Broken Souls

Goldenrod

A silence drifts through the forest, the type of silence that accompanies questions that should remain unanswered. The silence spooks my Pokemon, who glance uncomfortably around and nail anything that comes even close to us. I'd reassure them, but my stomach churns at just the thought of having to explain the entire ordeal to them.

My brain murmurs terrible things, whining for things I have no control over. I block it out, my eyes squinted with pain. Tears brim at their edges and my nostrils flare with a single deep inhale.

"Ashley," calls Ten. "Ashley?"

"You don't have to tell us anything if you don't want to! Please don't cry!" Sunny calls, bouncing after me.

"I'm not going to." I tell her. "Not this time."

Sunny chirrups sadly as she follows. D'spinas spears another Bellsprout through the stem and then races past me, viciously slicing down the foliage ahead of us. As it clears, I see the welcoming green building in the distance, the massive 'checkpoints' between routes that invite us back to civilization.
Pushing through, I emerge on the other side. The route before us is a short one, primarily sunny with a few trees lining the sides, and the whole thing just happens to be right beside the ocean. It's not getting dark quite yet, but the sun is obviously on the decline in the sky. If I'm going to do anything, I should probably do it now.

"You guys want to grind some?" I ask.

The entire team groans in dismay.

"I'll take that as a 'no'. Luckily for you guys, I don't really want-" I slide my bag up over my back. "-to grind right now."
"Well then. Better find some other way to pass the time." Reginae looks up hopefully. "Story time?"

My fists clench. "No, I'm not going to talk about Morty."

"Just tell us who he was!"
"Who he is." Now I'm lying to them too. It's not like they'll know the difference when we meet... him. "He's the next gym leader. He was the one who taught me about Goldeneyes. I learned almost everything from him."

"Right after I died, right?" Ten asks. "Was his gym hard?"

"Yes." I say bitterly. "Yes, yes it was."

"You don't seem all that happy about seeing him again. Did you hate him?"
"Ha!" I stop myself before I say anything stupid. "No," I continue smoothly, "No. Definitely not."

The team approaches a small house right in the middle of the route and I pause.

"Can we go?" asks D'spinas, aggravated by the wait.

There's a familiar smell about it, something like old things and cinnamon and something that's so unmistakably Ethan that it makes my eyes water. "I remember this house."

I tap the door and two elderly people attend to it, practically joined at the hip. They beam at me, but there's a sadness in their eyes. I remember the day-care man and lady from my last journey, who just so happen to be Ethan's grandparents. They're probably friends with my mom on social networking. They've probably seen my baby pictures.

"H-hello?" I stutter.

"Come in, come in!" The woman sounds less than enthusiastic, but she smiles anyways. "You must be Ashley."

"I- I need somewhere to store my Pokemon for a minute... and possibly also somewhere to stay the night?"

"We'd be happy to have you here for as long as you need." she says kindly, giving me a warm pat on the back.

"Thanks," I state, attempting to sound somewhat sympathetic. It falls through immediately and I bite my lip and slide my arms into their coat pockets.