Smiling Friends Angst\Comfort HCS and Stories

The Never Ending Spiral (💔)

Author's Note: The following takes place when Alan and Glep are living in a shitty apartment building.

"That's about everything...I guess..." A very timid Alan said, locking the door to the new apartment he had just bought with Glep. Alan had just moved out of his old living space as he was a former roommate to a bunch of ill mannered critters who would frequently go out drinking or doing drugs. A few days ago was when he had enough and bought his own apartment, thing is...He couldn't afford it completely and went on the hunt for a roommate to help with the bills. Surprisingly, Glep decided to move in with his co-worker in hopes of the two building a stronger, outside of work relationship. But it was very awkward, Alan preferred to keep to himself, as was Glep being glued to his IPad.

Sadly, this apartment was nowhere near well kept, There were no separation walls anywhere, making privacy very lacking. So if one of them were to use the bathroom, they would have had to avert their eyes from one another until they got one of those changing boarders or something. Everything was all in one tiny, musty room. Alan wound up getting a bunch of furniture off Craigslist during this time. Sure most of it wasn't in the best condition, but it was all the two could afford. Glep settled in on a beanbag while Alan sat on the couch. "So um....Is there...Anything in particular you wanna talk about?" Alan asked, trying to spark up a conversation. He was obviously feeling nervous as he was fidgeting with his tie and trying to make eye contact with his smaller friend. "Uhm. Not really at the moment." Glep replied. The two remained silent, not knowing what to say to each other. Glep wanted to start a conversation, but he never really had a relationship with Alan either in or out of work. The two didn't share much in common other than having a taste in video games.

The smaller critter then had an idea, "Alan. Mind if I use your phone? I wanna get us a pizza. My treat." Glep offered. "I don't know, I'm kind of sensitive to fast food." Alan replied. Unlike the statement, he was able to tolerate pizza, but stuff that were to come from a place like Salty's would not sit well with him. "Yknow what, I think I could eat..." He sighed. The two then contemplated on toppings before finally settling on cheese, pepperoni, and onion. "I didn't know you liked onions!" Glep said. "Yeah I do... Gives the pizza a little extra crunch I guess." Alan replied, staring down at his feet. Glep could easily sense he was nervous and hopped on the arm of the couch. "I know this is kind of an awkward situation for both of us at the moment, but just take all the time you need to adjust." Alan could tell Glep had good intentions, but he was never one to step into relationships, especially after dealing with the previous rowdy roommates. "Yeah I appreciate your kind words, Glep. But I think it would be best if we were just in a roommate\co-worker relationship. I have no investment in relationships whatsoever." The taller critter got up to use the bathroom, but decided to do his business elsewhere considering the lack of privacy.

The night went by smoothly after dinner, the two critters spent the rest of the night watching TV together. Alan was never much into modern day shows compared to Glep, but he decided to give it a chance anyway. And much to his surprise, some of the shows Glep enjoyed were actually really good! "You know, Glep. You actually have a decent taste." Alan complimented. "Thanks, Alan! Maybe you could show me some of your favorites sometime?" Glep responded, cracking a smile. "Wait...Do you have anyplace to sleep?" Alan asked, realizing that he only bought one mattress. Glep came to that realization too, "Shit...I didn't realize that until now." He said. The small critter decided to make a small bedroom for himself in a kitchen cabinet, even though it wasn't much, this was just going to be until Alan got a bigger mattress. Alan climbed into his mattress and covered himself up with a bedsheet. "Goodnight, Alan!" Glep shouted from the kitchen cabinet. Alan simply smiled in response and went to sleep.

Things were peaceful for both up until late into the night, some time around 3:00 in the morning. Alan was tossing and turning in his less of a bed, "M....My cheese...." He mumbled, "W...Who stole my....cheese....?" This would turn out to be one of the many nightmares since the bliblie infestation. Alan had been having these dreams for a very long time now, but kept it a secret from the other critters. Alan then woke up slightly terrified as that was only a mild nightmare compared to others he has had in the past. He then got up and approached Glep. "Glep? Are you awake?" Alan whispered as Glep pulled a smaller bedsheet over his head. "Not now, Alan. I'm trying to sleep." He moaned, leaving the taller critter to go back to bed. "Its all a dream, Alan. Just let it go...." the critter thought to himself before enduring hours of a restless sleep.

Glep woke up the next morning feeling refreshed, while Alan was groggy and had bags under his eyes from not sleeping well that night. "Morning, Alan!" Glep greeted with no response. "You don't look too good, are you ok?" he asked. Alan rubbed his eyes and sat up, "Yeah I'm ok...Just had some trouble sleeping during the night." He was about to doze off again, but snapped out of it. "Wait...Is it a work day?" He asked. glep looked at the calendar on his IPad, "Nope. Today is Saturday. You can go back to sleep if you'd like!" The green critter said. And within the snap of a finger, Alan fell fast asleep. This cycle would continue for nights on end, but each time the nightmares would get worse to the point of becoming more than nightmares, more like night terrors. Each time Alan would go to wake Glep, he'd always chicken out and stay in bed. Glep always thought Alan would try and wake him up for something to complain about, but he wouldn't find out the truth...Until one night.

Alan was having yet another night terror, this one in particular was a graphic detail of him being trapped by the bliblies and getting pinned to the cross. "Stop....W-What are you doing....?" Alan mumbled in his sleep. Glep began to wake up and overhear what was going on, he hopped out of the cabinet and walked over slowly. "What's going on...." He mumbled. Alan began to tremble under his sheet, clutching it tightly. "Let me go...Please!" Alan mumbled once more. As Glep approached the mattress, Alan's terror got worse and worse. "Alan?" Glep whispered, he began to shake Alan's arm as things worsened. "Alan! Wake up!" Glep said before he was knocked off the mattress by Alan waking up in a cold sweat. The two were stunned with either confusion, horror, or a bit of both. Glep got up and saw how terrified Alan was, so he climbed onto the mattress again. "Alan...? You ok?" He asked, climbing on top of his leg. In that moment, Alan's train of thought was just spiraling out of control, his heart was racing. "I uh..." Alan stuttered before Glep interjected "Its ok.... I'll get you a bucket of ice water" he hopped down and went to the fridge. "Um. Thanks." Alan said once more before finally getting into a decent headspace. Glep brought back a bucket of water with some ice cubes floating around at the top. "Do you wanna talk about what happened? Its fine if you don't want to." the smaller critter offered.

Alan splashed some water on his face and began to go into detail about how the past several nights have been, Glep listened closely and finally put two and two together. "So THAT'S why he's been waking me up at night!" He thought. "These have been a common issue for me ever since those purple things invaded the office." Alan explained. "I know it was so long ago, but I just get worried that it might happen again." The red critter then went on to tell Glep what happened after paramedics took him to the hospital. "One of the nails hit a vein, unfortunately. So that had to be fixed....It was a hard process..." Alan said, showing Glep one of his scarred hands. "I bet that must have done a number on you." Glep said looking closely at the scar. "Yeah. Sometimes it still hurts to use this hand for certain tasks. But I'm sure that will be fixed in due time." Alan replied. Glep looked up at Alan, "You know, this might sound weird but, we're literally getting to know each other over the infestation!" the cmall critter said. Alan then came to the same realization, "Yeah...You're right. I guess that is true." he shrugged before climbing back into the bedsheets. "I probably won't sleep the rest of the night. So..." the tall critter felt awkward about this situation, but Glep was very understanding of it all. "I'm gonna move over to the couch for the night. So it'd be easier for you to reach me if anything comes up." Glep said.

Alan thought for a second before he fell back asleep. "Maybe this whole roommate thing COULD work out...." and then it was lights out.