Bittersweet Memories

[RIME]

THIS IS NOT FINISHED, EVERYTHING IS SUBJECTED TO CHANGE.

The hovering lights of the streetlight illuminated the darkness of the empty streets, as a young green creature roamed aimlessly around the city. Due to his overflow of excitement, he became lost in his own world, ignoring and ultimately forgetting the world around him. His mind continued to replay today's events, for it had seemed that he had become too overwhelmed by the joy. A large grin was painted on his face, and his eyes glared upward towards the sky, bypassing the blinding lights, and staring into the depths of his memories. While he gazed up towards the sky, he did not concentrate on the darkness of the sky, gently painted with the bright stars, but this action was allowing him to perfectly view the events from early in that day. Though this trait is abnormal towards humans, including those of an older age, the young age, and the fact that Rime was a Saibaman, had allowed him to perfectly visualize these events without a problem, as if he were watching a movie.

This wasn't only limited to Rime, but it was something that everyone could do. In fact, all Saibaman have this ability implemented at birth, however, some chose not to use it, while others don't even know about it's existence or they simply do not think it will be beneficial to them. The main reason for this ability though isn't exactly to remember memories of their past, but rather, they use this ability to increase their battle abilities and experience all together. The way they do this is simply by simulating a battle events that had happened or have yet to happen so if they were to battle a similar style to what they have simulated within their minds, they would know exactly how to respond. Humans tend to call this shadow boxing, though the difference is quite large due to vivid detail provided by this. By actively using this technique, they are preparing themselves entirely to enjoy the battle and fight to their utmost potential. Some do it just to not become punching bags, and in the end, be useful to their owners. But since Rime had no reason to do such things, for he is not enslaved by another race, he uses this ability for petty purposes such as recalling joyful memories.

Being one that prefers to indulge himself in the present, rather than think about the complexity of the future. Rime would constantly use this ability from time to time, sometimes just to pass the time, while at other times, to enjoy a memory. Similar to today, he met a girl at his age and not only did he come into contact with her, but he also befriended her among many other simulating details...

“What! You don't know what a friend is!”

This had seemed like an impossibility to Mel. Who in this lifetime, no who in this existence wouldn't know what a friend is? She, herself, couldn't recalled when she had learned such a trivial word as “friends” and thought it was common knowledge obtained at their birth. Thinking that one had this knowledge implanted into their DNA was a childish thought, but since she had thought this way, the fact that there stood a person on this green planet that didn't know such a word would seem like a miracle to her, and quite simply, baffled her. But the more she continued to think along this path, the more negative the thoughts became. She began thinking of something she would have never imagined possible, even to a greater extent of someone not knowing the word “friend”. She began to justify and block out this though by reassuring herself with statements such as, just because he hasn't heard about the word does this mean that he didn't have any friends? That's impossible right? Everyone has friends. While deep in thought, her process got interrupted by Rime, as he responded to her shock while quite in a panic.

“Um... Is that wrong?”

She became startled by the sudden interruption of her thoughts. She became lost in her thought that she had escaped this planet, and transported into a field of thoughts. But these thoughts were silly thoughts, and were ones that got easily forgotten, as if time slowly caused them to fade like scabs, as soon as the trouble Rime interrupted them. Though the question asked was as silly as her thoughts, she couldn't help but take this question seriously. After all, this is the first time she had encountered another would didn't know the word “friend”, as well as, possibly never had a friend in his lifetime.

“No... It's not wrong, I think...”

It was clearly obvious she was stumbling in her words, and not only had she stumbled with her words, but she stopped talking all together. This wasn't the only problem, aside from her stumbling and pause in her speech, but she also said the words “I think”. This had meant a possibility that it was wrong. That the girl before him was as unsure about the answer of this question about the same, or more than Rime. This had only caused Rime to become anxious. The misinterpretation of the situation that Rime had received was quite drastic compared to the reality. Rime was taught to always think about every possible situation and possibility before he could truly understand something, and in this situation, he might have been doing a little too much of that. Maybe a little bit too much on a negative scale, where he forgot to think about the positive completely. The reason why he was thinking negatively was basically due to his appearance and his species. Among all Saibaman, he would most likely be the only outcast of his kind. This had also worried the Kai's and his multiple guardians. The Saibaman, Rime, might have been in an age too pure to be sent on his own, and without proper understanding of this world, it was quite unlucky that he had encountered the Kai at that young of an age. But though that might be true, if he hadn't met them, he would've never befriended the girl before him, Mel, and set his destiny into motion.

While Rime worried about nothing, the truth of the situation was that Mel only became silent because she was finding it quite difficult on how to explain what the word “friend” mean and what it is. Though one might think it isn't quite that difficult of a task to accomplish, they must first understand that there is a fine line between knowing and explaining. One might know what a word means and use it without any problems, but this leads them misinterpretation. They would start to believe that since they could use the word, they will start to think that explaining it will be no problem at all. This thought that one might have isn't exactly true. Knowing something doesn't exactly mean that they know how to explain it's meaning. Usually when people try to explain, they began to trip up on the definition, either entering the same word into the definition, stating a synonym which really doesn't help the situation, or recite a complex dictionary definition that might confuse someone entirely or answer the question without any complications. In this situation, Mel noticed that she couldn't exactly find the correct words to explain it to Rime, thus the difficulty in her speech.

Rime on the other had assumed that the fact that he didn't know this word meant something bad. Though this was completely opposite from the truth, he couldn't help but worry. As he sat on the ground, looking up through the opened window, where Mel was currently leaning against deep in thought, his thoughts began to lead into a dangerous direction. These thoughts consisted of Mel growing to hate him for simply not knowing what the word was. The reason why Mel will grow hatred towards Rime for not knowing this word, in his own logic, was due to the fact that this made him different from her. Not only that, but many different aspects and variable had lead him into this conclusion. This was possible in his mind for he had never met someone his own age. Though Mel most likely believed that he was an elder, that didn't stop Rime from approaching this issue. Rather than stopping, it would most likely intensify this argument, for his elder age would be appalling to someone younger, and the fact that he was a green alien didn't help either. His eyes widening and pupils dilating, Mel finally broke the silence, with full belief of her argument.

“... NO! It's not wrong! Just that no one taught you yet!”

Full of energy, Mel shouted at Rime. Her voice echoed through the corridors and interior of her house, as well as the empty streets of the darken day. Her voice, full of confidence and energy began to allow Rime to feel the care in her voice, and relax. His negative thoughts, that had been overflowing but a second ago, had all seemed to fade to the point that it appeared as if it were never there. He even became excited to the point of lifting himself of the grassy ground, demonstrating all the burst energy that had entered him. That, as well as the large grin of acceptance in his face had left content somewhere in Mel's heart. This feeling alone was motivation for Mel to continue, and her voice had become enhanced with bliss.

“So let me teach you!”

This was baffling. Rime had become so immersed in joy, he entirely forgot the reason he became sad in the first place. This had pushed him back into a confused state, causing the green child to asks the young one.

“Teach me?”

“Yeah!, I'll tell you what a friend is!”

In excitement, Rime leaned forward in anticipation, as he prepared himself to absorb what about to be said. But the more he waited, the more he notices the silence. Mel had become troubled once more. Her brows began to frown, and her eyes gazed down, causing them to look down at the window sills. Rime didn't want to interrupt her, so he remained silent, but the silence only caused his body to tense up. He seemed to have become uncomfortable, unknowing of what to do, he stood frozen glaring at the troubled Mel. But as the silence began to grow, Rime couldn't help but notice Mel's body stature had slowly entered a strange position, where it somewhat looked, uncomfortable.

Initially, Mel was sitting up straight, leaning against the window frame, but currently, it began to shift. Her body began to motion, as if she were preparing to sleep, and laid on the window. Though it seems impossible to physically lay on the window, she wasn't actually laying on the window, but the stretch of flooring behind it. This window was somewhat different from the traditional sense of windows, for there was a stretch of flooring, at window level, behind it. This was where people usually placed decorations, but this house had yet to do such. As she laid there, the elbow of her right hand became the closest thing to the window, and her arm created an acute angle, where her hand supported her head up. Meanwhile her left hand mirrored the right, causing both to simultaneously support her head, while the legs behind her began dangled up in the air. Though Rime noticed the slow change, she had entered this position without Rime noticing. He was so focused in the silence, that it didn't truly occur to him until he the motion had finally come to a complete stop. This was quite alarming to Rime, but the thing that confused him was how could such a position be held? Wouldn't it be uncomfortable? Thoughts like these were the only thing entertaining him as the silence grew longer. Finally, after roughly a minute of silence, Mel started.

“Um... First off, a friend is... Like family! They care for you, they love you and they even help you when your hurting! They will also be on your side, no matter what!”

Intrigued by her words, his eyes began to dazzle with sparkles and stars. His wavering eyes of amusement had only encouraged Mel to go on, and continued with her speech.

“A friend is also someone who would play with you when your bored, and have fun whenever they are together! But the bestest thing about friends are that they will grow up with you and never lie to each other!”

Rime could help but get closer, as if the closer he had gotten, the better her words would become, the clearer, and the brighter.

“So you will always have memories to share with each other, which is so fun! Friends also always take pictures together, and save them just to remember the memories! And when there is a problem, your friend will always help you kick it's butt!”

A smile entered Mel's face, as he paused. Rime could help but mirror her action, which cause a signal for Mel to continue.

“That's what a friend is!”

“Wow... That's so cool.”

“Of course it is! After all, I am your teacher!”

Laughter began to burst out from their voices, as gentle tears of laughter began to escape their eyes.

“From now on, you are my student, and my friend till the end of time!”

Though at the time, none of them truly understood the irony and depth of these words, the could only smile and laugh.

“And from now on, you are also teach and my friend till the end of time!”

Rime had mimicked Mel's tone, cause her to become distressed and a little angry.

“Hey!”

Rime couldn't help but taunt. He answered in the same tone as Mel, once more.

”Yes!”

This made Mel furious, but something happened before she could retaliate. From afar, the sound of jiggling keys could be heard, and the sound of the lock clinking became ever so obvious. This wasn't something good. Just earlier in that day, Mel had told her mother about a green monster that eating the souls of the flowers. Though this was a claim that Mel had imagined, her mother easily shrugged it off, and responded to her by saying that if the monster had ever returned, she would make sure to kill the monster and save the flowers from being attacked again. Though now Mel understood that the green creature from earlier wasn't bad, and on top of that, was her new friend, she couldn't help but become overprotective of him.

The understanding, on the other hand, was never proven wrong, so she still thought that Rime was eating the souls of the flowers from earlier. She had feared the unknown, as it is human nature to do such, and unconsciously thought that it was going to suck her soul as well. At the reason he ran from earlier was that he knew that the girl was calling for her mom, and he fear her mom, thus allowing the girl to become confident that with her mother around, the monster won't attack her but this aspect was certainly proven wrong, for earlier Rime seemed to become frighten of Mel, and not her mother.

With all this in mind, Mel knew what she had to do. She had to keep her mother away from Rime at all costs. Hey facial expression became serious, as she turned her glance towards Rime, in preparation to warn him. But as soon as she was going to open her mouth, a thought occurred to her. If Mel told Rime that her mother had the potential of killing him, and might kill him, she would lose a friend. She couldn't possibly divulge this information to a friend that she thought was fun. She had to cover this up, but she could lie. Friends don't lie to each other, she herself had stated this to Rime. Lying would mean that they aren't friends anymore.

Mel had been entrapped. She had little time to think about how to react to the situation, and if she didn't react correctly, something bad would happen. With her thought process rapidly increasing, the door began to squeak open. Her time was running short. She had to do something, now or never!

“I got to go, meet me at the park tonight!”

She hurriedly said to Rime. This was enough to become content with, for both parties, though there was an important aspect that wasn't mentioned. What time should they meet each other at the park? This was a key question, which would surely turn the wheels of faith, and without this information, the impending faith had become set, and ultimately, unavoidable.

Mel had shut the windows, rushing back to her feet, and locked it. Rime smiled, as he turned his body away, and began to walk to the front of the house to exit their territory, and enter the streets where he may waste time until he could once again play with his new friend. But as he made his path towards the front, Mel's mom caught a glimpse of him. Though it wasn't enough to make a anything, she noticed a small, shadow figure walking away from the window, along with Mel rapidly closing the windows behind her. Her mother became intrigued. You see, Mel was at the age where boys think girls have cooties, so they tend to avoid the girls, so in general, Mel had no male friends. This was a simple conclusion that her mother had derived from the looks of it, and the reason why Mel reacted like this was completely misunderstood. She was confident that Mel had her first crush, though this wasn't exactly the truth.

“Oh, a boy eh?”

Busted, Mel thought. She wanted to protect her new friend, but it seemed that he was now doomed to die in the hands of her mother. But though she thought this, she didn't entirely give up. Instead, she wanted to protect him. No, no mater what, Mel will protect Rime! She thought, as he glared up at her mom and tighten her fists.

“Ah... No, he's just a friend.”

Mel had said hastily. A large grin emerged on the mother's face, as she convinced herself that her initial thought was accurate. But just because the daughter liked this kid didn't mean that she accepted. Including since Mel was too young to engage into anything as such. It was okay for her to like the boy, but serious like getting into a relationship was allowed. Though her mom was think far into the future, these thoughts were a typical concern of hers. Including since she was a single mother, she had no time to keep tabs on her daughter and such an important issue. Secretly, her mother hoped that the two of them would be together forever, but she knew that this wasn't possible. Including with the the state of affairs as it is.

Ever since the death of the father, through a brutal murder of passion from a close friend of his and his wife, she had been alone. It has been over six years, and at the time, Mel was only a few months shy from one. She herself didn't know exactly what happened, but she knew that a close friend of her parents killed her papa. Her mother, of course, tried to suppress these facts from being disclosed to Mel, but Mel was quite an intuitive child, and through serious focus, she managed to uncover the hidden truth. At first she became jealous of the other children, due to the fact that they had a person to call daddy, but as time continued to fade, she became determined to unveil this secret. Her mother, under no conditions, would disclose the information, so she began to ask abstract questions to adults about how to uncover hidden information about the past, and finally came upon a plausible solution.

Knowing that her father died before she reached the age of one, thanks to her mother, she went to the library and began to look at the newspaper archives of the events. Spending countless hours in a day in the archive, barely understanding anything she read, she grew adapt to the complex words used in the archive, to the point of uncovering the certain truth about her father. She couldn't believe it. Why would a friend of papa and mama kill papa? She didn't want to believe it, so she satisfied herself by telling herself that the guy that killed her papa was not truly a friend. The newspaper article stated that the police speculated that it was due to jealously that husband be wed the love of his live, and became deluded into the point of thinking that by eliminating the husband, the wife will be for his.

The wife had endured the burden of raising a child on her own, and even devoted herself into her career, which allowed her to quickly raise in the ranks of her career and receive a stable and generous amount. The burden has finally calmed, and her hours at work decreased, but the fact that she would be called randomly to work wasn't something that could be avoided. But that was the least of her concerns at the moment. Tomorrow was Mel's big day. Mel was turning to the age of 8, making her older than a majority of her classmates, and her mother had the entire day off, no exceptions. This was time for her and her daughter to bound, that is, after the birthday party of course.

“So why don't you invite your 'friend' to your birthday tomorrow?”

Mel had become entranced by the idea. Her fears had fallen from her shoulders and she glared at her mother, erasing the stern look in her face, and transforming it into a joyful one.

“Really!”

A smile arose on her face.

“Really.”

Rime was snapped from his recollection, unknowing of the conversation between the mother and daughter, he roamed the streets. Without his knowledge, his body had been elevating off the ground, and reached a height where he could view the entire city. It must have been the overwhelming joy that cause him to lift it, in spirits and in height. Though this was somewhat troublesome, this was also perfect due to the fact that Rime could now scan the city for interesting areas to visit. Rime, being new to the city, hasn't really explored as much as one might think. Often, he would come into something intriguing, and be entranced by the thing for countless hours, until he had finally snapped back into reality. An example of such occurrence would be the flowers earlier today. If not for Mel, He would of admired those flowers for hours to come. In fact he might still be there staring into them.

With the gentle breeze of the wind, his body becomes pulled forward, causing him to hover above an alluring aroma. His focus is shifted. It wasn't the scent that attracted him, it was a factor, but it was the alarming sound of sirens pulled him. A cloud of smog rose up into the air, slowly dispersing and disappearing, as the sirens rushed towards that direction. The cars on the street open their paths, allowing these red trucks to flow through the cracks of the street, ignoring the red lights, until they had finally approached their destination.

Rime could only float and stare, unsure whether or not he should go into that direction The fact is that if Rime where to go towards the direction of smoke, he would definitely be traveling the opposite direction of where he was supposed to go later, the park. He had to makes himself content. He couldn't let such a curious situation pass by, and for all he knew, it might never happen again. His body was slowly inching forward, as his unconscious mind pulled his body forward, his conscious one had to verify whether or not he would be allowed to go. His head bent back, as he stared up towards the sky. His eyelids narrowed, as the slight glow from sun blinded him.

Though the stars where present, and the surrounding was dark, it was yet nighttime. Though it was close to it, for the sun had almost set, this was enough to give Rime permission to head towards the red trucks. Looking straight ahead, he pulls his body forward, from a telekinetic pull of his mind, and his body lunges forward. Head first, his body repels the wind, allowing him to go even faster, and before he had accustomed to the wind ramming against his face, he had arrived to the location. The location itself wasn't that far from where Rime was, including due to the fact that Rime was close to the ground, causing the distance to be closer than if he were higher in the altitude, though it was barely a noticeable thing, due to the fact that the distance traveled wasn't even that large.

Upon arriving, Rime could feel the temperature of the area rapidly increasing, as an intensity of the fire stretched out, grasping anything that was close to the the origin. This really didn't bother Rime, for some unknown reason, but it did make him curious on what event was happening. The true reason why he had become curious was due to the crowd of people surrounding a building, and the red trucks before the blazing building shooting out a blue liquid at it. The effects of the liquid touching the building, full of flames, caused a large quantity of smoke to release, thus masking the building into the point it had completely disappeared. Lowering his body, to surface level, he began to hear sharp murmurs from the crowd. The sudden immersion of the rowdy crowd caused a sharp pain in Rime's ears. It wasn't due the fact that it was too loud, but rather, it was too sudden of an increase. This had cause his to jolt, in pain, to cover both his ears with his hands, slowing suppressing the sound, and making it more manageable.

As his feet came in contact with the ground, his hands slowly removed themselves from his ears, as his ears adapted themselves to the noise. His eyes began to peer from side to side, absorbing the imaginary, the chaos, the panic, the distress, the sadness, the tears, the agonizing pain of everything, he could help but wonder, why? His feet began to march forward, towards the front of the line, which was quite simple due to him having the size of a child, and finally made his way to the front of the line. A thin yellow strand of plastic stretched itself around the surrounding, labeled as “caution”. His eyes gleamed at it, causing his hands to want to feel the structure, but his mind had prevented him from doing do. His hand was just an inch away from it, but he wouldn't allow himself to go any further.

“Help! My child is still inside”

This was a typical occurrence, and often displayed in movies, but to Rime, it was something new. He couldn't help but stare at the brown-haired woman stretching out her hand, being held back by a man with a black and yellow overall, a mask upon his face, and a hood over his head. The woman's face was covered with black dust, as tears cleansed her pale face of it. The tears had merged with the dust, and become black as they dripped from her face, and she continued to allow her moaning voice escape from her lips. She couldn't let her child go and die, but the man holding her back wouldn't let herself be put in danger because her child has a low possibility of surviving. Why would he allow two people to die, rather than one? It was illogical. Rime could help but feel a sense and wanting to assist. Walking under the plastic barrier, he began to charge forward towards the blazing building.

THIS IS NOT FINISHED, EVERYTHING IS SUBJECTED TO CHANGE.