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- 14
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- Seen May 14, 2015
[preamble]
maybe that day was the [ending] to an
entire p a r t of my life.
or maybe it was the [BEGINNING] to a
brighter horizon.
and...
my p a r e n t s may have drown
that day...
but i'm the dead man swimming.
________________________
[chapters]
[0]
maybe that day was the [ending] to an
entire p a r t of my life.
or maybe it was the [BEGINNING] to a
brighter horizon.
and...
my p a r e n t s may have drown
that day...
but i'm the dead man swimming.
________________________
[chapters]
[0]
__________________________________________________
[zero]
I kicked my feet against the water at the crowded dock of the S.S. Anne. I thought it sounded like joy, like peace, like everything in this world was completely at balance, like nothing could go wrong. But what you think isn't always right. I've only heard that phrase a million and two times.
I stared at the two red and white balls latched around my waist. Inside them were something I called my own, something no one could ever take away from me. And inside the one one the right I knew there was an Eevee pleading to get out, likewise on the left there was a selfish, loyal Crawdaunt indifferent to coming out of his solitary ball.
Just then, I hear someone calling my name. Even amongst the meaningless banter of the natives, the cruisers, and the tourists, I'm able to make it out. It's usually a voice as soft as silk and as lovely as a harp, but right now it's rushed and irritated. It's my moms voice.
"Nick," I hear her calling my name. "Nick," she repeats until she gains my attention. I glance over at her and she motions me to come to her. Beside her is my four year-old sister Dacia, finger in her mouth, blue eyes popping out of her head, blonde hair falling above her shoulders. She gives me a toothless smile when we make eye contact.
When I'm about to get up, I see a larger man walking amongst the people, and he is obviously not watching where he is going. As I'm bending my knees to stand straight up, his sandal hits the right side of my waist and knocks a little red and white ball into the vast North Kantic ocean. It's moving slowly, though, and is not more than a couple of feet within my reach. And without thinking twice...I jump into the icy water.
The five seconds I'm underwater seem like five hours. You wouldn't believe the amount of underwater pokemon. There's Staryu and Starmie, floating by the Great Vermillion Reef, a family of Horsea, Seadra, and Kingdra migrating into a dark cave, and a school of Magikarp and Feebas to mention a few. It's truly the Kanto region, at its finest.
When my head bobs up and wakes up from the dream of a million Pokemon, I hear my mom gasping. There's still dozens of people moving back and forth across the dock, but she plows her way through to see if I'm okay. "I'm fine," I tell her, and she regains a sense of relief on her face.
"You should get up here," she tells me. "This cruise leaves in less than two minutes and your father and I cannot afford to miss this." I nod my head and she walks back to the other side of the dock, more calmly this time. Now comes Dacia, who is chipper about the situation.
"Brother! Nick! I sawed you fall in the water..." She says with another toothless smile and a tiny giggle. Then she cocks her head and points behind me. "What's that floaty thing out there? Is it a bobber? Is it, Nick?" My eyes widen. I completely forgot about the Pokeball. Luckily, it's only a few feet away from me and I climb back onto the dock and into the ship just on schedule.
When the four of us arrive at the front desk, there's an attendant there who has a helping smile. You know, the kind of helping smile that flight attendants use, that no matter how pissed off you are you have to maintain that smile. "Hi, sir, how may I help you?"
I look at her nametag. Her name is Heather. My father interrupts my observations. "Hi," he says with an obviously fake smile. "We have reservations her for room 103A...Two adults, two children."
With that, the attendant comes out from behind her desk and gets down to Dacia's size and asks with another smile, which this time seems more meaningful, "Hi there, cutie, how old are you?" In a nervous breakdown, Dacia shrieks and runs behind my mom, who smiles at the attendant when she gets up. "She's just shy," she tells her.
The attendant looks at me, scans me up and down, then quickly looks away, back at her computer. She's typing frantically on her keyboard, probably pressing most of the wrong keys. I scratch my head in skepticism.
Once again, my dad interrupts by clearing his throat. "So, um, the reservations?" He asks, a crooked smile upon his face.
She continues to type frantically, but abruptly stops. "Oh, yes, the reservations..." she's working at a slower pace now. I scratch my head again. "103A...103A..." She says, searching through a list of rooms. "Um, sir, room 103A is booked."
My mom and dad look at each other. "That's quite impossible," my mom says. "We have had these reservations for months." My mom is beginning to get irritated again.
"Um, that's what the computer says..." She informs my mom. "Hold on. I'll go get my manager." She walks off, down a long, wide hallway of luxury rooms.
My parents and Dacia are looking around the lobby, noticing the beautiful architecture and the murals of beautiful Pokemon like Milotic on the walls. Me? I find myself walking down a narrow hallway with tiled floors and sheet-rocked walls. Less luxurious.
All of the sudden, I am jolted forward. I hear glass breaking, windows shattering, infants crying, pokemon panicking, and all else screaming. I hear water. I hear the boat.
Sinking.
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