DW: I am finally updating.
Irie: Could it have taken you any longer?
DW: I see you are copying my trademarked sarcasm.
Irie: Just get on with it.
DW: Fine fine. Disclaimer?
Irie: DW does NOT own digimon.
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Sora woke before her alarm sounded. She walked quietly into her bathroom and examined the bruise on her cheek. It was no longer recognizable as a bruise, since it had faded into a red mark over night. Sora sighed and moved to retrieve the make-up necessary to cover the bruise. She stopped before she reached it, wincing in pain. She tried to stretch out her arms once again, but felt burning pain tear through her back and arms. Tears sprung to Sora's eyes, but she fought them off while thinking about what could have caused this pain. She cast her mind back to the previous night, when her uncle had thrown her into the wall. Sora sighed and began to apply make-up to her cheek, attempting to ignore the pain that movement brought her. She quickly dismissed the idea of getting her back looked at by a doctor. That would be letting him win.
After dressing and packing her bag, Sora crept in to the kitchen and began to deftly prepare breakfast. Half-way through the preparations, Sora dropped a pan. She stood, frozen, as the sound of metal hitting wood echoed through the house. Luckily, she heard no sound indicating that her uncle had awoken. Sora retrieved the pan and continued preparing breakfast.
'I'm a prisoner in this house.' she though solemnly.
She placed her uncle's breakfast on the table and glanced at the clock.
"Shoot!" she hissed, noting the time. She skipped breakfast and ran out of the house, praying that she wouldn't be late again.
~*~
"Five minutes late Sora. It seems that you are making quite a habit of this." Mr. Morgan said while surveying her. Normally, Sora would have been upset at being humiliated in front of the entire class. Today, however, she stood there, gazing back at Mr. Morgan with no expression on her face.
"Did you hear me Sora?"
This seemed to require an answer. Sora took a steadying breath and answered, "Yes sir. I heard you."
"This is your second strike, if we are going by Tai's system. I suggest you be more careful from now on unless you want to end up in detention."
Sora did not trust herself to make a civilized answer, so she shrugged and walked over to her desk. In an effort to ignore the stares from fellow classmates, she glanced out the window. She did not move her gaze as Mr. Morgan continued to talk about the importance of being punctual. The bell sounded, and as usual, Sora stayed in her seat for English class. She heard Tai move up beside her, and was about to turn to greet him when something stopped her. Sora stared more intently out the window, wondering what she had just seen. It had been dark in colour and somehow, it did not look human. Sora's hand traveled unbidden to her crest as she continued to stare out the window.
'There can't be a digimon here.can there? It just doesn't make sense. I must be seeing things.but I can't help feeling that there was something.'
"Sora?" Came Tai's voice, penetrating her thoughts.
Sora tore her gaze away from the window and turned it to Tai. Tai looked with worry at the crimson eyes that gazed at him. Sora's eyes were usually so full of life, of emotion. But now, they didn't look like her eyes at all.
"Why did you call me, Tai?"
"I was wondering if you were alright."
"I'm fine!" Sora snapped, without thinking, "How many times do I have to tell you?!"
"Excuse me for being worried!" Tai snapped back.
Sora eyed him icily and he averted his gaze. Tai knew that Sora could have quite a temper when she was ready, but it rarely flared up. Tai had only seen part of Sora's temper in the digital world and while defending her friends. He had never seen all of it, and in a way, he was afraid to.
Sora watched Tai drop his gaze. She felt no remorse for her outburst. If he didn't want to get yelled at, then he should stay out of her life. She continued to eye him icily until class began. She then stared at the teacher with a bored expression, the incident with the creature at the window nothing more than a distant memory.
~*~
Sora debated whether or not to sit with her friends at lunch. If she skipped their traditional lunch, her friends would suspect something. She sighed as she joined the lunch line. Having friends was such a hassle. They all claimed to 'love' her and she had never before realized how pathetic love was. Sora moved up in line and dug in her bag for her wallet, but it was not there. Sora continued to search, holding up the line, before remembering that she had left her wallet on the kitchen counter. She cursed angrily and stalked towards her usual table. Upon reaching her table Sora sat down heavily and glanced at her friends. The conversation had lessened noticeably when Sora sat down. She glanced around the table at her friends, but refused to return any of their concerned glances.
"Where is your lunch Sora?"
"It's not here, is it?"
Sora heard Mimi gasp at the harsh comment. Sora glanced at her pink haired friend just in time to see her exchange a worried look with Tai. Sora rolled her eyes. Why must they pretend to care about her? Pathetic.
"Do you want some of my sandwich, Sora? I have a big lunch today."
"Matt, if I wanted some of your food, I would have asked for it. If I'm not hungry then I don't have to eat! Get off my case!"
There was a collective silence at the digidestined table. Sora didn't look at anyone, but as she reflected on her behaviour during the day, she realized that she had been treating everyone badly as a result of anger. And anger was an emotion: the exact things she said she was going to avoid. Sora pushed herself away from the table and walked swiftly out of the cafeteria, leaving six confused people staring after her.
~*~
Sora retreated to the girl's bathroom which, by some miracle, was empty. She stared at her reflection, noting yet again, the changes to her features. Her cheek was not visibly swollen, but it still pained her from time to time. Her back and shoulders caused her pain every time she moved, and though she hadn't been able to look at them, she was certain that the bones were damaged. Sora sighed and her reflection slumped with the same look of defeat.
'No,' she thought, upon noting the look of disconcertion, 'I won't give up. If I feel nothing other than anger, he can't win. As long as I stay a step ahead of him, he can't win.'
Sora composed herself and exited the bathroom right before the bell rang. She made her way against the flow of students towards her French classroom. Mimi sat beside her, but did not talk. Instead, she glanced nervously at Sora from time to time. Matt sat behind Mimi, and when they weren't staring at Sora, the pair would exchange long, meaningful looks. Sora hated it. She was so wrapped up in her anger that she did not notice the strange, black creature pass by the window once again.
~*~
When the end of the day arrived, Sora was the first student to leave. She decided to avoid the bus in order to elude any confrontations with the digidestined. She walked quickly down the street, focusing her gaze on the ground.
"Sora!! Sora, wait!" rang out a voice from behind her.
Sora paused, but did not turn. She did not need to see the owner of the voice to recognize who it was. She had known Tai long enough for that. Sora felt that she could not face Tai. If anyone had the power to see through her lies, it was Tai. Sora increased her pace as if she had not heard Tai at all. She heard him call her name twice more before finally giving up the chase.
'I'm sorry Tai,' she thought, 'but I can't see you right now. Stop caring about me. It would be better for you if you did.'
Sora shook her head in a weak attempt to rid her mind of the words running through it.
'That was the old Sora talking.' She concluded, 'As the new Sora, I don't feel stuff like that. I don't feel anything whatsoever.'
~*~
Sora arrived home and mechanically removed the empty beer bottles from the kitchen and living room. The mess in the house showed that her uncle had been awake, but there was no sign of him now. Sora sighed and began to straighten up the house, her mind completely blank. Her uncle did not appear. At six o'clock, she began to cook dinner, wondering for the first time where her uncle could be. Hours passed, and her uncle did not return. Sora exhaled heavily as she wondered what to do.
'Should I look for him?' she debated, 'I mean, if he ran off and got himself killed, that's not my problem.'
That thought would have shocked Sora before her transformation. Now, it seemed like a perfectly logical thing to think. Her uncle wasn't her responsibility, as far as she was concerned. Her meditations were broken by a figure on the balcony. Sora blinked and the figure was gone.
'I'm seeing things.'
Just then, the front door slammed.
"Wench!"
Sora refused to answer to such a derogatory name, and so remained in the kitchen. She did not have to wait long, for her uncle stumbled into the kitchen. Even from a distance, Sora could smell the alcohol on him. She wrinkled her nose and continued her work.
"Didn't you hear me? I called you."
Sora remained silent once again.
"We're out of beer," her uncle slurred, "so I had to go out and drink at a bar. I don't want to run out of beer ever again. Another one of your jobs is took keep the fridge full of beer. Understand me, slave?"
"I don't know if you have the wits to notice," Sora snapped, "But I am not legally old enough to buy beer." Sora did not care about being polite; she knew her uncle was too drunk to remember anything.
"Don't you mouth off to me! I want beer, and I will get it."
"Then buy it yourself."
Her uncle approached her slowly, emitting a low, sinister laugh. He grabbed Sora's wrists and spun her around so quickly that she yelped in spite of herself.
"Let go of me!"
"Listen Sora, and listen good. I call the shots in this house, and if you don't do what I want, I will make you wish you had never been born."
"Get off."
Her uncle merely gripped her tighter and continued to laugh. He slipped a card into Sora's pocket and said roughly, "That was your mother's ID. You're as ugly as she was, so you should have no trouble pulling it off. I had a friend change the age so that it says you are 21 instead of an old broad. Now, you can buy beer."
"I won't do it."
"Oh yes, you will. Unless you want me to tell everyone the role you played in your parents' death."
Sora stared, caught off guard.
"Oh, so you don't know? I thought everyone knew." He laughed and continued. "Your parents' death was not an accident. They committed suicide because they couldn't stand to be around you. They needed to get away from you, so they killed themselves. But then, that landed you with us, and you screwed up my marriage too. Wench. No one wants you around. You don't know how to show love.not a very good attribute, witch."
"Lair," Sora managed to choke out. "Liar."
"Lying am I? Just ask your parents. Wait, you can't.and it's all your fault."
Sora wrenched herself from her uncle's grasp, bruising her wrists in the process. She ran upstairs, hearing her uncle laugh and call, "I like Labatt."
~*~
Sora collapsed on her bed and let the tears consume her.
'It's not true.no. It can't be true.'
Sora's body shook with sobs as she though about everything her uncle had just said. Were his words merely the ravings of a drunken fool, or was there some truth behind them? Sora remembered something DemiDevimon had told her back in the digital world, 'You don't know what love is.'
Sora's tears did not subside for nearly an hour, and when they did, Sora felt sick. She caused bad things to happen. She destroyed love. Sora viscously tore her crest off her neck and glared at the mocking symbol of love. Sora flung the crest across her room and sank onto her bed feeling hollow. She did not know how much longer she could survive in this atmosphere. Being angry all day had masked her feelings, and she knew she would have to maintain the façade of anger.
It was many hours before Sora calmed enough to fall into a fitful sleep, one she wished she would never awake from.
~*~
Had Sora stayed downstairs, she would have seen the cause of her fury and confusion. After his conversation with Sora, her uncle had collapsed into a chair and soon fell into an alcohol induced sleep. At that moment of stillness, a dark figure rose out of her uncle's body. The figure smiled at its accomplishments and left the house silently, never opening a door or window.
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DW: YAY!!
Irie: O_o You need help.
DW: Yeah, I know. Anyhow, thank you SO much to all my wonderful reviewers. I love you all. I am glad that you are enjoying the story! (
Irie: Please review!!
Irie: Could it have taken you any longer?
DW: I see you are copying my trademarked sarcasm.
Irie: Just get on with it.
DW: Fine fine. Disclaimer?
Irie: DW does NOT own digimon.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sora woke before her alarm sounded. She walked quietly into her bathroom and examined the bruise on her cheek. It was no longer recognizable as a bruise, since it had faded into a red mark over night. Sora sighed and moved to retrieve the make-up necessary to cover the bruise. She stopped before she reached it, wincing in pain. She tried to stretch out her arms once again, but felt burning pain tear through her back and arms. Tears sprung to Sora's eyes, but she fought them off while thinking about what could have caused this pain. She cast her mind back to the previous night, when her uncle had thrown her into the wall. Sora sighed and began to apply make-up to her cheek, attempting to ignore the pain that movement brought her. She quickly dismissed the idea of getting her back looked at by a doctor. That would be letting him win.
After dressing and packing her bag, Sora crept in to the kitchen and began to deftly prepare breakfast. Half-way through the preparations, Sora dropped a pan. She stood, frozen, as the sound of metal hitting wood echoed through the house. Luckily, she heard no sound indicating that her uncle had awoken. Sora retrieved the pan and continued preparing breakfast.
'I'm a prisoner in this house.' she though solemnly.
She placed her uncle's breakfast on the table and glanced at the clock.
"Shoot!" she hissed, noting the time. She skipped breakfast and ran out of the house, praying that she wouldn't be late again.
~*~
"Five minutes late Sora. It seems that you are making quite a habit of this." Mr. Morgan said while surveying her. Normally, Sora would have been upset at being humiliated in front of the entire class. Today, however, she stood there, gazing back at Mr. Morgan with no expression on her face.
"Did you hear me Sora?"
This seemed to require an answer. Sora took a steadying breath and answered, "Yes sir. I heard you."
"This is your second strike, if we are going by Tai's system. I suggest you be more careful from now on unless you want to end up in detention."
Sora did not trust herself to make a civilized answer, so she shrugged and walked over to her desk. In an effort to ignore the stares from fellow classmates, she glanced out the window. She did not move her gaze as Mr. Morgan continued to talk about the importance of being punctual. The bell sounded, and as usual, Sora stayed in her seat for English class. She heard Tai move up beside her, and was about to turn to greet him when something stopped her. Sora stared more intently out the window, wondering what she had just seen. It had been dark in colour and somehow, it did not look human. Sora's hand traveled unbidden to her crest as she continued to stare out the window.
'There can't be a digimon here.can there? It just doesn't make sense. I must be seeing things.but I can't help feeling that there was something.'
"Sora?" Came Tai's voice, penetrating her thoughts.
Sora tore her gaze away from the window and turned it to Tai. Tai looked with worry at the crimson eyes that gazed at him. Sora's eyes were usually so full of life, of emotion. But now, they didn't look like her eyes at all.
"Why did you call me, Tai?"
"I was wondering if you were alright."
"I'm fine!" Sora snapped, without thinking, "How many times do I have to tell you?!"
"Excuse me for being worried!" Tai snapped back.
Sora eyed him icily and he averted his gaze. Tai knew that Sora could have quite a temper when she was ready, but it rarely flared up. Tai had only seen part of Sora's temper in the digital world and while defending her friends. He had never seen all of it, and in a way, he was afraid to.
Sora watched Tai drop his gaze. She felt no remorse for her outburst. If he didn't want to get yelled at, then he should stay out of her life. She continued to eye him icily until class began. She then stared at the teacher with a bored expression, the incident with the creature at the window nothing more than a distant memory.
~*~
Sora debated whether or not to sit with her friends at lunch. If she skipped their traditional lunch, her friends would suspect something. She sighed as she joined the lunch line. Having friends was such a hassle. They all claimed to 'love' her and she had never before realized how pathetic love was. Sora moved up in line and dug in her bag for her wallet, but it was not there. Sora continued to search, holding up the line, before remembering that she had left her wallet on the kitchen counter. She cursed angrily and stalked towards her usual table. Upon reaching her table Sora sat down heavily and glanced at her friends. The conversation had lessened noticeably when Sora sat down. She glanced around the table at her friends, but refused to return any of their concerned glances.
"Where is your lunch Sora?"
"It's not here, is it?"
Sora heard Mimi gasp at the harsh comment. Sora glanced at her pink haired friend just in time to see her exchange a worried look with Tai. Sora rolled her eyes. Why must they pretend to care about her? Pathetic.
"Do you want some of my sandwich, Sora? I have a big lunch today."
"Matt, if I wanted some of your food, I would have asked for it. If I'm not hungry then I don't have to eat! Get off my case!"
There was a collective silence at the digidestined table. Sora didn't look at anyone, but as she reflected on her behaviour during the day, she realized that she had been treating everyone badly as a result of anger. And anger was an emotion: the exact things she said she was going to avoid. Sora pushed herself away from the table and walked swiftly out of the cafeteria, leaving six confused people staring after her.
~*~
Sora retreated to the girl's bathroom which, by some miracle, was empty. She stared at her reflection, noting yet again, the changes to her features. Her cheek was not visibly swollen, but it still pained her from time to time. Her back and shoulders caused her pain every time she moved, and though she hadn't been able to look at them, she was certain that the bones were damaged. Sora sighed and her reflection slumped with the same look of defeat.
'No,' she thought, upon noting the look of disconcertion, 'I won't give up. If I feel nothing other than anger, he can't win. As long as I stay a step ahead of him, he can't win.'
Sora composed herself and exited the bathroom right before the bell rang. She made her way against the flow of students towards her French classroom. Mimi sat beside her, but did not talk. Instead, she glanced nervously at Sora from time to time. Matt sat behind Mimi, and when they weren't staring at Sora, the pair would exchange long, meaningful looks. Sora hated it. She was so wrapped up in her anger that she did not notice the strange, black creature pass by the window once again.
~*~
When the end of the day arrived, Sora was the first student to leave. She decided to avoid the bus in order to elude any confrontations with the digidestined. She walked quickly down the street, focusing her gaze on the ground.
"Sora!! Sora, wait!" rang out a voice from behind her.
Sora paused, but did not turn. She did not need to see the owner of the voice to recognize who it was. She had known Tai long enough for that. Sora felt that she could not face Tai. If anyone had the power to see through her lies, it was Tai. Sora increased her pace as if she had not heard Tai at all. She heard him call her name twice more before finally giving up the chase.
'I'm sorry Tai,' she thought, 'but I can't see you right now. Stop caring about me. It would be better for you if you did.'
Sora shook her head in a weak attempt to rid her mind of the words running through it.
'That was the old Sora talking.' She concluded, 'As the new Sora, I don't feel stuff like that. I don't feel anything whatsoever.'
~*~
Sora arrived home and mechanically removed the empty beer bottles from the kitchen and living room. The mess in the house showed that her uncle had been awake, but there was no sign of him now. Sora sighed and began to straighten up the house, her mind completely blank. Her uncle did not appear. At six o'clock, she began to cook dinner, wondering for the first time where her uncle could be. Hours passed, and her uncle did not return. Sora exhaled heavily as she wondered what to do.
'Should I look for him?' she debated, 'I mean, if he ran off and got himself killed, that's not my problem.'
That thought would have shocked Sora before her transformation. Now, it seemed like a perfectly logical thing to think. Her uncle wasn't her responsibility, as far as she was concerned. Her meditations were broken by a figure on the balcony. Sora blinked and the figure was gone.
'I'm seeing things.'
Just then, the front door slammed.
"Wench!"
Sora refused to answer to such a derogatory name, and so remained in the kitchen. She did not have to wait long, for her uncle stumbled into the kitchen. Even from a distance, Sora could smell the alcohol on him. She wrinkled her nose and continued her work.
"Didn't you hear me? I called you."
Sora remained silent once again.
"We're out of beer," her uncle slurred, "so I had to go out and drink at a bar. I don't want to run out of beer ever again. Another one of your jobs is took keep the fridge full of beer. Understand me, slave?"
"I don't know if you have the wits to notice," Sora snapped, "But I am not legally old enough to buy beer." Sora did not care about being polite; she knew her uncle was too drunk to remember anything.
"Don't you mouth off to me! I want beer, and I will get it."
"Then buy it yourself."
Her uncle approached her slowly, emitting a low, sinister laugh. He grabbed Sora's wrists and spun her around so quickly that she yelped in spite of herself.
"Let go of me!"
"Listen Sora, and listen good. I call the shots in this house, and if you don't do what I want, I will make you wish you had never been born."
"Get off."
Her uncle merely gripped her tighter and continued to laugh. He slipped a card into Sora's pocket and said roughly, "That was your mother's ID. You're as ugly as she was, so you should have no trouble pulling it off. I had a friend change the age so that it says you are 21 instead of an old broad. Now, you can buy beer."
"I won't do it."
"Oh yes, you will. Unless you want me to tell everyone the role you played in your parents' death."
Sora stared, caught off guard.
"Oh, so you don't know? I thought everyone knew." He laughed and continued. "Your parents' death was not an accident. They committed suicide because they couldn't stand to be around you. They needed to get away from you, so they killed themselves. But then, that landed you with us, and you screwed up my marriage too. Wench. No one wants you around. You don't know how to show love.not a very good attribute, witch."
"Lair," Sora managed to choke out. "Liar."
"Lying am I? Just ask your parents. Wait, you can't.and it's all your fault."
Sora wrenched herself from her uncle's grasp, bruising her wrists in the process. She ran upstairs, hearing her uncle laugh and call, "I like Labatt."
~*~
Sora collapsed on her bed and let the tears consume her.
'It's not true.no. It can't be true.'
Sora's body shook with sobs as she though about everything her uncle had just said. Were his words merely the ravings of a drunken fool, or was there some truth behind them? Sora remembered something DemiDevimon had told her back in the digital world, 'You don't know what love is.'
Sora's tears did not subside for nearly an hour, and when they did, Sora felt sick. She caused bad things to happen. She destroyed love. Sora viscously tore her crest off her neck and glared at the mocking symbol of love. Sora flung the crest across her room and sank onto her bed feeling hollow. She did not know how much longer she could survive in this atmosphere. Being angry all day had masked her feelings, and she knew she would have to maintain the façade of anger.
It was many hours before Sora calmed enough to fall into a fitful sleep, one she wished she would never awake from.
~*~
Had Sora stayed downstairs, she would have seen the cause of her fury and confusion. After his conversation with Sora, her uncle had collapsed into a chair and soon fell into an alcohol induced sleep. At that moment of stillness, a dark figure rose out of her uncle's body. The figure smiled at its accomplishments and left the house silently, never opening a door or window.
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DW: YAY!!
Irie: O_o You need help.
DW: Yeah, I know. Anyhow, thank you SO much to all my wonderful reviewers. I love you all. I am glad that you are enjoying the story! (
Irie: Please review!!