Homeless

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You sit in a dark back alley behind an apartment building on a few scraps of cardboard. Life has been hard ever since you ran away from home. Away from them... You knew you did the right thing though, despite the common phrase 'You can't run away from your problems'. You look down at your arms which are covered in dark purple bruises and fresh red cuts. You feel very dizzy and your head feels hot. You're probably just sick again which usually isn't a problem, but your symptoms that developed seem to be getting worse. Letting out a sigh, you stare up at the starry night sky watching airplanes and helicopters pass by. You hug your knees to your chest and rock yourself back and forth in a slow, comforting manor and let out a deep long cough. Okay. Lets not get worked up here. Let's just review the situation at hand and come up with some simple solutions. You ran away from your abusive Foster parents two weeks ago, barely escaping with your life and now you're a starving hobo with no money, no food, no water, and no home. All you have now is the clothes on your back and the willpower to stay alive. Good goin' (y/n), you really paved a future for yourself. The crisp summer gust blew through your (long/short) (h/c) hair, making your hair dance with the wind. You lied down on the cardboard scraps, trying not to puke from the putrid stench that the large green dumpster, only meters away from you, was emitting. The warm temperature only made the stench worse and more noticeable. You cough a long cough and sniffle a couple more times, your fever starting to consume your body. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity of lying down you dozed off and fell asleep on the cardboard.

-----------TIME SKIP THROUGH HALF THE NIGHT----------------------------------------

You wake up feeling a little worse for wear than before. you looked up at the sky and saw it was still dark outside. 'Must still be night then' you thought to yourself. Your fever had gone up which makes your breath quicker and shallower. You feel nauseous and weak. This wasn't good. You needed to find help somehow. As you sat up, you heard the back door of the apartment building open. You quickly ducked behind multiple trash cans and empty boxes stacked together. You peek through a crack between two boxes. A tall skeleton wearing an orange hoodie, brown cargo pants, and orange sneakers walked out the door, a trash bag slung over his shoulder. You remembered how monsters had escaped from the underground almost ten years ago now. They settled in a lot quicker and much more peacefully than anyone else thought they would. Seeing monsters roam the street was normal for everyone now. The skeleton dumped the trash bag into the dumpster and swiftly popped a cigarette in between his teeth. He lit the cigarette with a silver lighter he had pulled out his pocket and took a long drag from it. He turned his back against the dumpster and leaned on it, hands casually stuffed in his pockets. You studied him for a while, while you remained squatted behind the boxes and trashcans. Suddenly, you felt a nasty cough tickling your throat and threatening to give away your hiding spot. You slapped both hands over your mouth in an attempt to stop the cough from escaping your lips, but to no avail you ended up coughing a loud cough anyways. The tall skeleton immediately jumped into action. His skull snapped in your direction as his left eye socket glowed a strong orange hue and his lazy expression quickly transformed into a defensive glare. Your eyes widened in fear as you thought about what he'd do to you. Then suddenly the skeleton magically disappeared into thin air. You released the breath you didn't realize you'd been holding in relief and slowly stood up. You still felt dizzy and your legs were weak so you propped yourself up using the trashcan beside you. Just as you were about to leave the alley a hand shot out from behind you and roughly gripped your left shoulder, flipping you around and slamming your back into the brick wall. The air in your lungs were forced out of you from the impact, causing you to gasp and pant heavily. The tall skeleton from earlier had you pinned against the wall, his face inches from yours. Your knees locked together and your legs violently shook from fear. The skeleton stared intensely into your eyes, his left eye socket glowing a deeper shade of orange. "Who are you?" he said in a demanding and threating tone. You were too gripped by fear to speak any comprehensible words so all you could manage was to lightly shove him. You tried to break into a run, but your fever got the best of you and you stumbled to the ground on your hands and knees, panting heavily. The skeleton was slightly shakened but easily pounced back into action. You felt yourself being easily lifted into mid air by nothing. You peered down and saw some sort of magical orange mist surrounding your body and lifting you higher into the air. You looked back at the skeleton and saw he was lifting you with his magic. With a swift movement of his hand, you were instantly dropped roughly onto the ground directly at his feet. You hopelessly looked up at him, your body trembling. The skeleton gripped your chin softly with his phalanges and raised your head to get a better look at you. Finally, you were able to mutter some intelligible words. "P-please don't hurt me." you said in a shaky voice, tears stinging the corners of your eyes. Just as the tall skeleton was going to respond, the back door opened again to reveal a short skeleton dressed in blue walk out the building. " THERE YOU ARE PAPYRUS! I, THE GREAT SANS, HAVE BEEN LOOKING ALL-" the little skeleton stopped mid sentence when he saw the taller skeleton observing you. The little skeleton inched closer to you, a look of concern and worry plastered on his face. "OH, GREETINGS HUMAN! I SEE YOU'VE MET MY BROTHER PAPYRUS!" the little skeleton said while reaching a hand out to you for you to shake. Right when you were about to shake the friendly little skeleton's hand the taller skeleton swooped the smaller one away from you. "H-HEY! PAPYRUS?! WHAT'RE YOU DOING?! PUT ME DOWN!" the smaller skeleton complained. The taller skeleton put him down and stated lazily "She's sick. Don't get near her or you'll catch what she has." You noticed the taller skeleton's left eye socket had returned to normal and was no longer glowing an orange hue. Now he was more laid back. "SICK?! OH NO! HUMAN, I'VE DECIDED TO TAKE YOU INTO MY CARE AND NURSE YOU BACK TO HEALTH!" the smaller skeleton had proudly stated. You stood up and were about to protest, but you stood up too fast and ended up falling over. You prepared for the impact of your body hitting the ground and were instead greeted with a warm embrace. You opened your eyes to reveal the taller skeleton had caught you seconds before you hit the ground. He winked at you and graced you with a slight half smile. " I guess she fell for that idea" the taller skeleton said while chuckling to himself. "UGH! PAPYRUS! STOP IT ALREADY!!! LETS JUST GET THE HUMAN TO OUR HOME ALREADY!" said the smaller skeleton. The smaller skeleton stormed inside the apartment building, but not before shouting "AND STOP SMOKING! ITS BAD FOR YOU!". The taller skeleton, supposedly named Papyrus, stood up still carrying you in his arms bridal style. You nuzzled your face into Papyrus' hoodie which made Papyrus flinch a little catching him off guard, but he let you do it anyways out of pity. You inhale Papyrus' scent. He smells like cigarette ashes and honey. Its an unusual smell yet a comforting one at the same time. You hesitate for a moment before gently wrapping your arms around him making him blush a light orange color. "Lets get you upstairs, 'kay kiddo?" he said before walking into the apartment building still cradling you in his arms.

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