Alone in the Town

[jameswonderland]

It was late afternoon. The sun was low in the sky, yellow-orange rays peeking through the gaps between each house and cutting across the shadowy street like streams of fire. Everything touched by the intense light seemed to glow. The dark silhouettes of the houses made sharp, angular shadows that stretched all the way to the fence of the somewhat infamous haunted house of Whitecrystal Avenue. Of course “haunted” was a vague adjective to use. It's meaning is subjective, as a location, or a person, can be haunted by things – ghosts, not necessarily the bump-in-the-night kind. Even if it seemed dubious to Aya, the purugly that was sitting in the street and staring at the house, that the place was plagued by literal specters, she didn't doubt it probably had a sordid history. And that, in and of itself, is a kind of haunting.

Behind her the final row of houses stood next to each other like a line of enemies closing in. Their windows were blank, covered by tarp or boards, and their lawns were teeming with burrs and choked with weeds. It was a curious contrast; the yards of the houses which faced Whitecrystal Ave. itself were lush and lively. Every other house in the neighborhood was the picture perfect example of a nice family home. Only that last row was empty, as though it were a barrier between them and the house.

A cover of silence seemed to extend from it so that all around her everything was muffled. The sounds of ninjask, the buzzing song of summer, seemed so distant here. And there wasn't a single other pokémon around. She was alone, and she felt it – a leaden atmosphere of isolation. But she didn't mind it, much. For the five months she had so far spent in this city she had been alone. Other pokémon had lived here for years, alone. Being alone, she had concluded, was an intrinsic part of life on the streets and she would have to accept it. Though she had heard of “guilds” which roamed the city, pokémon brought together by common interest. A tenuous bond at best, she thought. And then there were the gangs, though she wasn't of the appropriate type and even so, she wasn't interested. Aya did not want a family, but she wouldn't mind a friend.

She stood up and began to walk towards the house, after staring at it for twenty, maybe even forty minutes. Time was irrelevant to her now. Since she had first arrived that morning she kept coming back, torn between curiosity and apprehension. Now she felt it was time to stop stalling and explore if that's what she was going to do. Approaching the house, Aya found that it managed to look like more than just a building in this light. The glass of the windows, broken or not, were aglow with reflected light; it hurt to look at them. The door was ajar, half in shadows but the stain was still visible. She could not make out what was on the inside. The awning lay half collapsed on the porch, which had a hole in it. Large sections of roof tiles were missing, fallen into the yard. With everything in such bad shape, it was surprising that the fence was still mostly intact but it, too, was covered in stains. Not that it was unusual to see such things from time to time.

Aya paused at the threshold of the yard and jumped onto the fence instead. It was a bit rickety, but held her weight. As she walked the fence, examining the house from every angle, it occurred to her she might be making a serious mistake. Even if there were no ghosts, there very well may be pokémon, and if she had learned anything it was that pokémon in Sootopolis were often unpleasant. Still, she had yet to pass on an interesting exploration opportunity just because it might be dangerous, and she did not plan to start then. So, with a lash of her tail, Aya sprang forth off the fence and into the backyard.

A couple fence boards fell away behind her – the strain of her activity had been too much for them. The back porch was in a better state than the front, but she did not trust the awning or the floorboards. She located an open window and leaped through it, and landed on a tiled counter, a sink a foot away. This must be the kitchen, she thought. It, like the outside of the house, was in terrible shape. Dirty, dusty, dark and smelly. She could have sworn something had died in there. Wrinkling her nose, she sat down and took in her surroundings. It was a bit cooler in the house than it was outside, but it was still rather hot. Most of the cabinet doors were off their hinges, and there was a round dining table missing a leg, a broken clock on the wall above it and a single chair next to it.

Aya jumped down to the floor, careful not to step on any glass or other injurious materials. There were two ways she could go: A door-less doorway that lead to the foyer, and one slightly ajar which lead to some other part of the house. She picked the open way and stepped into the orange light filtering through the dusty window. The motes looked like embers. There was a large living room area to her left and stairs to her right. She approached the living room, noting the light rectangles on the wallpaper where photos must have hung. There was some furniture here, including a comfy looking, if very dusty, sofa. Feeling like laying down for a bit, she jumped onto the sofa. Much to her displeasure, it released a great cloud of dust which sent her into a sneezing fit for a couple minutes.

“Ugh!” she cried, returning to the floor and scratching the couch out of spite. “This city sucks.”