“Thank you,” Glynn whispered weakly through
parched lips.
Mishka just smiled and quickly went about making a small
meal of tea and some crackers with a little cheese for her. He also
brought her a glass of water, which he made her drink all of. Her exhausted
body wouldn’t accept much else and Glynn hardly touched the tea or
crackers.
The fever and hallucinations had begun to fade in the last
hour and Glynn had regained consciousness. The haunted look in her
eyes bothered Mishka, but there wasn’t anything that he could do, which
frustrated him even more. After nibbling on the crackers, Glynn lay
her head back down and dozed lightly. Mishka took that time to go into
the adjoining bathroom to run her a bath. He even poured in some of
her favourite oils. When the bath was ready, he went and gently woke
Glynn up. He helped her to stand and half carried her into the bathroom
where he sat her down on the lid of the toilet.
“Will you be okei?” he asked.
She nodded her head and murmured something under her breath
that he couldn’t quite make out. He asked her to repeat what
she had said.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, tears pooling
in her eyes.
“Sorry for what?”
“Sorry for everything. Sorry for making you
take care of me. Sorry for being such a pain. Sorry for being sick,”
she trailed off, tears falling down her cheeks.
Mishka placed his hands on her shoulders and forced her
to look in his eyes.
“Don’t be sorry,” he said gently, “look
at me Glynna, do I look like I don’t want to be here? You are
my best friend, and I will always be here to take care of you. Do you
understand? Always.”
“But why?” she asked in confusion.
“Because you are everything that is real in this world.
You are the light, and you are the hope. And you are the most important thing
in this world, at least to me. Okei?
Glynn just nodded mutely and tried to smile. Mishka
gently wiped her tears with his thumbs.
“I’ll be in you’re room, I’ll leave
the door open a bit in case you need something,” he said as he got
up and left. She nodded after him and painstakingly began to undress
to get into the bath. Her exhausted mind and body made even a small
task like unbutton her top almost impossible. Finally she managed and
slowly got into the water. She lay there for quite a while, just letting
the water soothe some of her aches.
After a time, she washed her hair and then pulled the plug.
She managed to wrap herself in her towel and pull herself up onto the side
of the bath, but she couldn’t seem to make her legs carry her towards
her bedroom.
“Mishka?” she finally called out in defeat.
“You’re done?” he asked coming into the
bathroom.
“My stupid legs won’t work,” she muttered,
frustrated.
Mishka picked her up and carried her to her bed, which now
had fresh sheets on it. He then brought her a long night gown and some
underwear.
She slowly got dressed, feeling some of the aches returning.
When she had finished, she crawled over to the now closed sofa bed and leaned
against it waiting for Mishka to come back.
She had begun to doze again when she felt a hand on her
head. She opened her eyes and found a beautiful, concerned pair of eyes
staring back at her.
“I’m okei,” she murmured and leaned forward
to let him sit down on the sofa behind her. She drifted off to sleep
again as Mishka slowly brushed out her long, wet hair and plaited it in two
braids down the each side of her head. When he finished, he picked
up her sleeping form and tucked her into bed.
Once Glynn was settled in, Mishka pulled open the sofa bed
and collapsed down in exhaustion on it. He was asleep before his head
hit the pillow, but his dreams would not be peaceful ones.
*****
Before Mishka stood the same shadowy figure from the garden.
The Watcher.
But beside the watcher stood a little girl. She must
have been around 6 or 7. She looked like a japanese doll, her long
dark hair pulled up in traditional style, her small dark eyes belying a wisdom
far beyond her years. She was dressed in a simple yukata of deep sapphire.
Mishka had never seen the girl before and he was curious
as to why the Watcher was showing her now.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“Winter,” she replied simply. She had
the voice of a child, but the tone of one much older.
Before Mishka could ask anymore questions, the dream faded
and he woke up.
“Gatomon? Patamon? You guys in here?” T.K. called
into Kari’s room. Recognizing his voice, the two digimon quickly
came out of hiding.
“What is it, T.K.?” Gatomon asked concerned,
“Where’s Kari?”
“She’s in the living room, and I think we all
need to sit down and talk,” T.K. answered, his voice edged with the
slightest bit of annoyance.
The three of them quickly joined Kari, who was sitting,
still somewhat dazed on the living room couch, her eyes had a strange light
to them. Gatomon quickly ran up to her and in a single look, she knew.
“Winter?” she asked cryptically.
Both T.K. and Patamon were confused now. Kari just
nodded, her eyes filling with tears.
T.K. quickly went and sat beside her, taking up her hands
in his own. He turned to Gatomon.
“What’s going on here?”
“Winter,” Gatomon simply replied.
“That’s not an answer,” he glared at her.
“That’s all I can tell you T.K., I’m sorry,”
she answered, her own eyes glimmering with tears.
“Sorry?” he mimicked sarcastically, “You’re
sorry?? You, all of you digimon, seem to know what’s going on
here but you won’t tell us. Why? What’s so bloody secretive that
you can only spoon feed us the information?? Is that it? You don’t
think we can handle it?? We’re not children anymore--”
“Stop it T.K.!” Kari shouted at him, “Leave
her alone! There are things in this world that people just aren’t meant
to know. And there is a very good reason for that. Human curiosity
is a good thing in small doses, but in big doses it becomes a problem. If
we knew everything we would be gods, T.K., and we’re not. We’re
not gods, T.K.,” she finished on a whisper. She got up from
the sofa and moved to pick up Gatomon. Fresh tears were streaming
down her face.
T.K. just got up and left. Patamon starred after him in
shock. Realizing that T.K. had actually left the apartment, that he
was really gone, Patamon quickly took off after him.
Boy, T.K. sure is mad, he thought, he’s almost
all the way home already and that usually takes him at least 20 minutes to
walk.
By the time Patamon had caught sight of him, he was just
around the corner from his apartment building. T.K. had stopped walking
and was crouched down in front of something, talking quietly. When
Patamon reached him he saw a little girl huddled against a wall in an alley
way. She must have been about six and she was wearing a sapphire yukata.
She had a small cut on her cheek, which T.K. was wiping at with his sleeve.
Patamon quickly ducked back behind the corner, before either of them had
seen him.
“Kari’s right you know,” the girl said
suddenly.
“What was that?” T.K. gasped sharply.
“Winter,” she said to him and with that she
vanished.
End of Chapter 4
Please let me know what you think...Do you have any idea how discouraging
it is writing a story that you get the impression that nobody is reading...I'm
sorry this chapter is so late, but I wasn't too worried about it coz I'm
sure hardly anyone even noticed.
If you'd like me to continue with this series please email me at
takarigato@lycos.com coz at this point, I almost feel that it's
useless to keep writing if nobody but me reads it...
Thank you to the few of you (all 2 of you) who have emailed me...It truly
makes my day, and it's because of you that Chapter 4 even got started.
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