The Hacker [Pokemon Fanfiction]

The Hacker: Chapter 12

"Mom stop!" I felt myself wailing, my throat swelled up while my eyes were burnt by their own salty tears. My mother shoveled all that I thought I cared about at the time into a plastic bag the color of soot. "Stop!" Was all I managed to repeat like a broken record, only growing louder every time.

The mud-haired woman spun sharply, "Stop crying!" she demanded, glaring at me with her caramel eyes. In her hand that she pointed at me accusingly with was a stuffed Bulbasaur doll. The leafy bulb of the pokemon plush starting to tear at its poorly made seams, cotton tumbling out like a fog down my mother's hand. With a rage, she threw it deep into the bag. "You are ten years old now! Too old for these- these petty children toys!"

"But mom!" I continued to whine, practically diving at the bag she threw my childhood in. Her hand extended to push me back from the toys, eyes cold.

"Leaf, please!" she begged, her eyes saying that she was the one hurt by all of this. Her voice lowered in volume, but the condescending tone was unavoidable. "This is good for you, you're too old for these things. Now go outside and play like a normal child. There are so many nice kids in this neighborhood."

The word "normal" stung.

"But I don't wannna play with them!"

"Why not? Don't you want to be normal?"

There it was again.

"They're strangers! Now give me back my toys!" I tried to wipe my tears away while stumbling forward towards the garbage bag and threw myself into it. Being ten, I fit quite nicely. My arms flailed around, taking back what was mine to the point they all were overflowing in my arms.

My mother grabbed the back of my shirt and forcefully yanked me out and tossed me onto my bed. "Cut this out, Leaf. This is for your own good!" She continued to push her persuasion on me, stealing away what I coddled in my grip.

"But mom---"

"Stop being silly! Stop hiding yourself in your room all the time. You need to make friends, go out, and meet people!" Her cold voice started to turn unfamiliar, to someone I wanted to be a stranger.

"I'm only ten!" I shook, hoping I could keep what I had buried under my shirt, "Mom..."

"Grow up."

My body was still while I huddled in around myself when Alice grasped my wrist, trying to drag me away. As well as I could, I slid what I held under my shirt to my bed covers while fighting back.

I knew I wouldn't win, but it gave a distraction to hide the crimson GameBoy. I was pulled from my now dismal room and through the house. "I need you to help me here! It's just you and me, Leaf. It always has been. It's very difficult, please understand and just play with other children!" She snatched open our front door and, as if to make everything up, gently set me outside. Kneeling to my height and kissed my forehead, wiping the residual salt-water from my tear-stained face with her thumb tip.

When I spun around, it all melted away. The illusions dripped back to my new reality. Cotton covers brushing my nose was the first sense I felt that brought me back. When I had pulled my eyelids open, they felt hot, steaming actually. The skin of my cheeks was tightened to lines where tears seem to have rolled down. Sitting up, I smudged it all away taking in a trembling breath. "Kay. It's okay," when I pulled to slouch forward I let out the air my lungs shook with. "It seems I forgot. Now, I remember. It would have been better if we were just strangers."

"Leaf! Don't you think you've spent enough time hiding in your room?" a voice laughed from around the stairway, the tone bouncing off my walls.

I let another breath drip into my chest before I put forward a bright tone, "I'll be down in a minute, mom." The final word caught on my lips for a moment before it snaked out, followed by my feet pressing into my flooring. I padded over to my closet and tossed on in infamous ensemble of clothes which I happened to have an endless supply of.