightmare again. Apparently the effect of the pill does not have an effect that lasted as long as he liked. It was dead in the night when he woke up in cold sweat, the nightmare's details still fresh on his mind. His body seemed to be more and more immune to the sleeping pills. It took him a shorter time with each intake to wake up. Picking up the bottle, he took out ten pills and decided to risk his life for a more peaceful sleep. The drowsiness this time was instantaneous. He fell back onto his bed and slipped into a dreamless sleep.
Satoshi was rudely woken up by the ringing of the phone in his house. The entire building was quiet as his mother had gone to work. Winter subsided extremely quickly, bringing spring. Hanako worked in a floral shop and therefore had to be early to make sure the flowers were in their best condition. Also, today was the first day of the school holiday. If it was Haruka on the line, he would remind her that he does not need to be in school. With his mind still half asleep, he picked up the phone just outside his room.
"Hello…?" he asked.
"SATOSHI!! WAKE UP!! Something really serious has happened," Kengo shouted over the phone. After Satoshi's mind registered the information, his eyes lost its sleepiness.
"What happened?" he asked.
"It's Shinji," replied Kengo. "Reiji-san came back this morning and found that Shinji was still asleep. He wouldn't wake up. Reiji-san has tried all sorts of methods but Shinji stayed the same. He guessed that Shinji took more than the required dosage of sleeping pills. He's now in hospital. The doctors tried pumping out the stuff in his stomach but he remained unconscious. They said that he slipped into coma. But considering the time between when he took the pills and when Reiji brought him to the hospital, the doctor said that there might be a chance he might not wake up again."
All this time, Satoshi stayed silent. "But, Kengo, why?" Satoshi asked. "Shinji never has a reason for suicide. I mean, he's smarter than anyone in school, suffers from mild superiority complex and may be a loner but he has us. Something must have pushed Shinji to the edge."
He heard Kengo sigh on the other side. "I… think I know why though. Hmmm… I'll meet you somewhere and we'll go see Shinji. How's that?" Kengo proposed.
"Fine. Mind if I drag Haruka along?"
"Satoshi, I'm not asking you for a package. I just need to see you. I don't think it's alright to disturb Haruka this early in the morning."
"Alright, alright. I'll see you outside the hospital later." Satoshi put the phone down. Shinji in coma was a very disturbing thought. Besides, why would Shinji need sleeping pills? With troubling thoughts in mind, Satoshi quickly left his house.
Satoshi found it hard to believe that the unconscious person lying on the hospital bed was Shinji. It was so un-Shinji to ever be associated with hospital equipment. A heart monitor beeped once in a while to record his heartbeat and he was breathing through an oxygen mask.
"How did he end up like that?" Satoshi finally asked.
"In case you don't know, Shinji and Hikari have been seeing each other secretly over these 8 years. Hikari's sudden death must have a large toll on him," replied Kengo. He watched the heart monitor beep. He blinked again. Was it his eyes, or was there a pattern to the heart beat rate? He studied the next few recorded heart beats. There was no mistaking it. Shinji's heart beat rate was falling. He needed to inform the doctor fast.
"Satoshi, go get the doctor quick," commanded Kengo. Satoshi ran out of the door while Kengo continued to watch the monitor recordings.
"Shinji…"
Shinji heard someone calling him. He looked around. His surroundings were nothing but dark violet fog. That voice sounded very familiar. If only he could hear it one more time…
"Shinji…"
There it was again. Clearer, and louder. It sounded like…
"Shinji."
The voice came from behind him. He turned around. He came face-to-face with Hikari.
"Shinji, why are you here?" asked Hikari.
Why was he here? He had no idea himself. By right, he should be awake at this time. Unless the pills were too effective.
"You shouldn't be here."
"Guess I overdosed on the sleeping pills," he said to no one in particular. He felt something pulling his arm. It was Hikari.
"Come on Shinji, let's go," said Hikari. For some strange reason, Shinji was compelled to go along. He allowed Hikari to lead him into the depths of the fog.
7 years later…
It was nearly dark when two people entered the local cemetery. A couple, a man and a woman, headed for the left hand side of the cemetery.
"It's been some time since we were here," said the woman. The man nodded.
"I know. Kengo doesn't want to come. Says he feels responsible for what happened to the both of them," he said. The woman placed a bouquet of forget-me-nots on an older tombstone.
"But the way I see it Satoshi, it's better for the both of them. They are together, wherever they are," said the woman.
"Don't be so hard on yourself Haruka. Shinji and Hikari won't want to see us like this," said Satoshi. He looked at the two tombstones that stood side by side. He remembered that day clearly. When Satoshi had gone for the doctor, Shinji's heart beat rate dropped steeply. The doctor tried to revive him but it was useless. The hard part was telling Reiji that Shinji had died.
"Don't feel sad Satoshi. I'm sure that both of them are happy, wherever they are in afterlife," said Haruka with a sad smile. She placed another bouquet of flowers on the other, newer tombstone. "Ok, let's go."
When they left, they did not notice a strange fog creeping up behind them. The fog surrounded the two tombstones that the visitors were previously at. Two faint shadows materialized within the fog.
"I told you they will come. They always do," whispered a girl's voice.
"So you win. Happy?" a boy's voice asked softly.
"It's all your fault. If you hadn't taken all those sleeping pills. Half the bottle!" the girl's voice echoed gently in the quiet cemetery.
"Hey, if I had not done that, I will still be alive and suffering horribly because of nightmares. Also I wouldn't be with you," the boy berated quietly. The girl laughed in a tone that resembled rustling leaves.
"Ok, come on, let's go. We'll be back next year to check how they are faring," the girl said. The fog vanished slowly, leaving the stars to watch over the cemetery.
End!! I'M DONE!! YES!! Don't forget to tell me how do you think about it ok? It's the second time I've killed a character, but the first time I killed both characters. So sue me for being a HUGE fan of tragedy. Do R&R, thank you