Disclaimer: All Pokemon characters are copyrighted by Nintendo. No permission has been given to use their names. The song lyrics are an excerpt from the song "Brooklyn Kids" and are copyrighted by Pete Townshend. No permission has been given to use the lyrics.

THE LONGEST NIGHTS

By Allan North

The young man tossed in bed again. For what felt like the hundredth time, he looked at the digital clock on his bedside table. 3:00 AM. Sigh. He sat up in bed, realizing that this would be yet another sleepless night. Tossing the covers aside, he walked to the light switch and flipped it on. His eyes flinched for a second as they adjusted to the light. Walking across the room back to his bed, the young man kicked the white uniform on the floor. It flipped over and landed right side up, revealing a large red "R".

James sat down on his bed and ran his fingers through his blue hair, flinching as his fingers hit a large sore bump on the back of his head. James looked over at his bedside table where a picture sat in a frame next to his clock. So few pictures he had were even worthy of a frame; just one of him as a child with his pet Growlie, and this one... of him and his partner Jessie. How beautiful she was... and special. Never had he seen anyone quite like her. Her long red hair, her perfect figure and skin, her beautiful face... He smiled to himself as he stared at the picture, despite the awareness that it was Jessie who was responsible for the painful bump on his head, the result of one of her trademark mallet attacks.

Of course, he understood her frustration with him... More often than not, it was fully justified. But what he couldn't understand was why fate had been so cruel as to make her despise him so... Sadly, he shook his head.

A single tear formed in the corner of his eye as he laid down on his bed again, not bothering to turn out the light.

It would be another long night....

Across the hall....

Angrily, the young woman sat up and punched her pillow. Why couldn't she get any sleep lately? The last few days, all she could do was toss and turn. It made her cranky and irritable during the day, but she seemed to be powerless to do anything about it.. Finally, deciding to just quit trying, she just got up and turned on the light. She looked at the clock on her bedside table. 3:01 AM.

She went to her bathroom and got a drink of water from the sink, looking tiredly into the mirror as she did. She looked a mess. Her red hair, usually styled into her trademark 'do, hung down crushed out of place by her tossing and turning. Jessie scoffed at the image in the mirror, and walked back to the bed. She stubbed her toe on her boots as she did, and angrily kicked them out of the way.

Jessie plopped down on the bed and thought about what she had just done. It was her damn temper again. Why did she fly off the handle so easily? She knew all too well the price of her temper from the past. It had cost her friends, relationships, and more... And now, she felt she was in danger of it happening again. She stared at the wall, plastered with pictures of her partner, James. He was so beautiful, so strong, so perfect. She had loved him for so long... ever since shortly after they had met... in her own way. Of course, she had never found the way to tell him... Her temper had made sure of that.

Perhaps someday, he would learn the truth, and realize what was real in her heart. But how could he love such a person, so cold and cruel? Jessie laid down and stared at the ceiling.

God, why was she the way she was? So full of rage, sarcasm, and.... love? Could that even be true? Well, unrequited love, but love none the less.

Again, as she had done the previous nights, Jessie sat up and shook her head violently to clear it. Maybe some day she would sort out her emotions... but would it be too late when she finally did?

A tear fell down her cheek as she fell back on her pillow, knowing that it would be yet another long night.

At 3:15 AM, two separate radios in two separate rooms were turned on at almost the same time on the same station. The young man and woman who had turned them on laid down and let the music wash over them, a slow, haunting melody; "And they're both just a mile apart, just streets away from a kindred heart. But there might as well.... be an ocean... between them."

The End

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