Stadium of Dreams
By, Sakura's Ray Of Hope
Author's Note:
Ok, I got the second chapter up. I'm going to be writing the story from Sakura's point of view, k? Ummm, we're going to pretend that the Kinomoto's already moved in. It turns out that the house they bought was half an hour away from where they lived before, so it's a whole new town to discover for Sakura. Also, from now on, I'm going to e-mail users who review for me when I update the story. If you request for me not to e-mail u when I update, just tell me in a review or e-mail me at Innocence2004eva@aol.com.
Answers to Reviewers:
+ Space Ranger (User 8947)
I guarantee you this is going to be longer than the last chapter, so don't worry. The guardian thing? Well, in this story I decided I don't really want to use the guardians. Maybe I'll stick Kero in somewhere, or I'll re-do the first chapter to contain Kero in it *Shrug* Either or, I'll try to fix my boo-boo of forgetting to mention anything about the guardians! ^_^ And the last thingie, I fixed my review settings; Sorry I didn't know that I had it on. I love reviews, no matter what: Anonymous or not. So, sorry about that little mistake.
+ Cherry Blossomz Gurl (User 215371)
Thanx for your reviews! And I love your writing too! ^_^ Continue reviewing for me, k?^_^
Well, on to the fic!
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Chapter 2
The sky was perfectly clear, with puffy clouds dotting here and there. It wasn't cold at all, but it wasn't hot either. A small breeze blew by, and I turned around to feel it full in my face. When I turned back around to continue walking, I tightened my light pink windbreaker around me. I was walking down Burns Street, and I was looking for something; I didn't know what, though. I just woke up, took a shower, ate a quick breakfast and told my mom and dad that I was going exploring. My legs brought me to Burns Street and I found myself looking all over the place for something.
What am I looking for? I thought.
The stadium, remember? You wanted to know more about it. A voice said in my head. It was my second conscience. Yes, I knew this little voice. A sneaky, mischievous thing that told me all the wrong things to do. Kero, my guardian, warned me about this. I promised myself I'd talk to him and my best friend, Tomoyo about this later, but right now, I had to admit that I was curious about the stadium that had been haunting my dreams. I sighed.
Why me?
"Hey, girl! Hey, come back here!" A voice cried. I stopped walking and turned around. A girl about my age with light blue jeans and a red windbreaker was running after me. I noticed her features; they seemed unique enough. The girl had flaming red hair and dark brown eyes; I found myself wanting to be friends with her. Well, I befriended almost everyone I saw, didn't I? The girl caught up to me, and fell to her knees, panting. I smiled and helped her up. She smiled back. Yup, definitely friendship material.
"Arigatou." She said quietly. I gasped. She spoke Japanese!
"Ummm, you speak Japanese?" I asked timidly. She looked at me and smiled again.
"Hai! You're Japanese, right?" I nodded then held out my hand for her to shake.
"I just moved here from Japan. My name is Sakura Kinomoto. You can call me Sakura or Sakura-chan, if you like." She took my hand and shook it. I noticed she had tiny and delicate hands; I suddenly had the impression that she was a popular girl at school, or at least a cheerleader. She definitely had the body for it.
"I'm Phoenix. I've lived in Kew Gardens, New York all my life. I'm not exactly Japanese," She added, looking at my confused face. I WAS confused; she didn't have a Japanese name, but an American one. "I take Japanese as a second language at John Oak's Middle School." I smiled again.
"I'm starting John Oaks on Monday!" I exclaimed happily. She beamed.
"Great! I could show you around and everything!"
"Yeah, that'd be great!" Well, at least I had a new friend who knew Japanese AND went to my school. That was a good start.
"Oh, ummm........here. You dropped it in front of my house." She handed me a tiny package and I gasped, then blushed. Yup, that was definitely mine. It was a gift from Syaoran Li, my one true love. I never opened it, afraid of what it held inside. I didn't know why though. The goodbye at the airport with him and my other friends suddenly came back as crystal clear as ever. It was a sad day, but I'll tell you more about that later. I took the package from her hand and pocketed it.
"Uh, thanks. I'm a little clumsy at some times." I sweat dropped. Yeah, your an idiot Sakura! She's not going to want to be your friend now, nitwit!! Baka Sakura-chan!'
"That's ok. I'm sort of a klutz at times, too. Wanna be friends?" She asked eagerly. My eyes lit up.
"Of course! I love friends!" We smiled at each other and began to walk. It turned out that we actually had a lot in common. We both loved and were cheerleaders, we both took Japanese, we both had an annoying big brother and a kind mom and dad, and we were both in love with a certain someone. She told me who he was. Some boy named Sean...?? She described him as I described Syaoran. A stubborn, intense amber colored eyed and messy brown haired boy, with a short temper, but a kind heart. I told her that Syaoran looked a lot like Sean. We both sighed in unison and laughed. We had only just met and we were already talking at the same time or finishing each other's sentences. By the time we stopped to see where we had walked, we both knew each other's family history.
"Where are we?" I asked Phoenix, who looked as frightened as I was. She shook her head.
"I don't really know. At least I don't think I know." I looked up at the street sign. "Dreamers Crescent" it read.
Weird name..... I couldn't help but think. Suddenly I looked up and smiled.
"Phoenix, look! It's the stadium from my dream!" She followed my gaze and beamed.
"That's Finnegan's Wake. It's an old and abandoned baseball stadium, and it used to be famous, but no one uses it anymore. Are you sure that was the one in your dream?" She gave me a quizzical look. I nodded. She shrugged.
"Wanna go up?" She asked, pointing to the staircase that led to the inside of the stadium. I shrugged and nodded. She led the way. But as we climbed the metal stairs, I felt a presence; It wasn't evil, and it seemed so familiar.
Just like how I felt about the house.......
We both climbed the stairs until I thought my legs would buckle; and they almost did, had we not finally reached level ground. We were both panting. She led me to a seat on the bleachers of the stadium grounds. While we caught our breath, I took a good look around. The presence was strong, so welcoming, so familiar, yet so distant. Phoenix was right, though: the stadium did look very untidy, with garbage strewn about and toilet paper and grass and sand from the ground all soppy and dirty. It definitely looked abandoned and old. Every set of flood lights were cracked and there wasn't a soul to be seen anywhere.
"Well, this is Finnegan's Wake. Does it look like the one in your dream?" Phoenix asked once we caught our breath and were standing up, looking around. I nodded, but I had a funny look on my face, I knew. I was torn between confusion and disgust. In my dream, the stadium had been clean and sparkling and everything. But this wasn't it. Even so, I still felt that presence and some part of me argued that this was the place.
"Yeah, but it looks nothing like the one in my dream............yet I feel this, this presence that tells me it is......" Phoenix gave me a confusing look.
"Presence? What, are you psychic or something?" I looked over at her and felt a huge sweat drop form at the side of my head. Whoops, shouldn't have let that slip.....
"Uh, I'll tell you about it later. It's quite a long story. Heh." I giggled nervously. She shrugged, looked at the stadium, then back at me.
"Well, are you positively sure that this is the place? I mean, it hasn't been touched in like......centuries. No one has ever been here." I turned to her.
"Why not? It was, like you said, famous once. Why did it shut down and become............this?" I said, pointing to the clutter on the field. She shrugged.
"You know, this place wasn't originally called Finnegan's Wake. They say it's cursed. You know, haunted with a ghost." I gasped. I hated ghosts and suddenly felt reluctant of the place.
"G-Ghost?" I stammered, inching my way to the stairs. She gave me a confused look.
"Yeah, what's wrong?" She asked. I shook my head.
"I HATE ghosts!" I squealed. She smiled a little.
"I love ghosts, but I know that if I ever saw one, I'd be scared out of my wits!" I giggled, feeling a little better. I thought I was the only one who hated ghosts. Guess I was wrong.
"How about I tell you the story of George Finnegan, the famous baseball player of the little leagues in KG?" She asked after a moment of silence. I nodded timidly and she began.
"Well, maybe about a century ago, a little boy named George Finnegan tried out for the little leagues. He had a kind heart and a strong spirit. He was also the best hitter in the entire town, and everyone envied him, but they still encouraged him. If he made the little league team, he could win his town the first place trophy, one they hadn't won in over a hundred years.
"So he tried out and made the team. Everyone was so happy that they held a block party in KG Hall in his honor. The entire town was in on it. But one person didn't go. His name was Mark Diago. Mark hated George for being better than him. In fact, he hated everyone that was better than him. He was also the richest kid in town. His parents didn't care about him, either. So he plotted to.....well, he plotted to.........." She trailed off.
"He plotted to do what, Phoenix?" I asked quietly, dreading the answer. She offered a tiny smile.
"He plotted to kill little George." I gasped and I felt tears forming in my eyes. Working hard to keep them from falling, I signaled for her to go on.
"His plan was put into action. The next day, during the first Little League game, one of Mark's henchmen shot George from the audience. He died on the field, just about to swing a home run." I stared at her. She shook her head and turned to face the field. Not noticing it was getting dark, she continued.
"After that, the guy who killed George was caught and he was forced to tell who put him up to the killing. Mark was hanged within a week.
"Every single game after that, the KG Cardinals lost. No matter who they recruited, no matter what they did, they lost every single game. Another strange happening was that at the beginning of every game they had, George's ghost would be seen in the middle of the field and throughout the whole game, he'd appear at different places, scaring people off, scaring the little leaguers. Eventually, the Cardinals gave up. No on wanted to be on the team anymore. They had to close down this stadium. You know what they originally called this place?" I shook my head. I was really crying now, and crying hard. She came over to me and put a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"They used to call it the Birds of Prey Stadium. You know, for the Cardinals and such. The mayor ordered it to be taken down. But this time, two ghosts appeared. One was George. He'd just appear and glare at the workers, but he'd never do anything. The other ghost was never confirmed. He'd do dangerous things to the workers, like throwing bricks or shutting off machines or breaking barriers. Everyone thought this ghost was Mark, but, like I said, it was never confirmed. No one ever got a good look at his face. Ever." She added, sitting down next to me on the bleachers. I couldn't bring myself to look at her and it didn't seem she could either, but I could sense her sadness. We both looked out over the field, me disliking it with every word she spoke of the place.
"The workers called this place Finnegan's Wake because George Finnegan left behind his ghost. The name stuck and the hauntings grew worse. Eventually, the ghost of Mark killed a worker. A pile of bricks fell on him. The workers couldn't take it anymore and left. So the mayor shut this place down. No one was allowed to go here, but as you can see, Halloween, and other holidays brought people to party and TP here." She finished. Taking a deep breath, she turned to look at me again, but I was just staring out over the field. I looked over at her and she wiped a tear from my face that was already snaking it's way down my sore and very-red cheek.
"Don't cry. I know you have a kind heart and you do care, but it's no use crying over. No hauntings have been recorded since the night of Timmy Turner." I gave her a confused look, but she shook her head.
"No more story telling today. I'll tell you tomorrow. Uh-oh..............Oh my gosh, Sakura look how late it is!" She squealed, looking down at her dainty wristwatch. I looked at my own. Oh god, I was definitely going to get into trouble now! I told my parents I was going to be home by 5:00, which was just before dark. It was already 6:30. I jumped up and me and Phoenix clamored down the metal stairs and ran home.
I made it home just before a lightning bolt clapped somewhere overhead and rain pounded down. And of course, my parents were mad at me. At least they didn't ground me. Especially after I told them that I made a new friend. I just had to cook dinner and wash the dishes for the next week. I didn't mind, as long as I could ponder the thought of Finnegan's Wake being haunted. I shivered at the thought. Yes, now I was fascinated by ghosts, especially the ones of the old stadium, but what if the ghost of Mark or George showed up? I decided that I'd call Phoenix later to talk..............wait! I don't have her phone number!!
"HOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE................"
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A figure stood in the middle of the stadium, glaring at the metal stairs, and thinking of the two girls that had been there earlier. One with fiery red hair and one with silky auburn. His scowl lessened as he thought of them. The auburn-haired one looked suspiciously like Anais, his beloved. The other looked like her best friend, Angela. He sighed contently and disappeared, as mysteriously as he had appeared.
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Author's Note:
Ooh, a cruel, cruel cliffhanger!! *Evil laugh* Yes, I did it, I did it, I did it!! I made a successful cliffhanger. Oh well, keep reviewing peoplez. I might not be updating this story for a while, seeing as I have a BILLION projects to do. *Content sigh* Oh well. See you guys later and keep r+r-ing.