Chapter 1: Too Late "Come on! How could you be so stupid?" yelled May. The guy on Family Feud still only got a 5 point answer and they lost the money. Those damn game show people knew nothing. She sighed as she waited for commercials to pass and Days of Our Lives to come on. Yet another infuriating show, but still more satisfying than Family Feud. The door slammed at the other end of the house. Wally was home, and more than likely tired of battling wannabe champions. She knew to expect that now, and it didn't upset her as much as it did before. But still, she found it disappointing to see him flop down on the leather couch and grab the remote before saying a word to her. Did her mother feel like this? Did it make her want to cry as her bigshot husband went straight for the couch and remote before saying hello? did she feel inferior and unimportant, just as she did? She walked up the stairs to the attic, where she held her old pictures and memorabilia from her days as a trainer. She set her eyes on a lightly dusted cardboard box labeled 'pictures' in her neat scrawl. She delicately opened the box and her eyes blurred as she picked up the picture on top. Their first picture as a couple, taken on Brendan's birthday, the only birthday they ever celebrated. ***FLASHBACK*** (A.N: All flashbacks are taken from my other story, Hold On) The crowd was huge. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRENDAN!" they all yelled. Everyone except May. It was 2 hours later and they were about to open presents. A BUNCH of Pokemon were given. A Poochyena (to May's horror), a Feebas, an Espeon, a Gloom and a lot more. When it came time for May to pass him a present, she only passed him a note. "DON'T READ ALOUD!" It said in big letters on the front. So Brendan waited until everyone else went to mingle to read it. "B-Boy- Meet me at the Smart Contest stage in an hour. -May" was what it said. Brendan looked at the clock. He had a half hour left. May, however, sat on the stage waiting for him, her anxiety growing each moment. She rehearsed for about the 7th time what she was going to say. Then the alarm on her watch went off. She heard footsteps walking towards the stage. It was time. Brendan stepped on the stage. "Hi, May," he said, looking down at the floor. "What did you need to talk to me about?" May's heart was racing, her mind was a blur. 'Oh my gawd. Am I really going to do this?' She took a deep breath. "Brendan, this is going to be really awkward. Please, just don't laugh." Brendan nodded. "I'm in love with you. I have been ever since I met you. And I think you're awesome. You've always been there. Now do you see why I told you not to laugh?" She stared at the floor. Brendan gasped, not believing what he had been told. It was like saying that the moon really was made of cheese, something he thought only possible in his dreams. "May. I don't think this is funny at all. I'm not planning on laughing. In fact, I feel the same way." It was May's turn to gasp. She had known he liked her but dang. What a shock! She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him. Outside, fireworks burst in the sky. (So what if the Professor had them done for Brendan's birthday. Cutesy touch.) Behind them, people clapped. The two stopped. Behind them, was well, basically the whole crowd from the party. "How did you know.?" May asked. "We heard you," laughed Norman. "You were never really a couple, were you?" he asked his daughter. May smiled angelically. "No. We wanted to get Wally away. And what do you know, it worked." she explained. "They faked being a couple?" asked the Professor, starting to laugh. The two nodded. "I always knew Brendan liked you, May," he told her. "This is the best birthday I've ever had. Thanks you guys," Brendan said. May grinned. "No problem. Anytime," she told him. "This is the best day of MY life and it's YOUR birthday," May joked. Brendan grinned at her. "Best damn day in my life too. No wait a second, no it isn't." May stared at him in horror. "Then what is?" Brendan smiled at her. "The day I met you." ***END FLASHBACK*** May laughed, but only slightly. She remembered her thoughts during those wonderful times. She thought they were going to be together forever. She thought that one day, they would live in a big house and Brendan would be the Pokemon Master and they'd live happily ever after. It never turned out that way. ***FLASHBACK*** "STEVEN?" May yelled. She had never been so overjoyed to hear another person's voice in all of her life. How had he found her? Did he know that Brendan was her kidnapper? How much DID he know? A doorknob jiggled a few feet away from Steven and his heart just about jumped into his throat, 'Please let that be May,' he prayed. That prayer wasn't answered. "Steven, what are you doing here?" asked a completely shocked Brendan. The white-haired teenager was wide-eyed and open- mouthed. But then he realized that he had picked a location RIGHT be Steven's home. He wanted to smack himself in the head, but resisted. "I know what the real story is, Brendan Birch," the Hoenn League champion growled. Brendan gulped. He would be arrested by association if Steven turned him in. He was so dead. "I know you kidnapped May," Steven continued. "I did NOT kidnap May. If you were a real detective, you would know that Shane did it. See? Here's his picture," Brendan said. Steven took a look at the photo that Brendan held in front of him. The picture was one that May had taken of him (Brendan) a couple months back. "For one, Brendan, that's a picture of YOU and for two, who the heck is Shane?" Steven questioned the white-haired criminal. Brendan smirked. "For one, that IS Shane and how could you not know him? He's my best friend, he travels with me and May!" Brendan protested. "That brings me to another point!" Steven said. "Where's May?" Brendan laughed maniacally. "DOWN HERE!" someone shouted from the open doorway that Brendan had come in through.Steven raced down there and saw only a pit. He looked down, and that was when he saw her. She hadn't bathed in days and there was a cut across her left cheek. Her hair has greasy, he could tell that from where he was standing and her clothes were torn up. "Don't make one move," Brendan said, coming up behind the blue-haired champion. "This is your last warning," Brendan said, grabbing a gun from his pocket. Steven gasped and reached to grab it away from the trainer. "Everyone is going to blame you for it. There will be no evidence against me whatsoever," Brendan said, twirling the gun around. Steven could hardly breathe and wondered if this was the end of his life. "You're going to be in jail for the rest of your life, buddy." But neither May or Steven expected it when Brendan grabbed the gun and shot himself in the head. "Steven! Are you okay?" May called out to him, thinking he had been the one to be shot. The Hoenn League champion was too shocked to think.All he was thinking was, "This is the end.' ***END OF FLASHBACK*** It was a scene she had always wanted to forget. She had been down in that pit, true, but she could picture every last moment. Brendan had been right. Steven was in jail, on a life sentence. And she was there with Wally, pretending to be happy and pretending to love her life. But more than ever, May was being to dream about the good old days, the days when she was still with Brendan, the Brendan that she had known better than herself. Someone pounded on the door downstairs and May rushed out of the attic, not wanting to disturb Wally. Her trip down memory lane would have to be postponed. She swung the door open, only to find a mailman smiling at her. She put on her best fake happy face and thanked him as she grabbed today's letters. Bills, bills and more bills... but wait! It was a letter for her! Hands trembling with excitement, she opened the envelope, only to be washed over with a familiar fear. LEAVE BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE It was like a horror movie. She had nothing that anybody could possibly want for ransom so what was up with the block letters? If this had happened back in her trainer days, May would've began to sob uncontrollably on Brendan's shoulder. It was exactly what she wanted to do right then. But that wasn't possible, so instead she put her head in her hands and began to weep.