literature

Red-Letter

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Literature Text

Prologue

It wasn’t as if Red’s strange behaviour magically materialised overnight, and caused everyone he loved and cared about to worry over him. No, in fact these weird behaviour patterns had come to life during his childhood years, and had full taken flight by the time he had become a teenager. The crimson-eyed social recluse had not always been this way, in fact when he was juvenile and naïve he acted pretty much how a normal child would behave.

Define normal, you say? Red, just like any other child had a best friend, who would have walked to the ends of the Earth and back just to get him his favourite chocolate bar, and a loving family who doted on him hand and foot. To most kids that lived in quaint Pallet Town that type of lifestyle was perfect. Well…almost.
“I know, let’s play hide and seek!” A boisterous, 7 year old, emerald-eyed boy, named Green yelled out to his best friend, who was sitting down on the grass, aimlessly destroying clumps with his fingers.

“Hide and seek?” The younger boy replied simply, gazing up at the figure of his childhood friend. Green nodded enthusiastically. Having a Grandfather who was a well renowned Professor and a back garden that was in comparison to a nature reserve had it benefits sometimes.

“Yeah! It will be fun, and besides…there are loads of places to hide here!”

“I…don’t want to hide.” Red mumbled shyly, dark hair gently falling across his face, hiding his expression from teasing emerald eyes.

“Don’t be a wet blanket, Red! Trust me, it will be fun!” A small frown crept its way onto the younger boy’s countenance, but without protesting further, he slowly got to his feet, taking time to ensure the grass did not stain his shorts.

“So…what do we do?” He asked nervously. Green placed his hands on his hips proudly, subconsciously puffing his chest out.

“Well, you go and hide somewhere in the back garden, I’ll count to ten and then come and find you.”

“You’ll…find me?” A bright smile flashed upon the older boy’s face.

“Duh! But, you have to promise to hide real good okay? I don’t want it to be easy.” Red shyly nodded, not fully understanding the whole game, but he knew he had to hide and not make it easy for Green. The issue was; Red had never played this game before. Was he supposed to hide, and wait until he was found?

“Okay then! I’ll count to ten!” Green announced, turning his back to the younger boy, who just stared in confusion. As he covered his eyes with his hands and started counting, it sent Red into a state of panic. What if he got it wrong, and Green was mad at him? The last thing he wanted was to infuriate the hot headed boy even more, so without giving himself much time to think he darted off into the wilderness, attempting to find a good enough hiding spot.

Once the count of ten had ended emerald eyes blinked to get used to the harsh sunlight once more. He glanced around the back garden, noticing that Red had darted off somewhere to hide, and now it was up to his great detective skills to find him.

“Ready or not, here I come!”


The task of finding Red, which to most people should have been relatively simple, was in fact a bind. The game had been going on for hours, well into the evening when the sun was starting to set and the sky became overcast with dark, ominous clouds. The brunette youth had cried out Red’s name repeatedly, asking him to come out, but to no avail.

What if something bad had happened to him out there? It seemed a logical reason, considering Red wasn’t that stupid to stay hidden for hours on end. So, there was only one thing for it. Green was forced to tell his Grandfather and his older sister, Daisy about the issue. As expected, they were furious, mainly because they too, were just as worried.

Red was in their care, and if anything bad happened to him it would be their fault. Red’s mother was over protective at the best of times, so if she found out about her reclusive son’s disappearance she was sure to ground him forever, and then Red and Green would never see each other. That was why it was agreed that no one should mention this to his mother, unless Red could not be found by nightfall.

Professor Oak scanned the open fields, wondering if Red had perhaps been stuck in one of the large trees in the reserve, and couldn’t get down. Daisy checked in all the Pokemon pens, double-checking all the bags of food, and the barrels of water for any sign of the elusive red-eyed boy. Nothing.

Green went further into the forest, which was situated at the back of the garden, a part that his Grandfather had always warned him about. The forest was unsafe and dangerous without your own Pokemon for protection, he knew that, but if Red was in the forest, he had to rescue him. It was his duty as his best friend.

“Red? Are you out there?” He called, cupping his hands around his mouth to make the sound echo as far as he could. How on Earth did Red manage this? It was a simple game of Hide and Seek, nothing too stressful, and yet it had resulted in hours of tireless searching.

Emerald eyes continued to scan his surroundings, only seeing masses of skinny winding trees, and overgrowing bushes on either side. Red was still nowhere to be seen, and deep inside he could feel his heart lurching with fear. What if he was badly hurt because of him? He could have been attacked by a wild Pokemon, or something.

“Red?! Answer me!” He shouted louder, receiving nothing but rapid flutters from Pidgey that were nesting in the trees, taking flight into the sky. The gloomy forest was deathly quiet, and it sent a cold shiver dancing down Green’s spine. The further he walked into the forest, the darker his surroundings became.

The sky above him was now obscured by tree canopies, and the bushes either side were starting to become laced with brambles, tugging viciously at the fabric of his trousers. He winced as one particular branch snagged at his leg, cutting into the skin.

“Oww…” He cursed, pulling the fabric free, and watching as blood soaked through his trousers. Great…his sister would definitely fuss over him now. Nevertheless, the valiant youngster continued plodding through the wilderness, in a desperate attempt to find his precious best friend. He just had to be out here somewhere.

“Red?! Where are you?!” He yelled, once again disturbing some bird Pokemon from a nearby tree, hearing their cries of distress and urgent flapping of angry wings. Instinctively he flinched at the sound, and came to stop in a clearing. Green took a deep breath, feeling very sweaty and grubby from walking through the dingy dark forest, and looked around aimlessly. Still no sign of Red.

“Where the hell did you go…?” The emerald-eyed boy groaned to himself, feeling a wave of sadness wash over him. He felt so guilty right now. It was his fault that Red ran away to hide, and obviously took the game too literally, but surely he knew it was just a game? Red didn’t honestly believe that he was supposed to hide from him forever, did he?

Then, the angry flapping noises continued, only closer this time. Green spun around on his heels, turning to look where the noise came from when his eyes widened in shock. A flock of furious Spearow were charging head first into him, cawing angrily into the sky, beaks, and claws ready to strike.

Fear completely consumed the emerald-eyed boy, leaving his body paralysed. He couldn’t move, even if he wanted to. What was he supposed to do? Out run them? Fight them off? Both were useless ideas, he was stuck with nowhere to go.

The horrible screeching sounds of the angry bird Pokemon neared, and the noise of their flapping sounded like they were merely inches away from tearing his eyes out. Instinctively Green knelt down, covering his head with his arms, praying that they wouldn’t hurt him too badly. He didn’t mean to disturb them from their sleep; he was worried over his best friend, and needed to make sure he was safe.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” He yelled out desperately, feeling his whole body tremble with fear. He knew that Spearow weren’t renowned for their mercy, so apologising was futile. He just had to try and bear it as much as he could, and hope that they would get bored of terrorising him and leave him alone.

“Poliwag! Water Gun!” Suddenly the sounds from the Spearow changed, from vicious caws, to frightened screeches.  Nervously Green raised his head, watching as one by one the bird Pokemon were hit by the water blast, and retreated to the safety of the trees. Green breathed a sigh of relief, genuinely thankful that the Spearow had called off their assault.

“Green…what are you doing here?” Just like that the young brunette turned to face the direction of that oh so familiar voice. Green eyes melted into pools of crimson, which just blinked curiously.

“Red?” It was now he noticed that Red was not alone, and standing by his leg was a tadpole like Pokemon, which Green had seen photos of back at his Grandfather’s laboratory. The Pokemon, which was called Poliwag, seemed rather jovial about the encounter, and about being around Red. Was it a wild Poliwag?

“Red…why are you out here in the forest? You know what Gramps said about this place!” Green stood up, brushing the grass from his trousers as he stared at his best friend, who seemed vacant. It was like he didn’t understand what the issue was.

“You told me to hide…so I did.”

“You were gone for HOURS!” Once again, Red’s expression remained nonchalant, until he shrugged his shoulders briefly.

“I only did what you told me to do…” Not knowing what else to do the emerald-eyed boy wrapped his arms around Red, hugging him tightly, almost possessively.

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again!” A small frown crept onto Red’s countenance, as he tried to understand what the big deal was. Green was really freaked out by his actions, and obviously worried. None of it made sense.

“We better go back…Gramps and Daisy are worried sick…”

“Um…what about Poliwag?” Red replied softly, moving away from the hug to look down at the small blue tadpole, who looked eager to follow Red and not stick around here. Green shrugged half-heartedly, not really knowing what the correct answer should be.

“Well, do you want to keep him?” The crimson-eyed boy crinkled his nose in thought, before his expression returned to that of indifference.

“I…don’t know.”

“Well, Poliwag looks happy to be around you. Maybe you should consider it at least.” Green was of course right. The water type was literally bouncing around happily at Red’s feet, and obviously had some sort of connection with him already.

“Poliiii~!” He cried happily, causing a small smile to appear on Red’s face. It was rare to see him smile nowadays. He always looked so confused with the world, trying desperately to understand all the mechanisms in his mind, figuring out why he couldn’t understand things like everyone else. Why simple words and phrases just sent him into a daze, when Green didn’t have this issue.

“Come on…” Green grabbed Red’s hand, refusing to let go just in case he decided to wander off and ‘hide’ again for another three hours. “Let’s go back.”

“What about Poliwag?”

“Take him with you. It looks like he wants to, anyway.” As Red knelt down to the water type he bounced happily into his arms, refusing to take no for an answer.

“Well, that settles it then. Looks like you got your first Pokemon early, Red. Congrats!” Green cheered, smiling as he squeezed his best friend’s hand. Red nodded, still not understanding why Poliwag wanted to tag along so much. He was a wild Pokemon, and he lived in the lake that was deep in the forest. Why would he forget all that just to be with Red?

The two boys and Poliwag walked back through the forest, trying to avoid all the nasty brambles that attacked Green the first time. Their hands remained locked together, refusing to separate, which only intrigued the crimson-eyed recluse. Was it normal to hold hands with someone? He was unsure about so many things right now. The whole issue with the Hide and Seek game sent his brain into overdrive.

It seemed that even the simplest of things were seemingly too stressful for Red, even playing childish games with his best friend were becoming out of hand. Why had he taken things too literally, and caused too much unnecessary pain? These questions were the first of many to take place in his head, and as the years progressed, it caused more questions to swim around his mind.

This behaviour wasn’t normal. Green didn’t behave this way. He didn’t act inappropriately, or get told off for saying things when he wasn’t meant to. He didn’t have a strict routine day in day out that he had to abide by; otherwise, his brain couldn’t handle it. He didn’t get confused by simple sayings and phrases and take things too literally. No, Green was normal. Red, however, was not. Something was wrong, and it would take years for them to figure out the real reasons behind his behavioural patterns.
© 2014 - 2024 BekkiDarliin
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DaBusDriver09's avatar
Its nice to see you tackle the Red x Green ship directly. The two are adorable.