Linger in Silence (a Pokémon-based fan fiction)

Sister

November

Jamie laid in bed dressed in his oversized grey shirt and baggy sweatpants. He had a headache listening to the racket coming from the tv outside his room. The tv had been playing for hours and it always seemed to be left on. The sounder never got any quieter even after he repeatedly asked to lower the volume. Unable to take it anymore, he sat up and shouted, "Turn the damn TV down!"

He heard the TV go silent and he laid back down, relieved.

Time passed and Jacque snuck into his room.

"What is it?" he muttered.

"Can you play with me?" she asked quietly.

"I'm too tired."

"But aren't you awake?"

"I said I'm not in the mood."

"Are you mad at me?"

"No," Jamie responded, his tone softening. "It's just that when I ask you to do something, don't wait till I have to repeat it the millionth time."

"But I turned the tv off thirty minutes ago, and I didn't hear you before."

Jamie noted the suspicious statement, but ultimately dismissed it. "Leave me alone."

Jacque sat on the bed. "But Mommy said she wants me to play with you."

"Why don't you go draw or something?" Jamie asked irritably.

"I'm bored with those things," Jacque whined. "And Mommy wants us to play together." 

Out of excuses, Jamie groaned and sat up. "Fine. Have any cards or board games?"

She perked and almost tripped as she ran into the living room. A minute later, Jacque came back with a stack of games. Unsurprisingly, most of the games were Pokémon-related like "Pokémon Scrabble", "Type-Matcher", and a stack of Pokémon cards.

"Which one?"

"I don't care as long as it has nothing to do with Pokémon."

"Then we'll play checkers!" Jacque chirped. She took out the game from the stack and opened the board. "I want red!"

Jamie picked up all the black pieces and organized them on the square patterns while Jacque did the same on her side.

He let her have the first move, and from there, they took turns moving forward, blocking, jumping, cornering and avoiding each other's pieces. Jamie was mildly impressed by how decent she was at the game. Then again, he hadn't played since he left for his journey and his memory was a little rusty.

By the time the game was almost over, Jacque unexpectedly asked, "Is being a Pokémon Trainer hard?"

Jamie was caught off-guard by the question and he hesitated before replying, "No, not really. I mean, it's not easy. But I guess it's a..." He paused, searching for the words, "...a worthwhile experience. Why do you ask?"

Jacque shrugged. "Just curious. I just hope I get to be a good trainer too."

Jamie was taken aback by her response, finding himself at a loss for words. He decided not to engage with her about it and instead focused on making his next move.

After a few turns later, Jacque said, "I can't wait when I'm old enough. I wanna catch lots of cute Pokémon to be my friends and go on adventures and be in contests and musicals and go everywhere with them!"

Jamie restrained himself, forcing a smile to hide the grim frown behind his lips. "That's nice, but you know not everyone wants to be a trainer. For example, Noel always wanted to be a researcher and study pokemon instead of train them."

"Who?"

"Noel is your older sister. Well, half-sister. She left before you were born."

"Where is she right now?" Jacque asked.

"I don't know. Last I heard she was studying abroad in Hoenn."

"Do you miss her?"

Jamie lowered his gaze. He felt an ache in his heart as he thought about his intelligent, tomboyish big sister. He remembered when they were younger how they enjoyed playing strategy games and they were always evenly matched. He looked up to her and he was devastated when he watched her leave for her journey. He wondered what she was up to and now he felt like he needed her more than ever.

"Sometimes," said Jamie quietly. "Honestly, I'd give anything to talk to her."

"Then why don't you call her?" Jacque asked.

Jamie scoffed. "There's no way to reach her unless she's in Unova."

"Oh...I know! We can write a letter to her!"

"No way. I suck at spelling."

"Can't we try?" she asked.

Jamie hesitated. "I guess..."                 

"I'll write it, ok!" Jacque got out a piece of lined paper and pencil from his desk and sat down. "Dear older half-sister," she wrote out loud, word for word. "This is your little sister, Jacque. Jamie is not feeling very good and he wants to talk to you about it..."

She stopped. "What do I say next?" 

Jamie pursed his lips and blew out. "Can you write down what I say?"

"Ok."

"Ok. Write...'Hey, sis. How've you been? I'm back at home because I have a lot on my mind and I've been feeling pretty stressed lately. You're the one person I want to talk to the most right now and I miss you a lot. I hope you're doing well, but I know you have the determination to pull through anything, not that I ever had doubt in you. Anyway, I hope you reply because I need to hear from you as soon as possible...Love, Jamie."

"Can you say it again?" Jacque asked.

"How much did you write?"

She read out the letter, "'Hey, sis. Howve you been? I'm back at home because...' that's it."

Jamie sighed and rolled his eyes. "Here. Let me write it."