Lost in their Past

Chapter 9:- The Reuniting

Serena didn't reply, she kept her head up and walked afloat. Ash couldn't help but feel a little hurt.

Who was he kidding? it hurt like hell.

Getting ignored was something Ash desperately wanted but could never really achieved it, but, getting it ignored by Serena really pinched the hell out of him.

It was something he never wanted in a thousand years.

Gary seemed to have analysed the whole situation mentally as if it was a complex equation. For the first time ever, he saw the look of helplessness on Ash's face. And it was not something he liked seeing.

"It's hot, isn't it? He said as he desperately tried to cool down the temperature.  "I reckon I should move away."

He efforts to lighten the atmosphere went in vain.

In the end, he gave up and went with the flow and found himself trotting mindlessly on the grassy field. Suddenly three different ringtones echoed the meadow. Two were default settings and one, to Serena's amazement, was her latest single named Never Die. What surprised her most was that the ringtone belonged to Ash. Both Ash and Gary went in different directions as they picked up their phones.

She stole a quick glance at him before glancing at the screen of her phone. She expected it to be Palermo but instead, it was her mom. 

"Hello?" Serena said.

"Come," Grace said in a hurry. "Come up the hill, now."

Before Serena could reply, she hung up. She groaned to herself as she flung her cell phone inside her pocket. She turned back and saw Ash and Gary do the same as if they were a trio. They walked toward her said in unison, "They called us up."

Serena nodded, "Same here."

Without second thoughts, they made their way uphill. The Raider manor covered acres of free space. If it was enclosed by a fence, that place could have an ecosystem of its own.  The yellow path on which they walked seemed to be strange yet familiar. An aura of remorse and remembrance filled inside Ash as he pushed in his memories and tried to figure out why the place seemed familiar. But no matter how hard he tried, he didn't get a valid answer.

Gary, on the other hand, didn't actually care. Charlus and Delia were good friends, sure they must've arranged a surprise tea party to catch up with what was going on in their life's. And Grace? She was probably just an old friend.

Right?

Serena on the other knew from the beginning that coming to Kanto was the last thing that she should've done. As strange as it sounded, she knew what was happening, or what had already happened.

It was something she had her parents to thank for, not literally. Her nightmare dated back to when she was four years old. It was middle of the night and as usual, she was woken up in the middle of the night by the usual sound of a jar or glass breaking.

"-you're a pathetic excuse for a man!" Her mother yelled. "I can't believe I ever thought of dating you."

"But you did!" Mark Jorum replied, "you did date and then here we are! For Serena's sake, Gralice bear with me as I do!"

"Don't call me that!" she snapped.

"That's your name!"

"I isn't anymore!" Her mother yelled, "we weren't meant to happen! She wasn't meant to happen and you know that you were nothing but a rebound for me."

There was a moment of silence between them, then with a heavy heart, Mark replied. "I was a rebound for you?"

Grace didn't answer and Mark took her silence as a yes. He scoffed as he replied, "Fine I'm leaving. See you in the reuniting."

"It won't happen." He mother said in a surprisingly calm tone. "They are gone  for good."

Mark scoffed again as he opened the gate. "Keep telling yourself that." He said. "They'll return and you'll know it. Everyone knows it. Charlus, Joanne, Diane and even freaking Oak! One day, you'll be sitting in your living room, sipping tea when that old hag will appear on your television screen. Don't complain that I didn't warn you."

"Where will you go?" Grace asked, reluctantly.

"Back from where I started," He said. "Just so you know, I really loved you."

Then Mark Jorum closed the door which till now wasn't opened again. Her mother never spoke of him and Serena didn't want to ask.

She didn't want her mother to burst in a fury of range like she did when she was upset earlier. Ever since that day,  the reuniting scared her for the rest of her childhood. It had been years since she's thought about it. Given the current circumstances, it would've been foolish of her to think of all that was happening as a pure coincidence.

Serena didn't know what was happening.

But she did have a clear idea that it had everything to do with the Reuniting.