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Please do not read if you are under 18! The following contains mature content not suited for general audiences. You have been warned.

Jonah escapes to the countryside to try and get away from his problems.

TRIGGER WARNING! Contains: emotional abuse, sexual abuse (discussed), relationship trauma, PTSD, anxiety

Jonah, his family, etc. are characters made by me, based off of characters in the Pokémon universe owned by GameFreak and Nintendo. I do not claim rights to characters such as Jonah, etc.

By PseudonymousUmbreon. If you wish to use or reference my work and/or my characters, please contact me first.

*****

All Systems Stable

Coevolution Ch.19

The drive to Jonah’s grandfather’s house had always been a slog. Three hours, and the most interesting thing on the side of the road was the occasional farm. Sure, he had music playing, but he definitely wasn’t feeling it. Realistically, the drums were just louder than the voices in his head.

At long last, the familiar faded red barn at the top of the hill came into view. A small farm house sat in the barn’s shadow, one-storey, dwarfed by the larger building.. Jonah still remembered the years of family gatherings, wide wooden picnic tables that gave you splinters if you weren’t careful, populated with cousins, aunts, and uncles. Jonah’s dad and his uncles made piles of hot dogs and hamburgers on a league of grills while Mom and her sisters covered the serving table in various salads made from vegetables and mayonnaise and “salads” made from fruit and gelatin. And there was Nan, who made an impossibly large number of desserts for one person, who oversaw the whole thing, somehow ensuring that all of the kids ate their “good food” before their copious amounts of “yummy food.”

And then Nan passed, and there was one more feeble attempt at a family gathering, quiet as a ghost. Half of the family didn’t even come, and those who were there remembered a day of tears and somber memories about Nan. The tables were empty without her desserts, and poor imitations of Nan’s cooking made with heartbroken love were boxed up and taken home as leftovers for the first time ever.

Today, the farm was lonely, the barn in disrepair, the animals gone, and the only residents Paps, a stubborn old man who refused to leave his wife’s home behind, and Uncle John, the only one who could convince Paps that he needed a caretaker if he insists on living so far from everyone else.

Jonah pulled his car into the driveway and shut it off. He sat there for a second, not really thinking about anything in particular, before he slipped his keys into his pocket and stepped out towards the front walk.

The familiar ring of the doorbell seemed to pierce through the silence and ring out over the valley below. Somehow, it had remained untouched by time, the chilling Chimes of Westminster carrying the same distortions they had ten years ago.

After a few minutes, the door clicked open, and there was Paps, leaning on his cane, and Jonah was hit with a smell that made him feel twelve again. The farmhouse had always smelled old, even then, with a faint scent of sweetness.

“Well? Make it short, I’m missin’ my show for this,” the old Luxray said, looking through Jonah’s face. “Whaddya want?”

“Hey Paps. It’s me. Jonah,” Jonah said. He stepped forward and laid his paw over Paps’ on top of the Luxray’s cane, squeezing it slightly.

“Jonah!” Paps said, his eyebrows jumping up in surprise before they furrowed. “Shouldn’t you be in school, young man?”

Jonah chuckled nervously. “Semester’s over. ‘Sides, I dunno if I’m gonna go back…”

Paps lifted a shaking finger. “Ain’t no grandson of mine dropping out of college now, y’hear?” He shook his raised paw, with a hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth. “But I guess if ya got a good reason…”

“Can I, uh, come in? It’s a little cold out…” Jonah said.

Paps snorted. “‘Course ya can! Ain’t grandson of mine freezing out here now, y’hear?” Slowly, Paps turned and started hobbling into the room behind him.

“Whatever you say, Paps,” Jonah chided sarcastically. He followed the Luxray inside and closed the door.

The farmhouse was as old inside as its primary inhabitant, with deteriorated but stubbornly sturdy wooden chairs surrounding a matching dining table, a peeling faux-leather couch, and no television in sight. The radio next to Paps’ ancient armchair crackled along with the voices of two Pokémon arguing about some store closing down nearby. Next to it was the only thing still in relatively good condition; Nan’s armchair, seeming to leave a space for Nan’s ghost. The combined living room and kitchen had one hallway with three doors: Paps’ room, John’s room, and the bathroom.

Paps plopped down in his chair and shut off the radio, muttering something about respect for local businesses. The man sighed, set his cane to the side, and folded his paws in his lap.

“Where’s John?” Jonah asked, sitting himself on the couch. “You get rid of him?”

“Ha!” Paps guffawed. “Only for a few hours. He’s out into town to run errands. What brings you ‘round here? Felt like seein’ me for some reason?”

Jonah sighed. “Got tired of Mom and Dad. Needed some space.”

Paps chuckled. “Don’t get much more space than this. That bad, huh?”

“You been keeping up with the Central City news?”

“Jonah, I get two stations out here. And they’re both shit.”

“My ex got arrested.”

“That so? You get in trouble too?” Paps raised an eyebrow at the space next to where Jonah was sitting.

“N-no, I… I was kinda the reason she got arrested.” Jonah swallowed.

Paps leaned back and clasped his fingers. “You got a story here. Talk to me.”

“She—” Jonah stopped himself reflexively.

You just let her use you like that? his older brother, Sean, had demanded.

Are you sure it was really abuse, Jonah? Mom had asked.

You’ve always been a sensitive guy, but you gotta learn to toughen up, Jo, Dad had lamented.

You’re a transphobic traitor! Jess had accused.

I couldn’t have gotten off this well without you, Jojo. Just wish you’d gotten here sooner, Sylvia had crooned. Maybe there’s still a chance after all.

And now there was Paps. A man that Jonah hadn’t seen in years, who was traditional and stubbornly stuck in his ways. And yet, there was still something in Jonah that told him it would be okay.

“She, uh…” Jonah started. “She raped me. I broke up with her over it. She lashed out and hospitalized someone…”

“Hold on,” Paps interrupted, holding up a paw. “She raped you?”

Jonah nodded, then remembered his grandfather couldn’t see it. “Yeah, and then when she went to court, I… defended her. And now a bunch of my friends are mad at me.”

Paps leaned forward. “Well. That’s one hell of a situation you’re in. And my daughter didn’t help ya?”

“Well,” Jonah hesitated. “She kinda yelled at me for getting a court summons… and then when I told her why, she didn’t really… understand—”

“Ain’t NO daughter of mine goin’ around letting her sons get abused!” Paps cut in, his voice harsh and icy. “Why, I oughta—”

“Paps, it’s okay,” Jonah said, “the trial’s done with.”

“Then why are you here, and not there?”

“I—” Jonah stopped.

Paps grabbed his cane and stood up, starting to make his way to the kitchen. “I’m makin’ hot chocolate. It ain’t Nan’s, but it’ll still make you feel better.”

Jonah jumped up. “Let me help you—”

“You sit down now, and you let your Paps take care of ya, y’hear?” The question mark on the end was clearly only there as a formality. “I may be old and blind, but I ain’t useless. Thought I raised my kids not be useless too.” He laughed, once, dryly.

Jonah moved to the table and slid out a chair. It made a horrendous shrieking sound, prompting a shaking head from Paps. He sat down, apprehensively, while Paps busied himself with the hot chocolate.

With a surprising level of deftness, a saucepan was placed on the stove, chocolate chips and milk poured in, the gas stove turned on, and the chocolate melted. The saucepan, fitted with a pouring spout, made for an easy deposit of the chocolate into two mugs despite Paps’ shaking hands. On top, a pile of whipped cream, definitely more than should have been, with extra for Jonah’s mug.

The Jolteon hadn’t had hot chocolate—proper hot chocolate, not the stuff from the packets—since before Nan died. It had been the last Christmas before her passing, but even though it had been ten years, it was exactly as Jonah remembered it. Creamy, smooth, and ever so slightly too rich to drink all at once.

“When’d you learn how to do this?” Jonah asked between sips.

Paps smiled. “Helped your Nan with it enough times that I learned how to do it myself.”

Jonah nodded, lost in the nostalgia of the moment.

“Y’know, when your Nan died, I felt relieved?”

Jonah nearly choked on his hot chocolate. “Paps, what?”

Paps laughed, and for once, it was a genuine, hearty laugh, one that felt impossible coming from a surly old man like him. “Don’t get me wrong, Jonah, I loved her. I did. But, y’know. When people get old, we get tired. And when we’re tired, we suffer. We’re cranky.

“She never would let the family see it, but, your Nan, she was cranky for a long time. A real long time. And the thing that gave her proper purpose, was making food for all the family. But then it got hard to even do that, and she got crankier. Every reunion, she made all that food, tuckered herself out, and called you all ungrateful leeches after you left ‘n she had to do all the cleaning and stuff. I’da helped her, but… Jonah, you know she didn’t like people steppin’ on her toes.

“The year she died, she may have died for real then, but if you ask me, her heart had died a long time before. Her food wasn’t made with love, her food was made with sugar and spite. She’d been living cranky, and she died cranky.

“Now, I don’t know nothin’ about this ex-girlfriend of yours, but if I had to guess, she’s also pretty cranky about things, amirite? Well, she’s not old, but cranky people, they’re cranky for all sorts of different reasons. And we can be there to help and we can be there to eat and we can be there to love ‘em. But there’s not a lot you can do to make them any less cranky. And yeah, when they’re gone, it’s pretty easy to be relieved, ‘cause all that crankiness is gone too.

“But, and you listen now, y’hear, that don’t mean you get to miss them any less, and that don’t mean no one’s listenin’ when you talk about how cranky they were. And most importantly, that don’t mean they’re gonna be cranky forever. Your Nan may have been cranky up until her death, but when she died, well. She ain’t cranky no more, is she?

“The way your girlfriend treated you, it ain’t right, Jonah, but it ain’t the end of things either. And you may not be happy with yourself ‘bout defending her, but that’s in the past now—you can’t change it. You’re young, and you gotta long life that’s better spent on people who ain’t cranky. Maybe she’ll get better, maybe she won’t anytime soon, but when that time comes, whether that’s now ‘cause you never see her again, or when you’re 80 years old and unhappy in marriage, there is relief. Ya follow?”

Jonah blinked. “Maybe?”

Paps grinned. “When you get to be my age, you learn, it don’t need to make sense. Just needs to work. Ya done with your chocolate?”

Jonah suddenly realized the mug was empty. “Y-yeah, I guess so. Here, I’ll wash them.”

“Good man. I gotta take a nap anyway. You gonna stick around, visit with your Uncle John, maybe?”

“Yeah, I’ll probably stay around for a bit.”

“You stay as long as you need, Jonah. Don’t matter if no one comes ‘round here no more. This is still a family home.”

Paps rose, and Jonah moved around the table to meet him, pulling the Luxray into a hug. “Thank you Paps.”

“Anytime, son. Anytime,” Pops said, chuckling and patting his grandson on the back.

*****

Jonah wasn’t sure what to expect when he got to Alcremie’s, but there he was, and by the time he walked in the door and saw Jess, there was no turning back. She had seen him too.

“Thought you’d disappeared off the face of the Earth after that bullshit you pulled at the trial,” Jess said as Jonah approached the counter.

“Nice to see you too, Jess,” Jonah muttered back. “Look, can we talk?”

“We are talking.” Jess crossed her arms.

“I… I meant like… somewhere private. With Grace and Val and them—a-and Flynn…”

Jess huffed. “Flynn’s moved on. They really hit it off with Umbre, living with Val and his brother. And Val and Grace definitely aren’t gonna talk to you anytime soon. Not after that stunt you pulled.”

“So that’s it then? All my friendships are just, dead, because of this?” Jonah couldn’t avoid the slight edge creeping into his voice.

“Don’t blame this on us, Jonah,” Jess shot back, her face darkening. “You’re the one who ruined our chances at getting a transphobe and abuser—your abuser, might I add—brought to justice. She could be rotting in jail, but because of you, she’s free, doing Arceus-knows-what to her next victim. If you want forgiveness, try not pulling shit in the first place.”

“But—” Jonah sputtered. “How is any of this fair? I defended Sylvia because I was scared, you can’t fault me for that.”

Jess shook her head. “You burned the bridge, Jonah. Don’t try to cross it. If you’ll excuse me, I have customers.” With that, she turned her back to Jonah and started pressing buttons on the coffee machine.

Jonah left Alcremie’s feeling even emptier than before. Was what he had done really that unforgivable?

That night did little to improve his mood.

“You’re dropping out of college?!” Jonah’s mom put a paw to her forehead. “After the money that we spent to put you through—you’re lucky that track scholarship you got—people believed in you, Jonah, and because you don’t jive with anyone you’re dropping out? What would your father think…”

She continued, but Jonah wasn’t really listening. Time to start looking for some new apartments, far, far away from here.