Aftermath || Sequel to The World Without Them [HIATUS]

01 | Reflection

Everything was quiet in the house. Rain pattered lightly against the window pane, the droplets running down the glass before disappearing into the grain of the wooden walls. A gust whistled past, taking with it the last of the dead leaves that had remained through autumn. The drone of vehicles hurrying up the street was barely audible over the sounds of nature, and yet the lone visitor tuned it all out with his thoughts.

Silence had never seemed so loud.

Frost Statice sat on the mattress of the bed that once belonged to him in the room he used to call his own. There was almost nothing left that indicated he had ever occupied the place. Everything was familiar, and yet none of it felt as if it were his.

He sat in a stranger's space.

The reality of all the events that had occurred over the last several months seemed to weigh heavier on the boy's shoulders the moment he had walked through the door. It felt like years since he had last stepped foot in Silverkeep City, let alone inside the structure he had lived in for the vast majority of his life. Memories that he had hoped to bury haunted Frost's mind as he stared blankly at the opposite wall.

Crushing loneliness and broken promises were the only things left in the house.

After the murder and burial of his father, Dakota Statice had left Silverkeep City and their home behind. Frost hadn't tried to get a hold of her, but from what he had heard she had since sought refuge with family friends elsewhere. That news had just about broken his heart. He could only imagine how grief-stricken and alone his only remaining parent was, and yet there was nothing he could bring himself to do. The teen knew that he would never be able to look her in the eye again.

The sound of the door downstairs opening snapped Frost out of his whirlwind of thoughts. He listened, unmoving, as a pair of footsteps made their way up the stairs and came to a stop outside the closed bedroom door. A quiet knock sounded, and moments later the knob turned to reveal a familiar face with a head of emerald green hair.

"Hey, is everything alright?" Sage Tooley asked, her eyes glancing around the now dusty space. "You've been in here for awhile."

Frost nodded and cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"I'm glad then. I honestly didn't think coming here was a good idea at first." The greenette's expression went from calm to somewhat worried, making Frost furrow his eyebrows. Seeing the look he was giving her, she opened her mouth to speak again. "I just got a call from Acacia. She said that all the representatives have arrived."

The boy's heart leaped in his chest at her words. Finally, after so many months of waiting, he would be meeting with people who came from outside of Inridia. People who knew what life with Pokémon was like.

Frost just dipped his head to acknowledge her statement and got to his feet. He followed Sage and cast one last look over his shoulder at the bedroom before shutting the door. His throat tightened, and it was then that he realized he would probably never enter the house again.

His time in Silverkeep City was over.

The pair hurried down the steps and outside, making sure to set the locks in place behind them. It was raining heavier than it had been when they first arrived, and the icy drops stabbed the exposed skin of the runaway's face as he made for the awaiting black car. He tugged the hood of his coat up over his head to shield himself from the storm.

 Sage made for the passenger-side door while Frost pulled open the back one. He barely had the chance to get inside and escape the rain when a blue blob came flying at him, crashing into his chest and tickling his chin with two long, antennae-like extensions. The boy grunted a bit from the impact of the surprise attack, but soon smiled as the being peered up at him happily.