Selcouth Wakings | brightwin |

T: 01

He was at the beach with his hand intertwined with another's.

"Stop taking pictures and chase me!" A voice laughed before the grasp he had was wretched and his now empty hand tingled against his side just as he turned to face the owner of the voice.

"Bright," The boy laughs while his eyes disappeared with it. "Catch me!"

He remains standing though. The stranger's silhouette disappearing right before him in frantic steps but all Bright could do was stare. The waves were prominent bindings of comfort he was hearing when his feet started to move along with his mouth; uttering a name he knows so well.

But at the same time, he didn't.

"Win."

"Bright! Get up, you're 10 minutes late!"

Forcing his eyes upon while his head drummed with aggressiveness, Bright gave it his all to sit up while the comfortable covers slid past his chilling skin.

"What time—" He starts only to shoot up when his desired time was nowhere to be found. "Why didn't anyone wake me sooner?"

"We were but you were so out of it. I was even this close to calling the dorm clinic, thought you were dead." Off grunts before settling down his weights and over to an equally entertained Tay who messily ate his convenience store breakfast.

"Tawan was so worried he wanted to dump a good bucket on you. Now that I think about it, you could have done that so this boy would remember not to drink on weekdays."

Bright grumbled incoherent curses as he snatched his towel for a minute shower. Their words were true but alcohol nights were just his temporary escapes from time to time. After all, getting an uno in his college report card deserved a very bit of liquor until then.

"You're not any better, Jumpol." He ends while the older boy answered him with another grunting laugh as the sound of the weights filled their college dorm along with the morning news.

"Just in, another fresh case of an online fraud was reported; cashing out almost half a million from a single mother's back account. Unlike the previous ones, this case seems to follow a trend..."

Bright was walking his way to his remaining class that'll be ending in 15 minutes yet the worry he was having was not valid for his destination. He thought of his professor, a pepper haired man who will mark all his recitations zero because of one tardiness but somehow his mind went back to a word which was three letters long.

The same word he seemed to know when he woke up.

"Win," He tested upon his lips before pushing open the heavy doors that creaked; the same armor separating him from multiple eyes who would look at him like a thief.

"Excuse me, sir." Bowing his head to make a bee line for the back of the class; Bright raced his steps on the tiled floor that he was sure of but when a second passed he was certain he saw it turn to sand even for a flash.

And like how all his days ended, the library was his final spot until the sun sets and he needs to catch shifts. The cold blare of the air condition allowed Bright's headspace to distress the minimal lessons he managed to attend to that day, but even then he knew he was just avoiding the unrealistic scene he saw while he was sleeping—sort of.

"I was trying to find you after your last period." Tay complained while the older snaked a hand under his hoodie to retrieve a covered muffin. The sweet purchase made Bright baffle an unbelievable laugh towards his long time friend.

"I only ended up attending two classes, one was even just a ten minute briefing."

"And what do we learn, Chivaree?" Tay laughs around his bread while the crumbs fell off his mouth and Bright counts them one by one.

"To live your life the way you want."

"You're going to learn it the hard way one of these days, youngin."

The familiar nickname came right through Bright's comprehension and before he could think about it, his words were out when seconds ago he promised to keep it to himself.

"You remember when you started calling me that, Tay?" The older stops chewing just when the setting sun colored their eyes.

"Yeah," Then he swallows another mouthful when the memory ran before his hazy mind. "I dreamt of calling you that and when I woke up that was the first thing I said."

"Youngin, how odd." Bright tested out again while his hands twitched to tell a story he wasn't sure himself.

"Dreams are odd, Bright."

"Yeah," The younger nodded while they continued to watch the sun set between the parted blinds as flashes of the same setting filled his mind but in another place, with another person. "They really are."