Disclaimer- I don't own Digimon.
*****Chapter 7- Familiar Strangers*****
Matt sat in his home late that night being bored and not in the mood to go out and do anything. Like always, Malcolm was at work and Matt had the house to himself. He was casually watching a late night comedy when suddenly he heard a knock on the front door. He glanced at a clock: 11:39pm. 'Who the hell is at my house this late?' Matt wondered as he got out of the comfortable position he was in and walked to the door. It was too dark to see out the peep hole so he called the person instead.
"Who is it?" Matt asked quite loudly.
No answer.
The only thing Matt could make out from the figure was that it was a woman. He then opened the door getting an idea of who it was.
"Sora?" Matt asked confused that I was standing in front of him.
"Hey..." I replied, my voice somewhat hoarse.
"Holy shit, what happened to you?" He asked mentioning the cut and bruise forming around my eye.
He tried to touch the spot that had been damaged but I pulled myself away. For the first time in my life, I let someone other than myself know what was going on.
"It was... Mike," I said.
"Mike? Your step dad Mike? He did this to you?"
I nodded now becoming teary eyed.
"He hit you!? Why did he hit you? Has he done this before?"
I nodded again.
"Why haven't you told anyone about this!?"
That was when I broke down. I wrapped my arms around his neck and cried like I'd never cried before. What else could I do? I didn't know who else I could turn to. Matt was always there for me from the beginning and there was no one else I could go to for help.
"I don't know what to do anymore, Matt. He hurts me all the time and I just don't know what to do..." I cried into Matt's chest.
"Ssshhh... it's okay, baby," Matt whispered into my ear as he ran a hand up and down my back for comfort. He led me inside and shut the door behind us.
*****
Man ran away from the party as fast as she could. She felt used and dirty and didn't know how to deal with it. Josh was someone she thought she trusted but obviously she was wrong. She couldn't go home because her parents would have slipped so she decided to go to the next best place...
*****
"Mom!" Tai shouted as he laid on the couch in his living room. He decided not to sneak out because it just wasn't worth it. He received no answer from his mom and he sighed, "Help..." he said as he lazily tried to reach for the remote control to the TV. He couldn't reach it and it was driving him crazy, "Anyone!?" Wow, Tai is one lazy kid.
Coughing was then heard coming from Kari's room. Tai huffed at it. He personally thought Kari was over exaggerating the whole coughing thing.
"Damn girl! What the hell?" Tai said as he removed himself from the couch and walked into her room.
Kari was on the floor on her hands and knees coughing up a storm. Tai saw a puddle of blood on the ground in front of her and freaked out. He ran into his parents room and opened the door with force, instantly waking them both.
"What the hell, Tai?" Mr. Kamiya grumbled trying to shield his eyes from the living room light.
"Kari's coughing up blood!" Tai informed them.
"She's what!?" They both shouted jumping up from the bed and running into their daughters room.
Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya rushed to the side of Kari, who was now passed out on the floor, and attempting to get her to wake up. Neither of them knew what in the world to do. She was pale and was barely breathing.
"Tai, call 911!" Mrs. Kamiya shouted.
Tai ran into the living room and dialed the number on the phone as fast as his fingers could move. The ambulance arrived 10 minutes later and Kari was taken to the nearest hospital.
Doesn't sitting in a waiting room drive you up the wall?
Tai and his parents were in the waiting room of the hospital eagerly awaiting the news of Kari. For the first time in his life, Tai Kamiya sat and cried. Kari was a big part of his life and he never realized it until that very moment. He'd taken advantage of his sister all these years and was now regretting everything. If he were to lose her right then, he would go crazy. Mrs. Kamiya tried to comfort her son but he only pushed her away. The doctor then appeared.
"How is she, doctor? Is she going to be okay?" Mr. Kamiya wondered jumping up from his seat.
"Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya, I'm afraid I have some... bad news..." the doctor spoke slowly.
"She's going to be okay, isn't she? Tell me she's going to be alright," Tai demanded, still teary eyed.
"I'm sorry son. Your sister is-"
"Stop! Tell me she's going to be okay!"
"There's a very small chance that she will make it. You see she-"
Tai stood there in gasp. More tears began to form as he grabbed his jacket from the chair and ran out of the hospital.
"Doctor, what's wrong with our baby?" Mrs. Kamiya wondered, now crying herself.
"You two better come with me," the doctor said leading them away to a room where they could all talk.
Tai ran from the hospital as fast as his legs would carry him. He didn't know how to deal with his feelings anymore and he needed someone to talk to. He felt as though his whole world was crashing down around him. The perfect person to talk to was just a short run away, and he was heading there as fast as he could.
*****
I eventually fell asleep on Matt's shoulder later that night when we'd finished talking. I told him everything that'd been going on and was finally relieved. At last somebody knew what I was going through and I could somewhat relax, knowing that I was safe in Matt's arms. A knock was then heard at the door.
Matt heard the knock and carefully got off the couch, trying not to wake me up. It was somewhat difficult for him because he had an arm wrapped around my shoulders and my head on was his. He laid me down on the couch and answered the door, only to be surprised at who stood before him.
"Mimi!? What're you doing here?" Matt wondered. 'What is this, revenge of the ex-girlfriends night?' Matt thought. Yes, Matt and Mimi dated for a short period of time about a year after he and Sora broke up.
"He raped me, Matt," Mimi sniffed, partially from crying and partially from the cold in the air.
"What!? Who raped you!?"
"Josh."
"Ugh, Mimi... I warned you about going out with that guy! Did I not tell you that he was trouble!?"
"Yeah, you did but-"
"I told you what was going to happen. You've got no one to blame-"
"But myself. I know. I guess I should have listened to you but I didn't. It still wasn't right though! He raped me a Shihi's party!"
"Was he drunk?"
"Yeah, just about everyone was."
"What about you? Did you have anything to drink?"
"Just a few shots but-"
"Did he use a condom?"
"Well, yeah."
"Alright then. Unless you get pregnant, which I highly doubt you will, then you've got nothing to worry about. And because of the fact that it was at a party where alcohol was present, getting him in trouble wouldn't even happen. He was drunk and won't remember what the hell when down. Just think of it as a one night stand or something."
"You have a point. Oh well. Do you mind if I crash here for the night? I had a couple of drinks and my parents always can sense when I have."
"Might as well," Matt opened the door and let her in, "Come, join the party!"
"Party? Who else is..." she began but then saw me asleep on the couch, "here." She looked at my sleeping form, "Since when did you and Sora start having sleep overs?"
"It's not a sleep over. She just came by to say something and eventually fell asleep. No big deal. Why do you care anyways?"
"I don't. I was just thinking that you would never talk to her again, given your history and all."
"Can't keep living' in the past, Meems. I forgave her, maybe you should too."
Mimi stared at me on the couch. A guilt trip took over.
"I should be the one apologizing to her," she said finally, "I'm the one who caused our relationship to end."
"Everyone in school knows what happened between you two. Sora knows it, I know it, and you know it. You can't hide it and you know she'll never forgive you for it, but maybe you can try and start over from the beginning. You two were really close at one point and I'm sure you could be that was again."
"Did her step dad do that to her eye?"
"What?"
"I knew he was still hitting her. She just hides it really well."
"H-how did you know?"
"She never directly told me he as doing it, but I put the pieces together. He's been abusing her since he moved into her house. That's the reason she always used to be at my house because she was scared to be around him. Mike's the reason her life ended up a living hell hole. And people sit there and wonder why she's tried to kill herself so many times. Not to mention that she lost everyone she was close to. You, me, Tai... we all turned our backs on her and we all know it. Her dad died too. That was the cause of it all. God, Sora, I'm so sorry..."
"That's why she broke up with me... it was because of Mike..." Matt said finally putting all the pieces together.
The moment was broken when a knock, once again, came from the door.
"What the fuck is this? Invade Matt's house day?" Matt commented.
He went to open the door and when he saw who was there he threw his hands up in grief.
"Come in, Tai! Everyone else is here," Matt said letting him in.
"Where's Sora?" Tai wondered.
"She's asleep on the couch."
"Was asleep," I said now awake, "Do you guys have to talk so damn loud?" I glanced around and saw who was standing in the room, "Oh."
"Tai, why are you here anyways?" Matt wondered.
"I was looking for Sora," Tai replied.
"Why were you looking for me?" I wondered.
"Well, I went to your house and your mom told me you had run away so I figured that this would be the last place anyone would look for you."
"Okay? That still doesn't answer my question."
"Wait, you ran away?" Matt asked me.
"Yeah," I replied. As if the bag of clothes and the story wasn't a dead give away.
"I needed to talk to you," Tai said.
"Talk to me about what?"
"Kari's in the hospital and the doctor said her chances of living are very unlikely. I didn't know who else I could go to, so I came to you."
"Kari's sick?"
"Sora, I don't know what to do," Tai said now beginning to cry again. Seeing Tai cry was a rare thing and when it happened, everyone knew something was seriously wrong.
"Tai, I..."
"I know we haven't exactly been on good terms lately but I didn't know who else I could trust talking to. We've known each other our whole lives and I just thought that you could help me through this. Kind of like old times."
I was in shock. Was Tai Kamiya actually asking me for help? It was the first time he'd come to me with his problems since like sixth grade. I didn't know what this feeling was that had suddenly come over me. It felt as though a huge part of my life that had once been thrown away, was back. It was very relieving and I was going to do anything to help out my old friend.
*****TBC*****
Alright! I know this chapter was kind of blah, but there's going to be a twist! Don't you just love cliffhangers? Review!
