"And with this, I conclude today's lesson and wish you all a good day," The teacher said, closing her book that she teaches her students with, with a tired smile. Her students, glad that school was finally over, all started to pack their things. Some were packing their stuff so fast it almost seemed like the building was on fire and they wanted to save everything. With how hot it was now in the room, that thought seemed all the more likely. And one very neatly dressed, blond haired girl was packing her own things like that too. As she did that, her best friend walked up to her desk with a bright and excited smile on her face.
"Hey Sarah, me and the others wanted to go get something cold to drink, and then maybe go to the park. Do you want to come?" She asked with a smile, expecting her friend to probably say yes, especially since this was such a hot day. But her friend, who was packing her things quickly, stopped and gave her an apologetic look.
"Sorry, I have somewhere to go today…you know..." Sarah said, sounding very sorry, but she had to go somewhere really important. She couldn't wait another day for this. Her friend sighed but gave her a weak, understanding smile.
"Your little secret again? When are you going to tell me about it?" She asked. She understood that friends had to keep secrets from one another but still, the way Sarah acted about this and how secretive she was about it did worry her. "You always disappear every week and don't tell me what's going on…"
"Soon, I promise you…please don't be mad at me I promise I'll explain it very soon..." Sarah quickly said again, taking her filled bag over her shoulder and walking as quickly as possible out of the classroom, hoping her friend would forgive her...before stopping for a second after she was through the door.
"Where does she always run to? And why is it so important to her?" Her friend mumbled to herself, looking after her and wondering if one of these days, she should just follow Sarah to wherever. But she then saw Sarah coming back smiling at her.
"Hey, I know. Next time we go out, I'll spend you the biggest ice cream that you want. I promise." She said, imagining how her friend must be worried for her and wanting to do something nice as an apology. This is the least she could do, after leaving her friend in the dark like that.
"Alright, but I promise you, it won't be cheap." The other girl laughed a little, becoming less worried about Sarah, deciding she would trust her friend more with this.
"Deal." Sarah laughed. And with a smile and a much more relaxed heart, Sarah left the classroom again.
Sarah walked through the first half of the forest quickly, before starting to slow down a bit. She took a couple of breaths as she took in the sight of the forest, the leaves of the trees blocking the strong sunlight and giving everything a darker look. The leaves, the tree trunks, the bushes, the Pokemon hiding in them...it was an interesting sight to see. Sarah began to walk down the path with a smile. And as she walked on it almost automatically, she remembered the first time that she did. The one reason why she's always going here at least once a week.
The first time she had walked this path, the sun was just starting to go down. She and her friends learned in school about an old abandoned mansion somewhere in the forest close to their city. It belonged to some rich and noble person, before it apparently, and without any warning, started to burn from the inside, destroying it from room to room. The weirdest thing was that nobody could find the cause for the fire, and it never destroyed the building completely nor did it spread over to the forest. But then the fire suddenly disappeared according to people, who saw it. As if it never happened. And the person, who the mansion belonged to, was never found after the fire. This led to many different stories and theories surrounding this fire and it's origin. This led to Sarah and her friends doing a for teenagers like them usual, stupid dare to stay in this scary mansion for the night. The worst thing that could happen is that they would come across some dark and ghost type Pokemon that scared them. The thought of getting scared made them immediately run away at a small, sudden sound. Sarah, who fell while running away herself, was left behind to confront and meet, what made this sound. Her friends didn't notice that she was gone until the next day, as they apologized for this.
Just as Sarah was remembering that, she could already see the dark, broken building coming into her view between all the trees. Surrounded by broken iron fences, there was no need to climb to get in. Sarah always thought this building had something pretty sad about it, all the work that the people and Pokemon put it into this mansion only for most of it to be destroyed in one single night.
But as she walked over what was probably the courtyard back then, Sarah had to admit there was something beautiful about all of this too. Pokemon were playing around, grass and other plants starting to grow everywhere, the sun shining here strongest in comparison to the rest of the forest...life was just returning to this dark place. She walked past a Pikachu and a group of Pichus eating and sharing a berry, ignoring her, since the Pokemon were now used to her coming here every week. She smiled at them and kept going towards the big door, opening it up with a push and walking inside.
If the courtyard was the most beautiful place of this destroyed mansion, then the giant entrance hall Sarah was standing in was definitely the creepiest. Just like before with the trees, not a lot of sunlight was coming through the dirty windows and cracks in the walls and ceilings. The only sound was the wind, coming through the cracks through all of the rooms, not helping this place's creepy atmosphere at all. Also, something about this room just felt so...empty. This used to be a place to welcome people, but now it was to scare them away. It was an easy tell, that dark and ghost types love this place in the night, as she could attest to. Even during the day, this could be a good hiding place for these kinds of Pokemon. Despite this, Sarah took a deep breath.
"Hey, I'm back. Are you there?" She called out loudly, her voice echoing through the rooms. She didn't need to wait for long, the reason for her visit came jumping out of one of the rooms, happily smiling at seeing her. It looked like a small white candle that had a purple flame and a face with yellow eyes.
It was a Litwick.
"Hey there. Did you miss me?" She smiled at it, picking the Pokemon up in her hand. It let out happy noises, smiling at the girl examining its purple flame. "Oh no, your flame looks pretty weak. Well, it's a good thing that I came then…"
With a smile Sarah walked into the saloon of the mansion. It had a fireplace, a bunch of black sofas around it and a few broken cabinets. It was also one of the few places where the sun managed to get through the windows. She sat down on one of the sofas, smiling wider at the Litwick.
"Well it's been a while since we saw each other, isn't it? A lot had happened in the last week. Where to even begin..." She wondered, before just starting to talk about...anything really. Her school, how she spent time with her friends, how she argued with her parents, whatever that came into the girl's head at the moment. All the while the Litwick just sat in her hands, listening and smiling. While it's flame flickered around.
She talked and talked, not paying attention to how the flame started to grow bigger than it was before.
She remembered her first meeting with this Pokemon, remembering how scared and how hungry it looked. She remembered learning how these Pokemon needed to eat the life force of a human...yet she couldn't just leave it behind.
So just like now, she picked it up and told it could eat until she didn't feel good anymore, then it had to stop. A kind of friendship blossomed between them which is why since then, she visited the mansion again and again to see her friend.
Sarah looked at the Litwick.
"Oh, it seemed like you're satisfied and full..." She said. Her throat sounded sore. and her skin looked a lot paler now, her eyes looked weak and had small dark rings under them. She looked like she would break down anytime. Slowly, Sarah moved her head, seeing the sun slowly starting to go down. She smiled and put the little candle down.
The Litwick looked up at her, it's childish smile turning into a worried and sad look, that the Pokemon made Sarah feel weak again. But then, it felt a hand rubbing its cheek.
"Don't...worry. I am...more than happy to...help you…get something to eat..." She brought out with another weak smile, but it seemed to do the trick, the Litwick now smiling weakly back at her, still sad, that he hurt.
"I'm sorry...but I have to go now. I promise I will bring a Pokeball soon...I'm going to buy one this week...I promise…" she said with a weak smile. Upon hearing that, the Litwick smiled at her a little more, more than happy to have her as it's trainer.
"Yes, soon I'll...take you home...with me…just wait for a little bit..." Sarah said, before opening the door and leaving the mansion once more, knowing that she'll take her friend with her soon.