Ones and Zeroes

Chapter 24: Permanent Ink

It had been four days since they lost George. Dream sat curled up on his made bed. For once, he felt cold. He moved his legs to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.

He left you.

Dream started to grip onto himself tighter.

He's with VILE now. He doesn't need you.

Ever since that night, Dream had been having nothing but negative thoughts about George. The most hurtful aspect of it all, being that it was directed at George. When it should've been the other way around. George should've been angry at Dream for leaving him.

A light knock came from my bedroom door. "Come in." I granted access to whoever knocked.

"I brought you some food. I know you're a little stressed at the moment but I didn't see you at dinner." Fundy walked in with a plate of food. He walked over to the bed and set down the ceramic plate on the covers.

I stared at the plate of hot food. "I'm not hungry."

"But you love grilled cheese." he said in a disappointed tone.

Pictures of George eating spaghetti one night flashed in my mind. His favorite meal was actually spaghetti. A visible frown formed on my face. Why couldn't I stop thinking about George?

Fundy moved his gaze from the grilled cheese to my green eyes. He sighed before speaking. "I'm sorry Dream. Really. I didn't think it would end this way."

"It's not your fault Fundy. No need to apologize."

"I know. It's just... it's difficult seeing you in so much pain over something so small." he sat down on the edge of the bed.

"It definitely wasn't small. George was... special." I told him.

"Special in what way Dream? He left you. You heard it yourself, he never loved you."

I was surprised by the sudden change in tone. "Who told you that?" I asked. "I didn't really tell a lot of people about... what happened."

"I found out from Tubbo, Tommy didn't want to tell me anything, as usual. He always looks at me weird." He looked down again. "But that doesn't matter. What matters is that you don't hang onto things that can hurt you. You need to learn to let go Dream."

I didn't respond. Was Fundy right? Was I hanging on? Did I need to let go?

Fundy slowly started to get up from the bed and walked over to me. He lightly wrapped his arms around me for a short embrace. "Think about it, okay." Fundy had let go of me and walked out of the room, he shut the door behind him.

I continued to stare at my plate of food. All I could do was think. Did I want to let go of the thing I so desperately loved?

~

"It was to protect you Dream."

~

Wilbur's words rang in my ears. Wilbur was able to find out something else from the situation. He concluded that George wanted to protect me. But why? He's with VILE. Why would he care about me?

Maybe I just need to see from a different point of view...

I scanned the room and my gaze fell on a familiar bag. George's bag.

A small lightbulb had flickered on in that moment. I needed to know more. Something didn't seem right about all this. George's dad showing up out of nowhere. The weak brunette not fighting back at all. George actually flashing signs of hurt while being held to the ground.

Held to the ground... that's not something associates do.

I got up from my position on the bed and walked over to George's bag. The one thing George grabbed before he ran away with him. I opened the zipper and looked at the small tag sewn on the inside. George's address was scribbled in permanent ink.

Maybe I should go back to where it all started.

Yess Dream is finally connecting the dots. Again I'm so sorry this whole story is rushed, I'm incredibly impatient as you can see, though I really thought addressing that it was four days later really helped. It didn't lol.

I'll probably be releasing another chapter tonight, might be before the time Dream has a surprise for us. Lol, don't forgot to stay tuned for whatever Dream told us to stay up for (12 pm EST). See you all later! :)

(Side note if you guys didn't get it: the cover matches the whole "she loves me, she loves me not" theme)