And It All Comes Crashing Down✔️

Dream A Little Dream Of Me

  ~PATRICK'S POV~

     It's been a week and a half, I think, since Crystal wandered into this warehouse and therefore into my life. The talk we had a couple days before is still fresh in my mind. She seemed genuine. She seemed...to care. As far as I know, she's the closest thing to family I have at the moment.

     I'm still worried about my actual family. I don't think there's any chance that they're alive, but the hope's still there. 

    As I get lost in my thoughts, my eyelids get heavier and heavier.

       The sun is shining in my eyes. The sun? I sit up and glance out the window. The clouds are gone! There are trees and houses and buildings and roads outside. 

     I look at the room I'm in. What- how'd we... how'd I get out of that old workhouse? I'm laying in an actual bed, for one. The room has dark blue walls, a carpeted floor, and a white ceiling fan that whirrs at a low speed. 

     I'm looking out the window when I hear the creak of the door opening. A woman with wavy brown hair pokes her head through the door and smiles a radiant smile when she sees me.

Mom.

"Good morning, sunshine," she says. "Your father's making breakfast in a few minutes."

I begin to realize where I am.

I'm home.

I manage to nod. Her face disappears and she softly closes the door behind her.

I  get dressed and run out of my room. I stare at the hallway in disbelief. I run down the stairs and everyone's here. 

     Dad, like Mom said, is making breakfast. Mom is standing at the foot of the stairs and smiles at me again when she sees me. Geoffrey and Micheal are fighting over their toys, as always. Claire is sitting on the couch reading. I remember how excited we'd all get when she came home from college.  I remember everything. The family, alive again. MY family. 

     "Breakfast, everybody!" Dad calls. Geoffrey and Micheal race to the table and one starts crying when the other beats him to their favorite chair. Claire calmly puts down her book, adjusts her glasses and walks over to the table. I walk over, still in shock, and take a seat.

My family is here. They're alive. The hope was real. 

This is amazing. I still can't believe it.

     But I shouldn't have believed it for long. Before I can actually speak, I  smell a hint of smoke in the air. I turn and the couch is engulfed in bright orange flames. My family is in a panic. the fire is spreading faster than I've ever seen. I run to get Mom and Dad out of the house as Claire runs to find the fire extinguisher. The twins are now both crying as the sprinkler sets off. The fire extinguisher is broken, so Claire abandons it. We pick up one twin each and bolt out of the house.

     I'm standing outside with my family, my beautiful family, watching our house burn. I don't know how to feel, because my family's alive.

Before I can process my thoughts...

BOOM. 

      My eyes open. Or I think they did. My vision is blurry and I realize that there are tears in my eyes. I wipe them away and I see the dull walls of the warehouse.

It was all a dream. 

I remember that day in detail. And ever since then, ever since I lost my family, my beautiful family...I don't think I can ever be happy again.