Chapter 8: Looking For Answers

Carla awoke the next morning and sat for a long time thinking about everything that had happened the night before. She then looked beside her and noticed that Tracey was still sleeping rather soundly. Carla wished with all of her heart that she could do something to take away Tracey's pain.

"Well at least he doesn't seem to be in any pain now. I think that rest is what he really needs right now. At least he'll probably sleep for quite a while. I'm going to go downstairs for a while so I don't disturb Tracey. I need to let him sleep." Carla thought as she very carefully climbed out of bed. She then quietly got dressed and gently pulled the blanket up to Tracey's shoulders and gave him a soft kiss before tiptoeing out of the room and silently closing the door behind her.

As Carla was making her way through the hallway, she realized something that struck her as strange. For the past few days Tracey hadn't so much as closed his eyes, yet the night before when they were watching television, he had been so drowsy that he could hardly keep his eyes open or even hold his head up. After thinking on this for a moment a light went on in Carla's head and she remembered that just before that Professor Oak had gotten Tracey some aspirin for his backache. As she reached the top of the stairs, Carla decided that she was going to ask Professor Oak what it was that he had done. With this in mind, she made her way down the stairs and into the dining room.

"Good morning, Carla." Professor Oak smiled as soon as Carla entered the room.

"Good morning."

"Why isn't Tracey with you?"

"He's still sleeping upstairs. He woke up in the middle of the night and seemed really upset so I convinced him to tell me about it and he cried himself to sleep. When I left he was still sleeping pretty heavily so I think he'll sleep for a long time. He was completely exhausted and rest is what he needs right now. For the last three days he's been keeping the pain of losing his mother bottled up inside in order to be strong for his family and I think that he finally just needed to cry it out. I just hope he feels better when he wakes up." Carla said softly.

"I'm sure he will."

Just then Delia came into the dining room to let them know that breakfast was almost ready.

"Breakfast is almost ready. Don't you think that we should wake Tracey?"

"No. Tracey's been through quite a painful ordeal and he's physically and emotionally exhausted. We should just let the boy sleep. That's what he really needs right now."

"I agree. That is a good idea." Delia said as she headed back into the kitchen to finish up with breakfast.

"Professor Oak, may I ask you something?" Carla asked as soon as Delia had left the room.

"Of course you may."

"I was just wondering what you did to Tracey last night. He hadn't so much as closed his eyes for three days and then last night when we were watching television he could barely hold his own head up and he was so sleepy that he couldn't keep his eyes open. It wouldn't have made any difference except I realized that right before that you had gone into the kitchen to get Tracey some aspirin for his back and no one was with you. I need you to be honest with me, Professor. What did you give Tracey last night?"

"Okay. You deserve to know the truth. I don't know if you noticed but I gave Tracey three pills last night. Two of those pills were aspirin like I said but the third one was a very mild sleeping pill. I didn't give him anything stronger because I remembered you saying that Tracey hadn't closed his eyes in three days and I knew that, having gone that long without sleep, it wouldn't take much to make him sleep." Professor Oak honestly admitted.

"I appreciate you giving Tracey something to relax him. All I can say is that I'm glad we went to bed before he fell asleep on the couch because if that had happened there's no way I would have been able to wake him up. Last night he was out cold as soon as his head hit the pillow." Carla smiled and decided to drop the matter as Delia came in with breakfast.

* * * * *

At the same time, Marill, Venonat, Scyther and the newest Pokemon in the group, Buddy, crept quietly down the hall in search of their trainer. When they got outside the bedroom door, they were dismayed to find it shut.

"Marill mar. Marill marill." (Oh great. It's shut.) Marill said.

"Venonat." (Yeah.) Venonat agreed.

"Growlithe growl growl growlithe?" (What can we do?) Buddy asked.

"Scyther scy scyther. Scyther scyther." (Don't worry everyone. I'll open it.) Scyther said confidently as he raised his claws and carefully got a grip on the doorknob and worked it until it clicked quietly open.

The four Pokemon walked noiselessly into the room and approached the bed where their trainer slept. Marill, Venonat and Buddy carefully leapt up onto the bed while Scyther stood vigil from the floor next to the bed.

"Marill mar marill?" (Is he okay?)

"Venonat. Veno nat venonat." (Yes. He's just sleeping.) Venonat assured her.

Then the Pokemon each took a position where they could keep watch over Tracey while he slept so deeply. They were keeping a silent vigil over him because they all knew something was wrong with him but none of them fully understood the multitude of Tracey's pain. All they knew was that they were going to stand watch over him in case they were needed. Marill and Buddy were curled up on Tracey's right side, Venonat was sitting on his left and Scyther was standing at the head of the bed protectively.

* * * * *

Back in the dining room, Carla was having breakfast with Professor Oak and Delia but obviously her mind was with Tracey. She couldn't stop thinking about him and worrying about him.

"Carla, are you okay?" Delia asked.

"Yeah. I'm still a little worried about Tracey. I shouldn't be because I know he's upstairs in the bedroom getting some much needed rest. Maybe if I go up and check on him after we finish eating it will ease my mind a little bit." Carla said, sounding more than a little distracted.

"I have an idea. Why don't you go and look in on him right now? I'll put your breakfast in the oven to keep it warm until you get back. That way you can have some peace of mind."

"Thanks. I think I'll do just that. I'll be right back." Carla smiled gratefully as she got up from the table and headed upstairs.

When Carla got to the bedroom she was mildly startled to find that the door was slightly open. She opened the door and tiptoed into the room and stopped short as she approached the bed. All four of Tracey's Pokemon were keeping watch over him. They seemed unwilling to abandon their vigil so Carla decided that it would be best to just leave them alone. As she approached the bed Scyther turned his head and looked at her and seemed to ignore her completely as she reached up and patted him. After checking on Tracey and assuring that he was still sleeping comfortably, she walked over to the desk as she realized that Tracey had left the light on the night before. As she approached, she noticed a piece of paper lying on the desk so she picked it up out of curiosity and looked at it. When she finished reading what Tracey had written she was completely speechless. She knew that Tracey was a brilliant artist but she never knew that he could write like that. Then she put the poem down and started back toward the door to head back downstairs. As she was leaving, Carla took one last look at Tracey sleeping on the bed and smiled as she realized that for the first time since his mother's death he appeared to have some peace.

* * * * *

As Carla appeared back in the kitchen, she found Delia and Professor Oak still sitting at the dining room table. They both looked up when they heard her enter the room.

"Did you check up on Tracey?" Professor Oak asked.

"Yeah. He was still sleeping. I think that now he can have at least a little bit of peace. Also when I went in there all of his Pokemon were standing watch over him. I thought that was very sweet." Carla said.

"That is sweet. Did looking in on Tracey settle your mind a bit?"

"Yeah. It really did."

As Carla finished her breakfast, her thoughts kept returning to the poem that she had read. It still blew her mind that Tracey was a writer because it was something she had never known about him. Later when she was going outside to feed the Pokemon their breakfast, Carla decided that she was going to find a time to ask Tracey about the poem he had written.

* * * * *

Two hours later, Tracey stirred slowly and opened his eyes as wakefulness flowed back into him. The first thing that Tracey saw was his Pokemon sitting around him and it was obvious that they had been keeping watch over him.

"I appreciate you guys keeping watch over me. I don't know what I've done to deserve such great Pokemon." Tracey said sleepily as all four of his Pokemon gathered closer around him.

"I wonder what time it is." Tracey thought as he looked at his watch. "Whoa! It's almost noon. How in the world did I sleep this long? I'm very late and behind in feeding the other Pokemon."

Then Tracey jumped out of bed and hurried down the stairs and into the dining room, looking for Carla. When he got there he saw Delia and Professor Oak cleaning up from breakfast.

"Oh good morning Tracey." Delia smiled.

"How are you feeling, son?"

"Good morning. I feel a lot better after a long rest. When I woke up a few minutes ago I realized that I was so exhausted last night that I slept in my clothes. Hey, have either of you seen Carla this morning? I wanted to talk to her before I get to work. I slept so long that I'm very behind in my work and I really need to start feeding the Pokemon." Tracey said.

"Actually, Carla went to feed the Pokemon and she should be back in a few minutes. She'll be so glad to see that you're finally awake. She said that your Pokemon were watching over you. Where are they now?" Professor Oak said.

"I sent all the Pokemon outside. They didn't want to but I convinced them that it was better for them to spend the day outside in the sunshine rather than being inside all day with me."

"Are you hungry, Tracey? I saved some breakfast for you." Delia asked.

"Actually I am pretty hungry. I didn't realize that getting a good night's sleep would do so much for my appetite." Tracey said as he took a bite of the food that Delia placed in front of him. "Mmm. This is really good."

"I'm glad you like it."

"So Professor, what's on the agenda for today?" Tracey asked as he was eating.

"Well, I thought that since Carla is feeding the Pokemon that you and I could take a day off today so that we can both relax a little. Does that sound okay to you?" Professor Oak smiled.

"Actually that does sound pretty good. It'll be great to have a day to get to do something relaxing. I didn't realize how hard we've been working on our research lately."

As Tracey was finishing up his breakfast he felt extremely blessed that he had a wonderful girlfriend and terrific friends as well as the best group of Pokemon that anyone could ever ask for and he felt lucky to have so many people who cared so much for him.