“Come on, just one more episode!” Beau pleaded to his owner, who was already beginning to fall asleep right there on the couch. 

It was almost midnight, and they were watching yet another TV series that William was indifferent to, but only really watched it for his buizel, who enjoyed the show quite a lot. Usually they would call it a night by 10, but the episodes were keeping Beau engaged to a point where he just couldn’t stop watching. Now, however, William was done watching the show, and wouldn’t budge no matter how much Beau begged him.

“It’s almost midnight, bud. I’m tired, and I’m sure you are too. Let’s just,” William let out a yawn, “go to bed, okay?”

Beau pouted, “But it was just getting good, we can’t stop now!”
 “That’s what you said three episodes ago. Come on, if you really want to, we could continue watching tomorrow.”

Beau went silent. He knew there was no talking his owner into watching any more, so with a defeated sigh, he nodded, “Okay, fine. But we’re gonna be done when I say we’re done!”

“Heh, yeah, we’ll see about that”

William scooped up his buizel and carried him into their bedroom. When William first got Beau, he had bought a small cat bed which would have sat at the foot of the bed. However, he found his money to be spent poorly after his beloved pokemon refused to sleep anywhere but on top of or beside him on the bed. It’s not like he minded anyway, he certainly did enjoy his pokemon’s company. It’s just a damn shame that 20 dollars went down the drain. 

He plopped Beau on to the bed before getting into the covers. The buizel waited for his owner to get comfortable before laying beside him, their backs pressing against one another. Beau loved his owner, truly he did. He had known him practically all his life, and he was given nothing but everything a pokemon could ever need- or want- in their life. It was the little things in his life that he really appreciated (not saying that he didn’t appreciate the bigger things like being given a nice, warm home, love and affection, etc. That was something he was eternally grateful for). He loved when they would walk around town every other day, when William would sit with him in bed when he was sick and play a nice, relaxing video game together, when they had breakfast for dinner every Friday. Beau loved it all, and he wouldn’t give that, or his owner period, up for the world.

As he began to drift to sleep, he felt William get up out of bed slowly, like he was trying not to wake his precious pokemon up from his slumber. Then he heard him walk into the bathroom and flip the lights on. He was in there for a while, though Beau couldn’t know for sure how long, for he fell asleep trying to see when his owner would get out and lay back down.

Beau woke up to the sun shining in his eyes from the window. He could tell his owner’s weight was still on the bed, which was odd considering he was always up in the morning to make breakfast. In fact, William would have woken him up by now, given that the sun never had the chance to wake him before. 

We did go to bed later than usual last night, maybe he just needs a little more sleep? Beau assured himself. He knew he shouldn’t have pushed watching that show, and admittedly, it made him feel a little guilty that he forced his owner to stay up so late. 

He looked at the digital clock, which stood on the bedside table on Beau’s side (On days William set an alarm, the distance was perfect for him to get up so he could shut it off, forcing him to get out of bed). It was 10:45am. 

Beau knew that, on the rare occasions his owner did sleep in late, he never liked getting up past 11. Knowing this, the buizel turned to his owner to shake him awake.

“Hey, you need to wake up.” He said, making his voice louder, though not to the point of yelling.

But he wasn’t waking up. Something Beau knew quite well from all the times he tried sneaking late at night to get a snack, his owner was far from a heavy sleeper. You could drop a feather and it would jolt him awake. This wasn’t like him.

“William?” Beau had a little worry in his voice, concerned for this odd behavior his owner was showing. He shook him a little more, but he was still asleep. 

Out of panic and fear, Beau pressed his ear against his owner’s chest. He didn’t know why he chose to do this, though his fear was implying it, he didn’t really think William up and died. He just wanted to be absolutely sure. But as he was listening for a heart beat, he was only met with silence, which made his own heart sink. 

There’s no way, right? This can’t be, it just can’t! Surely he didn’t…

“William?!” Beau yelled, now jerking him, desperately trying to see if, by some miracle, his owner would wake up and they could continue on with their happy lives. But as his body remained lifeless, the heart-wrenching fact only became clearer to Beau.

William was dead.

But how? He was fine just last night, and surely if he somehow had a heart attack in the middle of the night, it would have woke him. Beau tried justifying the reasoning as to why this horrible thing could have happened, but nothing could possibly come to mind. In fact, he could barely think at all. His mind was flooded with jumbled thoughts between what was and what could never be. He was breaking, and there was nothing no one could do to stop it. 

Beau jumped out of bed, tears swelling in his eyes. The only clear thought he had from the sea of confusion in his mind was to run. Run away as far as he could, and never look back. This house- this neighborhood- this fucking town- held only a reminder of the happiness he could never feel again, not when the only person who brought him that happiness was gone. Being the only viable option, or at least the only option his mind could manage to surface, Beau did just that. He bolted out of the bedroom and out of the house.

And ran.