Dreamcatchers ACT 1

Chapter 5: Grif's Backstory

"Isn't this so strange, a ruby cut this perfectly. And the edges, they're smoothed down and symmetrical. Only looking at one side, there's two pairs of parallel polygon shapes that form a normal square in the center. It's exactly mirrored to the other side too." DJ said but most of it went over my head as I just stopped paying attention half-way through. 

"Yeah, great, but can I see it now with my own eyes?" I said before he apologized and handed it over. He was right too, it was beautiful to look at, and almost hypnotizing to look at. There was something else too, it looked as if it began to glow if I strained my eyes to look at the ruby. I don't know how I managed to see it in the darkness but I didn't care about that, just thinking about how I've never seen something like this. DJ must have noticed my infatuation with this ruby as he weakly padded on my back to move.

We continued to walk down the street toward my house before arriving at a fork in the road. This is where we part ways, except for those few days that we just hang out in his room, waving him goodbye with the ruby still in my hands. I don't know what it was about this thing, I just didn't want to let it go. Hell, I might just lose it if I put the ruby down somewhere. My 'home' was the same as it always was, suffocating and painful. My caretaker in the house on her phone like always, ignoring me without any care for her own child. 

The few days that she did notice me was just to scold me or drag me to a store far off. We didn't have a car either, so a trip to the Dollar Captain would take hours out of my day. So maybe her ignoring me could be seen as one of the good days. It didn't really seem like that to me in my eyes as a kid isn't supposed to live like this, having to survive on their own. Another day of noodles, for the third day in a row? Probably not tonight, I was too tired after having to deal with JD's strange antics. He wasn't a bad guy, just was another weirdo like London but still nice to hang out with. 

He wasn't easy to talk to, he was just too similar to me in that way. I didn't really understand why, he had a good life with two amazing parents that everyone liked. He wasn't barely surviving in poverty, so why did he act so conceited like me? I have a reason but he doesn't. God, I need to stop thinking, it's starting to hurt my brain. I'm already feeling the effects of being alone, I might as well just close my eyes and dream of something better than this life.

Eerie surroundings were now all around me. Broken furniture but not like they were torn or thrown around. No, they just looked abandoned with dust covering all of them. It's hard to describe perfectly as this place seemed so familiar, yet I didn't have a single clue at where I was. Just a few moments ago, I was sleeping in my bed and now here I am. Was this a dream? But I never had a dream this realistic, putting the palm of my hand on a couch that stood next to me on its side. 

Whoever's house this is, they must've been packing to leave or maybe they just died. I know of some houses near where DJ lives that are just abandoned because an old person had a heart attack. As my hand moved around the still dust, I could see that the furniture was actually gorgeous underneath. I needed to get out of this small house though. Who knows, maybe I was kidnapped and need to escape before they realize I'm awake. I mean, who would check a house like this for a random insignificant person like myself. 

Slowly, I walked over to the front door as it seemed like I was standing in the living room, and looked through the door only to see... nothing. There were houses or buildings every now and then but they looked abandoned as well. It seemed like we were floating through space too, but somehow staying together and not heading into any direction, just hovering about. Suddenly, the sound of a cat yowling in the house drew my attention. I couldn't tell where it was coming from though as this house seemed like it was only one floor, yet the cat yowled above and below me. If I turned my head to face the door, it sounded like it was behind me.