 | Chapter 1
Once upon a time, I had a perfect family. When I was a very little girl, to young to even remember properly, I had two loving parents, an older sister, and a grandmother. We lived in a little house in Sunnytown, but the house looked okay, we ate 3 times a day, and we got new clothes before they were so small they were tearing at the seams.
But before I was really old enough to realize how lucky I was, things started to change. When I was only 3 years old, my father died in a terrible boating accident. My mom started working double shifts, and my grandmother sold her own little house, gave mom the money and moved in with us to look after my sister Lorelei and I while mom was at work. She was the best grandmother ever. It was she who gave me my Ekans and Lorelei her Lapras for Christmas the year we were 5 and 7.
When I was 6, tragedy struck again. My grandmother died of a heart attack. Lorelei and I had to look after ourselves after school, since mom couldn't afford to pay a baby-sitter. Mom also got remarried that year, and at first, we had our second great dad.
But things weren't like when I had my real family any more, or even like when my mom first married my step-dad, or when Grandma lived with us.
As we spent most evenings when we were at home, Lorelei and I were locked in our room. It was a Friday night in January, around 6:30 PM, and no, we weren't in trouble. We were home alone, and hiding from our stepfather.
"Do you think Tom will be home from the bar soon?" I asked, "Should we make supper?"
"Hmmm?" Lorelei looked up from whatever she was doing at her desk. It was either school stuff or Pokemon stuff, and believe me, she's a genius in both. Her latest average, on her Grade 7 midterms, was 95%, and 4 years ago, she had become the youngest person ever to defeat a member of the Elite Four. Eight-year old Lorelei the ice trainer had won against Pokemon Master Eduardo, the fire trainer, with only a Lapras, a Shellder, and a Slowpoke.
"Should we make supper?" I repeated, "Because you know Tom likes it on the table
when he gets home." Tom was our stepfather. For about 4 years, we'd called him Dad, but now that he was an unemployed loser who spent all his time at a bar, we called him Tom, but not to his face. Tom was not the kind of person you wanted to get mad.
"No," Lorelei said, "After tonight, I'll never have to see Tom again, and if you were smart, you wouldn't either."
"You mean you're running away?" I asked, "If you get caught, Tom will kill you! Literally!"
We heard the house door open, and Tom came in, yelling, "Girls! Where's my dinner?"
"I have a plan!" Lorelei said, "Just pack some stuff in a bag, and come with me!"
I did as she said. I dumped all of my school stuff out of my school bag. It was old, falling apart, and I'd had it since kindergarten, but it was all I had, so it would have to do. I quickly grabbed the rest of my clothes, which were few and also falling apart, Ekans' Pokeball, and a picture of my real whole family, shoved it all in the bag, and followed Lorelei out into the hallway, hoping she knew what she was doing.
"Why isn't my food on the table?" Tom demanded, but he stumbled over his words and had obviously had too much to drink.
"Sorry T...Dad," Lorelei caught herself, "You have to eat alone tonight!"
"Why?" Tom demanded, cornering us in the dead-end hall.
"I'm sleeping over at Erika's," Lorelei lied, "And Jessie's sleeping over at Cassidy's."
"I don't know about this..." Tom said.
"Mom does," Lorelei continued, "And she should be home from work at 11:00, so she'll tell you all about it then."
"Maybe I should call her at work."
"Our phones are dead," I said, "We could only pay one bill this month, and we decided that heating was more important."
"I can't use the phone!" He exclaimed, lunging at us, and we dove out of the way just in time. The only thing about this was that we were now on the floor, and fair game for his next kicking attack. We were saved by one thing: the fact that he was drunk and lost his balance as he turned to kick the other person. My legs, which I'd used to shield the rest of my body, were bruised and aching so hard that I don't know how I managed to get up and run over to the door.
"We're not going to our friends' houses," I yelled, "We're running away!" I don't know why I told him, maybe I hoped that he realized what he was doing to us, or feel sorry. But that didn't make any sense, since he was drunk, and incapable of human emotions.
"Running away?" Tom got up and started to stumble over to us. I was scared stiff, but all he did was throw a vase at us, which didn't hit us, just skinned my arm before smashing on the wall. He yelled, "Then get going, and don't come back! I hate you kids anyway!"
Lorelei and I ran out the door as Tom started trashing the kitchen. It was dark and snowy outside, and we weren't even wearing coats, since we didn't have any. "Where are we going to go now?" I asked.
"Cassidy's?" Lorelei suggested, "Or are you two still fighting?" Cassidy was the only person who didn't hate me because I was so poor, but we still got into a lot of fights. I don't even know if I could call her my friend.
"Yeah," I said, "And her dad hangs out at the bar with Tom, so once Tom changes his mind, he could find out where we are. How about your friend Erika's?"
"She lives in Celadon City. I don't think we can walk there."
No. But look! There's the mall! Wanna go inside and warm up?" I suggested. I loved the mall, even though I never had money to buy anything. Lorelei agreed.
The smell of fast food filled the mall, since there were restaurant stands everywhere. It reminded me of how hungry I was, since I hadn't eaten anything that day except for half a toast at breakfast. "Lorelei, do you have any money?" I asked.
"You know I don't," Lorelei answered, "But isn't this the place with the broken candy machines?"
The mall had some of those machines where you are supposed to put in a quarter, turn the crank, and get candy. But these ones, like everything else in my neighborhood, were primitive and broken. They couldn't tell pennies, sweet tarts, or pieces of play money from quarters!
We ran down to the candy machines. As usual, there were candies all over the floor. We stuck them in the machines, turned the crank, and there was our sugary dinner!
"Aw, did you eat all the skittles?"
I looked up from getting my fifth helping and emptying a machine. There was a boy about my age. He had purple hair and was wearing an expensive-looking suit.
"Yeah," I said, "But there's still jelly beans, sweet tarts, and Reeses pieces."
"No, there's not," Lorelei yelled from the other side of the candy stand, "I just finished the Reeses."
"Oh. Well, I'll have some jelly beans," He said, putting a quarter into the machine.
"Don't use a quarter!" I exclaimed.
"But it says 25 cents!" He protested.
"These machines are crap," I said, "Use a penny, or one of those candies on the floor."
"Isn't that stealing?"
"Nope. Even Lorelei says it's not, and usually she's yelling at me not to
'extended-borrow-without-permission.' I mean, you are paying it something!"
"Lorelei? She must be special if she gets to decide what's stealing and what's not!"
"Yes, Queen Lorelei, who's over there eating the Reeses, is very special. By the way, I'm Jessie. What brings a guy like you to Not-so-Sunnytown?"
"I'm James and I'm running away from my evil parents and fiancee. Wanna see my hiding spot, I've been here for a few days."
"Hey, Lorelei," I called, "This is James. James, Lorelei. Want to go to his secret hiding spot?
Chapter 2
James led us to the back corner of a furniture store, where there was a bunk bed set up. We crawled behind it, and James revealed his secret stash of donuts under the bed. They were his favourite food, but after the store closed at 8:00, he gave us each one.
We found out that James was 10, just like me, and that he'd run away from home because his parents were trying to force him to marry a girl who beat him with a whip. He'd ran away about a week ago.
We went to sleep that night on James' bunk bed, with James on the top and Lorelei and me squished on the bottom. We spent the next day, since the store wasn't open on weekends, playing with the computers, TV's and stereos in the electronics department, and trying out comfortable beds and chairs.
But the security guards had caught us on camera. I'm surprised that they had a working camera in a dump like Sunnytown, but I'm not surprised that the guard waited until we were asleep to come after us, being too lazy to chase us. I woke up to James screaming and a flashlight in my eyes.
"What are you kids doing here?" The security guard demanded, "And who are you?"
"WAAA!!!" James screamed, "We got locked in over the weekend!" It wasn't a lie, either. We had been locked in, even if we were trying to be.
Lorelei stepped forward, "We were shopping with our parents and we got separated from them and we got locked in the store," She lied, "I'm Mary, and that's my sister, Suzy, and my brother, Sam."
"Mary, Suzy, and Sam?" The guard asked, "And if you're all related, why are you two wearing rags and he's wearing a suit? And why didn't your parents report that you were missing?"
"Sam's their favourite," Lorelei continued, "But we were annoying them, so maybe they don't want us back."
"Do you kids live around here?"
"Oh, no!" Lorelei said, the only creative thing in that whole conversation, "We're pokemon trainers from the Orange Islands."
"Pokemon trainers, huh?" The guard asked, "Speaking of pokemon, you look like that girl with the Lapras who lives in Sunnytown and beat Eduardo a while back. But her name wasn't Mary, it was something unusual."
"Um, yeah," Lorelei said, "She's my long lost identical twin, and I as going to visit her when you people trapped me in this store. So, we'll be going now!"
We ran through the store, and luckily, the door unlocked from the inside and led outside. Because they had a camera, we were almost expecting an alarm, but there wasn't. The guard didn't even bother chasing us.
"Where are we going now?" I shivered.
"If it's all the same to you guys, I'd like to go to Pewter City," Lorelei said.
"Why?" James asked, "The weather is even worse there!"
"I want to start getting pokemon gym badges," Lorelei explained.
"Lorelei!" I exclaimed, "That's so beneath you! You know where we're going? To the Indigo Plateau so you can challenge the Elite Four again!"
"And it's summer on the Indigo Plateau!" James said.
"Thanks, guys!" Lorelei said, "Let's get going!"
About a week later, we arrived at the plateau. Lorelei didn't even have the 6 pokemon you were allowed to use in battle, she only had 5: Lapras, Slowbro, Shellder, and her newest two, Seel and Jynx. I offered her Ekans, and James offered his Koffing, but she refused.
"But we're still coming with you!" I insisted.
"And I'll be a cheerleader!" He pulled a pink skirt and a pompom made from a garbage bag out of his backpack.
"Um...okay," Lorelei said. I guess she didn't know what to say to James crossdressing. She took a deep breath, walked into the first gym and announced, "Hello, Eduardo! I'd like to challenge you again!"
The battle begun. Lorelei used Shellder, since it could hide from the flames in its shell. After defeating two of Eduardo's pokemon, Shellder evolved into Cloyster. But after defeating 2 more pokemon, Cloyster was defeated by Eduardo's last pokemon. Lorelei had
to use Slobro, but she was once again victorious. James did a strange cheer as she went into the gym of the next challenger, Bruno.
Bruno was a fighting trainer, so he wasn't as difficult as Eduardo. Lorelei used Seel, and even though it was almost defeated, Lorelei won with only one pokemon. James sang through the whole match.
Her next challenger was Agatha, the ghost trainer. Lorelei had to use 2 pokemon: Slobro, which was defeated, and Jynx, which was almost defeated. She also had to try not to laugh at James' dumb cheers. But she won and went on to her final challenger: Lance, the leader of the Elite Four.
Lorelei used Jynx and Seel first, and between the two of them, she defeated one pokemon. It did not look good for her until I saw something on the ground: a candy! I picked it up, and it was unlike any candy I'd even seen before. It must be a rare candy, which helps pokemon in battle!
"Lorelei, catch!" I threw her the candy. She caught it, and looked at it in amazement. It was not against the rules to use rare candies battling the Elite Four, and many trainers used one on each of their pokemon. Lorelei used it on her Lapras. It came down to a close battle between Lapras and Lance's Dragonite, but I can still remember the moment when Dragonite fell to the ground, taking it's final blow. Lorelei had defeated the Elite Four!
"Good battle!" Lance said, "Although if it weren't for that rare candy, I would have had you! You're pretty good, actually. So good that if only you had a degree from Pokemon Tech. and an evolved Seel, I'd give you Eduardo's job!"
"Will that offer stand in a few years?" Lorelei asked.
"I can't believe it!" Lorelei exclaimed, "Lance invited me to join the Elite Four, and all I have to do is evolve Seel and go to pokemon tech!" Needless to say, we got on the road right away. Pokemon tech was far away, so it took us a few months to get there.
Lorelei suggested that James and I take the entrance exam, too, so we could stay together. Lorelei got the highest mark. James and I got the lowest and weren't accepted.
"Where are we going to go now?" James asked when we were back wandering the streets, but as a twosome now.
"I know where you're going to go!" Two people who looked about 18 and had big red R's on their shirts appeared behind us, "You're going to go to the Team Rocket base and join up!"
"Who are you?" I asked, "And what's Team Rocket?"
"Team Rocket's the greatest! It's an organization where you steal pokemon for the boss and get rich! How old are you kids?" The Rockets said.
"We just turned 11," Said James proudly, "And we'd love to get rich!"
"Great! Come with us, and we'll sign you up!" The Rockets said.
Chapter 3
The training for Team Rocket was tougher than I ever could have imagined. It was exhausting, and some days, I got even more beat up than when Tom came home drunk. But after 2 years, James and I made it. At 13, we became members of Team Rocket and were assigned partnership.
"Know any good places to steal pokemon?" James asked me.
"No, but I know someone I want to get revenge on. An old enemy," I said. I dragged James back to Sunnytown with me, but I didn't tell him that I'd lived there. I thought I could finally get Tom back for what he did to me. After all, I was 3 years older, and a whole lot taller and stronger. I actually looked my age, since Team Rocket fed their new recruits as long as they did well in training.
I got back to Sunnytown to find commotion at my old house. I covered my Team Rocket uniform with a sweater, then ran over. There was an ambulance and police car there, and Lorelei was home.
"Lorelei! What happened?" I exclaimed.
"Jessie!" She said between sobs, "I just got here, but Tom attacked Mom! They're taking her to the hospital and Tom's going to jail!"
A neighbor drove us to the hospital so we could see how Mom was. James came too, but he was really good about it. He felt really sorry for us, and bought us drinks. He must've known that I didn't like to tell people about my past, because although he showed concern for us and our mother, he never referred to anyone by their relationship to me or asked about the past.
After not very long, a doctor came out and told us that Mom had to have surgery, but it was supposedly a routine procedure. We got to see her through a window before they took her into the operating room. But then Lorelei and I spent a nervous 2 hours crying in the waiting room while James tried to comfort us and brought us snacks and pop.
Then, the doctor came back. Lorelei and I jumped up and asked him how she was doing.
"Girls, do you have any other relatives?" The doctor asked.
"Just our Mom," I said, "Why?"
"Well, I'm not supposed to give kids news like this when they're alone, but I guess I'll have to. I'm sorry, girls, but your mother didn't make it through the surgery."
"You mean she's..." Lorelei couldn't say it.
"I'm very sorry," The doctor repeated.
"But you said it was a routine procedure!" I yelled, "That means you've done it lots of times and she'd be okay! You killed her!" It took both James and Lorelei to restrain me from killing him (not literally killing, though). Then we cried our eyes out, truly alone in the world.
We hadn't planned on going to the prison to see Tom, but since Mom was dead, we thought we should let him know that he was a murderer. We had to wait a while to talk to him, though, so Lorelei asked Officer Jenny what Bob's sentence would be. People in Sunnytown had never heard of a trial, the police always gave out their own sentence.
"It depends on what happens to his wife," Officer Jenny said, "How do you girls know him? I can't give out too much information."
"He was our mother's husband," Lorelei said. He didn't deserve the title of stepfather, "But our mother died."
"If your mother died, and because Tom has been reeking havoc throughout the town, he'll get life in the maximum security prison," Officer Jenny said.
"Isn't it illegal not to give him a trial?" James asked.
"Not in Sunnytown," I answered.
Finally, we were allowed to go with another officer into a room to talk to Tom.
"They'll tell you that I'm innocent!" Tom pleaded to the officer.
"No, we won't!" I said, "You're guilty! You're an abusive alcoholic who beat his stepdaughters until they ran away and now you've murdered your wife!"
"Oh my God!" Tom said, "She's dead! What have I done?"
"You killed our mother, Tom!" Lorelei said. This time she was not afraid to call him by his first name, but I could tell she was about to cry. She finished, "And that's all we came to tell you. Have a nice life in prison." Then she dragged me out of the room, back out to where we had been waiting. Then, we both had another long cry.
Lorelei and I also had to plan a funeral for Mom. It was the hardest thing I've ever done, we cried the whole time. But we made sure it was really nice, and this was possible because of a bunch of money that Lorelei had won in a pokemon tournament. We also found Mom's will. Lorelei had always been everyone's favourite, since she was so perfect, so she got the house. I got everything else, but none of it was worth much.
Mom's funeral was the hardest day of my life, harder than all the days of Toms abuse, living on my own, Team Rocket training, or anything yet to come. I couldn't believe that my mother was dead, that I hadn't said goodbye, that the last time I saw her was from behind a hospital window. I hadn't really seen her in 3 years, and I'd left her alone with Tom. In a way, I felt responsible.
I went home and started packing. I couldn't stay there any longer. I had to forget the past, leave everything behind me, start all over. But I also started bawling my eyes out. James came and sat down beside me. He put his arm around me, but thankfully, said nothing.
I left that night and didn't come back. I also stopped crying and never started again. In the 4 years since, I have never cried, or returned to Sunnytown, and James seems to have forgotten the whole incident. He also forgets who Lorelei is, but I guess it's better that way.
I felt bad for leaving Lorelei, but I didn't need to. A year later, Lorelei graduated from Pokemon Tech, fulfilling the criteria Lance had given her. She took over Eduardo's job and became the newest member of the Elite Four.
As for me and James, we work on Team Rocket with Meowth. Everything was going great until we ran into those stupid twirps. Then we got electrocuted and blown up, almost as a daily ritual.
It was actually becoming a new routine for me, chasing that Pikachu with my only two friends, then failing. Until something happened that turned my life upside down... (But if you haven't already, you'll have to read "Home for the Holidays" to find out what that is!)
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