By: Chibi/Warlordess
Notes: Wow, the second chapter (out of three) of my newest fic, Trauma. Welcome anyone-whose-bothering-to-read-this! Lol. I guess I should have given a reason for Misty's condition... I just sort of thought that, what with her being on the way to Ash's place, and the injuries that were delivered to the audience, via fake doctor, it would have been obvious... I guess that I'll just have to tie it in to this chapter, somehow... Anyway, thanks for the reviews and I hope that you like this next piece!
Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Pokemon. You don't own the right to sue me.
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Ages:
Ash - 17 years old.
Misty - 19 years old.
Brock - 21 years old.
Mrs. Ketchum - 44 years old.
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Trauma
Chapter Two
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"The doctors said that, in about another week or so, I was going to be admitted into a rehabilitation home for physical therapy. So that I can learn to walk right with all of the pain and imbalance, you know?" Misty smiled reassuringly at me and, feeling it grow contagious, I returned it.
"Yea, well, I have nothing better to do so you know I'll be there for you, right?" I grabbed her hand and gave it a slight squeeze, my brow furrowing ever so slightly as the whole memory from three days before echoed once again in my mind.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door and, slightly panicking, I let go of Misty's hand and turned to see a kindly nurse grinning at me through her spectacles.
"Miss Waterflower has more guests." She winked at us and we both turned away, blushing, in quiet denial of anything that may have happened before her arrival at the door.
Suddenly, May, Max, Brock, and my mother all sidled inside the door, balloons, cake, gift bags, and etc. filling their arms. Misty let out half a snort and, after a soft whimper that made my heart race with worry, explained her reaction to me.
"Isn't this ironic? I was on my way to pick you up to take you to this party we all arranged when the accident happened and, well, now there's a party being held for me, here." She gave another, softer laugh so that it wouldn't pain her as much and then turned to the younger Max, who, blushing, handed her a bouquet of wild flowers.
Max Beech had had a crush on Misty for awhile now, almost ever since she had given up Togepi in one of her greatest acts of selflessness so many years ago. He'd thought that she was an exceptional trainer and was awed by her control over her Gyarados. Especially after she had gone and I had let it slip in conversation that she hadn't owned that Pokemon before we split up, meaning that she'd had less time to tame it. And there was always the taking-care-of-Brocks-issues thing, when he'd attempted to jump the princess while she was unaware...
"Wait a minute... What?" I hadn't thought about the whole accident since it'd happened, rather afraid that the nightmare's of something much more horrible than the truth would invade my mind every night and manipulate it, "You were coming to take me to a... Oh, no... Misty, I'm..."
Brock must have heard this little bit of conversation because he rushed over to pull me away, "Can I have a word with you for a moment, Ash?" And he yanked me out the door.
"Brock, why'd I have to do it...? I as good as drove her car into that cement divider on the highway!" I felt myself choke bitterly on the words. I had known before that she was on her way to my place during the time of the accident, but the possibility that I could have been part of the problem... It just made me hate myself... And I have never been the type to hate anything before.
"Ash, don't you dare go all dark and depressed on me! You know damn well that you had absolutely nothing to do with Misty getting into that accident-"
"-Accept being the reason that she was even driving that day!" I grabbed my head and scowled, feeling a lump settle in my stomach, "Ugh! Man, now I feel like a criminal!" I didn't realize it then, but the time that I was spending right then, just moaning about how it felt to be the purpose of Misty's endangerment... Well, I should have known that there were better ways to spend it. But my mind was so riddled with guilt that I couldn't think about anything else. I just... Didn't have the ability to, "How can she even stand to look at me after what I did-"
"-Because she cares that much about you, idiot! Ash, Misty is a smart person! She's not going to blame you for something like this when it's not your fault! Listen to yourself! Do you know how stupid and impossible you're being? You're acting like a living, walking sin. You know fucking better than to be like this. You're better than that." Brock took me by the shoulders and pushed me backward into a chair, "Now, since you're going to act like such a child, I'm going to give you a timeout. Think about all of the crap you've been saying and chuck it into your mental wastebasket. And don't come back into Misty's room until you've chilled out completely." And he left me there to return to the others.
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I picked up the phone and dialed her cell phone number, absentmindedly undoing the knot in the cord...
It rung for about ten seconds before the disconnection beep sounded.
"We're sorry; the number you have dialed is currently unavailable. Please hang up and try again later." I sighed and placed the receiver back on the hook. This was just annoying. Then something occurred to me. Misty always had her cell phone on when she went out. And I knew that it hadn't been disconnected, so... What was going on?
I tried her house next. There was no answer, and Misty's answering machine was broken so I couldn't leave a message. I hung up the phone again and turned around.
Grabbing my jacket and beeper and running for the door, I removed my keys from their place in the lock. I knew something was wrong with this. I leapt down the stairs and made a mad dash for the street beyond my complex, slipping a bit on a small patch of late December ice.
I wandered much more slowly up the road, hoping that maybe I'd come across Misty's car driving past me while on my way. I didn't have a car of my own, so it would take a fifteen minute walk to her house. Unfortunately, I'd have to walk the long trek of the highway, no matter how wide and unsafe it was, because otherwise my walk would extend another fifteen minutes and I didn't feel that I had the time.
I hummed as I walked cautiously, avoiding anymore ice that was along the side of the road.
That's when I saw the detour sign, and the line of cars in front of the exit on the other side of the road. I didn't know what to think. Obviously something big had happened. Squinting a bit I realized that there was a car smashed into the wall dividing the northern and southern ramps. Debris was everywhere and there seemed to be a small spark of fire coming up from under the roof in the front. I whistled in dismay. Someone had obviously gone through a terrible ordeal.
Seeing the authorities, fire department, and ambulance park against the sidelines and begin to forcibly cut apart the surface of the car, I waited for the traffic to go by before making a run for them. I wanted to know what was up, and if I'd still be able to make a pass for Misty's house an exit up the road.
"Er... Excuse me..." I asked one of the officers, who was currently writing out a report and speaking into his walkie-talkie. Apparently the crew wasn't able to handle the accident successfully alone and needed some back-up. When I addressed him, he looked up, a wary expression upon his face, and I continued, "Look, I'm really sorry to disturb you in the middle of this thing, I'm sure that you don't have that much time, but I wanted to know if I could..."
The stretcher from the ambulance scooted past, and a body lay on top of it, an oxygen mask on the patient's face, and a blanket over the lower half of her body. her arms laid limply at her sides and eyes were half-closed and she seemed delirious and half-asleep.
Oh...
One of the paramedics placed a clothed hand on top of a wound on Misty's forehead in order to try and stop the blood from flowing so freely and the other one helped ready the small steel ramp of the hospital truck so that they could jump the stretcher into the back.
My...
That's when I heard a voice screaming. I was screaming. I couldn't get over Misty's disheveled, deathly, unbelievable appearance. My mind couldn't comprehend anything else at that moment, just Misty's face, in and out of view as she lay so still and silent, her glossy ocean like eyes barely able to ring with life.
God...
"Sir, please... I know that this is a bit much for an average man like you, but you need to get out of the vicinity. This is a private incident scene at this time." The man in uniform grasped my shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze, thinking that I was just an innocent bystander who'd never witnessed something such as a stranger in such a horrible predicament.
"Mi..." I cried softly, as the paramedics began to close the doors, "Misty!" I jumped at them before they could lock them shut and tore them open, "Misty; what happened to you!" I shouted desperately, disbelieving as to the fate of my friend. The paramedic that I pushed aside in my haste to see her again looked at me, obviously confused, outraged, and worried. I turned to them, "Please, tell me what happened!"
"Son; you'll have to let the man go." The voice of the officer resounded in my ears and I came to, noticing for the first time that my hands had left the cold handlebars of the truck and were currently grasping the anonymous governmental worker's shoulders, "That's right... Now back away slowly... If you need assistance, I'm willing to help you out..." I felt myself ease off of the first man, "Now, what was it that you needed?"
"My friend...! She's my friend; her name's Misty! She was on her way to my place and she didn't arrive so I called her and she didn't pick up so I was on my way to her place when I saw the accident and I didn't know if it'd be okay and... Don't you dare shut that door just yet!" I yelled as the man from before attempted to continue what he had been doing.
"I'm sorry, but the young lady needs medical attention ASAP. He have to get her to Viridian Central and find her medical records." My last nerves being shot, I tried to make the two men understand.
"Listen...! She's my friend, Misty Waterflower! You have to let me go with her! Please!" I begged desperately, my mind blank of anything else.
"I'm sorry, son, but..." The officers voice died away.
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"Ash... Ash, c'mon... Visiting hours will be over soon. You need to wake up." A female voice called out to me and I opened my eyes, catching myself in the middle of an exhausted yawn. May stood before me with a small smile on her face, but her deep sky blue eyes were still clouded in worry over the situation, "Misty's been requesting your presence." She gave a mock bow and small giggle and helped me up, obviously hoping to make me feel better.
"Please, just don't, May... I can't handle any laughing at this point..."
"Oh... Well... Why don't we talk a bit before you head back inside?" She was the first person who'd asked me to talk about it, about everything. I needed that at this point. I didn't think that I could have taken much more of anything without letting some emotional stress go first.
Giving a nod, I sat back in my seat, "Yea, actually... I think that's exactly what I need."
"So... I-I heard that you were there, you know, when they picked her up... I know this is hard-" She stated nervously, as I gulped at the memory, in order to withdraw any shouts that might have been reaching my throat, "-but I think that these things are best talked about quickly. My mom always told me that keeping things inside is like life. You live alone, you love alone, you die alone. I think that it's great to have friends and family who offer to be there for me, and converse with me when something like this happens. So I think that you'd benefit from it, too." A smile that seemed to reassure me, and my mouth dropped open as I began relaying everything that I could stand to remember.
"The car was so totaled that I couldn't recognize it at first, and so I didn't realize that..." I hardly ever stopped talking, not even to draw a single breath. By the time I was finished, my jaw wasn't the only one that had dropped.
"Wow; Ash, I'm so sorry... I've never seen something that bad, and I really can't believe that you were able to take it... I-I just..." A few tears had found their way to her eyes, "I never knew that you loved her so much, though." She gave me an almost motherly smile, somehow, almost like she was proud of me for something.
"Hang on a minute; I did not say that I was..." I started, but May grabbed my cheeks, a couple tears still falling down her face, and pulled at them, stopping me from talking.
"Please, Ash... You almost assaulted a police officer to ride in the ambulance with her, you never left the hospital after you arrived here, you don't eat at all unless she tells you to go get something... If you don't love her, than I consider it a very obsessive need." She joked.
I laid my head against the cement wall behind me and sighed, "Sometimes I kinda wonder if it is..." The silence that grew between us at this point was a strong one, and it seemed like it was everlasting. Searching for something to talk about, I said, "You know... Misty was... She was on her way to pick me up at my place for a party when-when it happened. I feel so friggen' responsible for this whole mess!" A sudden bridal anger swept over me, and I banged both of my fists into the chair arms, "Do you know how that feels, May? To be the cause of a friend almost losing their life? It's like a fork in the road; I took the wrong direction and made Misty take the fall for me...!"
Great; now I was crying. I felt like a foolish child who didn't understand the world and how it worked. Like a part of me was reverting back to my days as a Pokemon Trainer, when life was simple. Just train your Pokemon right, battle your hardest, and beat Team Rocket every single time they decided to attack so inconveniently.
"Ash, please...! You weren't even there when the accident happened! Maybe if you were superstitious and had wished her unwell today then you'd have a right to think that but right now, it just won't work! I won't pity you for something that you had nothing to do with... However, I will be a friend and help get you through something you couldn't help." She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me close, and, surprisingly, this pissed me off even more.
Just let go... Just let go... Just let go... Just let go!
"Just let go of me, May!" I tugged away fiercely and heard her fall ungraciously to the floor.
She looked up at me with an expression that I couldn't decipher and I finally realized what a stupid move I'd just made. I couldn't seem to stop myself, though. It just seemed like she was some stranger, forcing her way into my private territory. And, for some unexplainable reason, I couldn't let her do that. So I just reacted.
"Ash..." She eased herself off of the linoleum floor and stepped backward, sighing.
"May, I'm sorry..." She was the only one who seemed to know that I wanted to talk about it... She was the only one who knew that I needed to talk about it... She was the only one, besides Misty, who could truly understand me right now...
"Ash, Misty really wants to talk to you before the nurses do their rounds and force us all to leave. I'm going to go get a... I'm just going to go." May gave a weak grin and started walking towards the elevator.
"I... I'm sorry! I'm real sorry, May!" I tried, hoping that she'd come back.
She turned quickly and winked assuredly at me, as if using that incomprehensible reasoning that I'd never known her to possess until today, "You've got nothing to apologize for, accept whatever you've left unsaid."
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Notes: One more chapter to go, I guess. Now I'm not so sure... Anyway, review me and let me know what you think, email me if you have some suggestions or whatnot, or if you just want to chat! I'm a friendly lil' Pokeshipper, yes I am! Heh, heh... Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope that you still plan on staying tuned for the next update!