Run away.
Won't be here tomorrow,
Cause I'm going away.
Run away,
Run away.


Sugar Ray-- Run Away


Tk's POV:

I was just lying there, in the middle of a large alleyway, not knowing what else to do with my self. My life had gone straight to hell, and it didn't want to come back. My life was dead. Killed before my very eyes. I was never the same after that day.

At night, I can still see their faces. All of them. They just stare at me, deader than a doornail. I find it funny, that every time you would hear about things like this on the new or whatever, you're just, wow. That's sad. Poor people. You'll never understand the actual pain, unless you've been there to experience it first hand.

I guess that's why I'm so angry at life. Hell, I'm angry with everything now. And oddly, it makes me feel better. I used to live this perfect, sheltered life, where I only heard about the news.

God. Look at me. I'm so bitter. I just started laughing. I don't really remember why, nobody was there with me. Nobody had said anything funny, but I was still laughing. Ah, I remember why. My mom always told me laughter was the best medicine. Well, I guess I'll need a whole circus of clowns to help me out now.

I then, just stopped, and took a good luck at my surroundings. I don't know what made this place so special though. I had lived on the streets for more than four months now. And I've seen alleys a lot more memorable than this one, so I really had no clue what possessed me to look at this one.

But I did, and saw an old newspaper article tacked to one of the large wooden fences, that incased the alley. It just cried out to be read, so my curiosity got the best of me, and I looked at it

"Would you look at that?" I said proudly, as I pulled the article down, and read it. It had been an article from the newspaper, after we came home from the Digiworld.

Several sentences hung in my mind afterward. One in particular. "Eight brave children." I restated. We were no longer eight. In fact, we were no longer the Digidestined. We couldn't be.

Then, there were the names, I tried of so hard to forget. The ones I wanted to just erase from my memory, so I could have a guilt free conscience. "Sora Tachinouchi." I read. The last time I had heard from her, she had broken up with Joe, and moved away to college somewhere far away.

"Joe Kido and Koushiro Izumi." they were the two next names. I smiled at myself, because I knew that a long time ago they had started seeing each other. I think that's the main reason Sora moved, but I wasn't sure.

"Mimi Tachikawa." Mimi he said. Last time he had seen her, she was happily dating Tai. But then she got hurt. That's what Tai had told me. I knew he was sugar coating the true, but a teacher ended up going to jail, so I didn't ask any questions.

"Yamato Ishida." Matt. My brother. My hero. The person I didn't want to face ever. I didn't want him seeing what I had become. I was living proof of what happens when bitterness consumes your every moving brain cell.

"Takeru Takaishi." me. I hated myself. I had ruined my life, in the worse possible ways. I mean, I had it all at one point. Everything a kid could ever want. The loving family. The cool older brother. The most beautiful girlfriend. And I was the basketball team's captain. I was guaranteed a scholarship to any school in the world. But that was in the past. I chose my course of life, and I have to take responsibility for my actions.

"Taichi Kamiya." Tai. Good old Tai. He had started doing some things, which no one told me. But it landed Daisuke in the hospital, so he stopped doing whatever it was. After a while, his family moved far away from Japan. Couldn't handle it anymore, I guess.

"Hikari Kamiya." that name. It sent hot knives through my heart. I dropped the paper, not reading any farther. "Kari..." I mumbled, as I collapsed into an over stuffed bag of garbage. God. Kari. There hadn't been a day that went by, that I hadn't thought of her. I loved her so much, and still she died.

Her eyes always made me feel better. They could pull me from the most depressing state of mind, into one that was colorful and bubbly. She had that effect on people. Everybody loved her.

And that's what got her killed. The look on her face, when Jody pulled that trigger. It's still etched in my mind, like it had happened yesterday. That whole living nightmare was still fresh in my mind.

"Hey. Tk, you wanna come with us?" asked Carter. He was one of the friendliest people you could meet. Even though his life had dealt him the worst hand you could imagine, he still kept a smile on his face, and a tune in his heart. He would always tell us things would get better.

"Sure Carter." I said smiling. I couldn't help it. Carter was like a father to all the people that lived in the shelter with me. He would tell stories at night, and would make anyone laugh, at any time.

I felt so honored to be with him. Usually, people would look down at those who live on the streets. Call us beggars, or filth. Once, this old woman came over to me, and started giving me the biggest lecture on how I was scum.

Carter walked right over to her, and blasted her. He had told her it wasn't my fault that I ended up here. That she should have respect for us. "Where are we going?" I asked bewildered. I knew my face had turned slightly red from embracement.

Carter chuckled. "We're going to the food shelter." he quickly pulled out a small scrap of paper, that used to be and old cereal box, and began scribbling down something very rapidly, with a broken brown crayon.

"What are you doing?" I asked him again. A breeze had blown by, and knocked some of my matted blond hair in front of my eyes. I lightly pushed it away, tucking it behind my ear.

"Tk." he said sadly. He suddenly became very scared. Carter had never taken that type of tone with me before. He gazed at me, and smiled warmly again. "It's nothing. Just get in there! Get yourself something to eat!" I smiled lightheartedly at him, wondering where he got all his hope. I can't even count the amount of times I wanted to give him my crest. He deserved it. That's for sure. "Tk." he said softly. He had just shoved the piece of paper back in his dirty old jacket.

"Yeah Carter." I said causally.

"Why?" he asked me. To this very day, I can still remember what was said to me. "Why did you run away from home? God, you're still a kid! You could be out having fun!"

"You really wanna know why Carter?" I asked him. I still remember how icy my voice had been.

"Yes." he said exasperated. "I'm curious." he then sat down on a sidewalk, and listened to me intently.

I sighed. I had no clue where to start. "Well, I guess it started when it was my senior year in high school. Man. That was the best time of my life. I had it all Carter. The perfect girlfriend. I was popular. I had talent, and wasn't bad at school."

Carter looked at me with his caring eyes, but didn't say a word. He just listened to me pour my heart out to him. No interruptions whatsoever. After I had told him how Kari died, a tear rolled down his left cheek. "That must have been a horrifying experience Tk. I don't know how you did it." he said after a while.

"Do what." I scoffed. I felt so low right now.

"You kept going. You loved this girl with all you might, and when she died, you died, but you still kept going on."

"Carter, I can take this any more! I just want to kiss it all goodbye. This life I'm living. It's nothing without Kari."

"I know you might think that now Tk, but things do get better."

"I still don't know how somebody could be so heartless." I said practically ignoring him. "I used to remember a time when I thought stepping on an ant hill was the most horrible thing a person could do. I kept imagining all those hard-working aunts just trapped in their home, with no way out. God. I was so naive to the ways of the world. All the evil that lies within it, never really hit me, until that day."

"Thank you." Carter told me getting up.

"For what?" I snapped. I didn't mean to. I just did it.

"For making me see again." he said brushing a piece of his sandy blond hair out from his intense green eyes.

I watched him walk away, sulking. I was absolutely disgusted with myself. 'Congratulations Tk. You managed to depress the one person that was immune to depression.' Carter bent down, and picked up something off the ground. I couldn't see what it was, because it was so small.

I strained my eyes to get a good look, but to no avail. He then looked around to see if anyone was watching, before disappearing into an alleyway. I felt so bad for what I had done, that I chased after him to apologize. But what I found shocked me to death. There, lying on a bunch of old garbage bags, was Carter. Both his wrists were slashed, by a small piece of metal he was clutching.

I instinctively ran over to him, and began holding his wrists, so he wouldn't bleed to death. "Get away from me Tk." he said in a raspy voice, that scared me.

"No!" I said stubbornly. "Help! Somebody call 911!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I began ripping off pieces of my jacket, and began wrapping his wounds. His blood was covering most of my outfit, reminding me of the classroom, to a great extent. But I didn't care. This time, I had a chance to save one of them. I wouldn't let him die!

Apparently, a man heard us outside, and called an ambulance. Within minutes it was over near the alley, and had taken Carter and me off to the hospital. There, Carter was treated for his wounds, and got some blood transfusions, which made him better.

God. If I only I knew that he had the HIV virus, I would have been more careful. I ended up getting the actual AIDS virus, which through me, beyond words. I was so shocked when the doctor came in and told me the news that I didn't even cry. The only thing that was passing through my mind, was "Soon Kari. Soon we'll be together again."

Now, here I am two years later. My condition has gotten worse, and I'm only 18 years old. The doctors kept telling me that I only had a few more days left, so I used them to the fullest.

I looked at the ground below me. I kept reminding myself that I wouldn't hit it. That my pain would only be momentary. I tightened the noose around my neck, and opened the window fully. I tightly wrapped the bed sheets tightly around the heavy machinery that was basically keeping me alive.

I placed one of my feet on the ledge, taking in the coldness from the air. It brushed against my leg, and was absorbed by my blue jeans. This was it. My one glorious moment. I just took one last look at the world I was leaving behind. My crest began to glow, and I could almost hear Patamon's voice.

"Never give up hoping."

I chuckled cholerically. "There's no hope for me any more." with that, I pulled off my crest, and through it on the bed. At once, it turned a dull gray color. All my hope was gone. My crest, useless.

I just leaned forward after that. The wind passed through my hair, making me feel as if I could fly. And in that one defying moment, I was free again. I was free to be with Kari. I cold see her now. She had only gotten more beautiful. A bright light filled my senses, and then there was eternal darkness, as my rope had stopped, ending my life.


EPILOGUE




Tk's body was then buried next to Kari's. The hospital nurse had found him in the morning, sending a wave of panic through the hospital. After that, Tk's mother, grief stricken, moved away, so she wouldn't have to face the daily pain of living in the one place, her son had wished to escape.


MORAL: Life is short. Live it to the fullest. "Never let things get to you like that. It'll only weight you down, later on in life." That's a quote from a good friend of mine. Bazooka Joe.

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