No More Freshness

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   When I was awoken by a soft humming sound, my first thought was that a cat had gotten in. As my vision began to focus, however, I realized that I was still in a sleeping Nightmare's lap, and he was purring in his sleep. The sound was soft and warm, and I leaned into his chest. It felt like I finally had a father-figure, someone to look up to. I smiled and thought that maybe I could have a family here.

  A few minutes later, I felt him shift and knew he was waking up. He groaned and sat up, sending me flying to the floor with a thunk. He rubbed his eyes and looked at me, standing up and muttering a tired 'sorry' before helping me up.

  "Good morning, Nightmare. Um, I'm going to take a shower, if that's okay." I said, and when he nodded, I walked into the bathroom that was connected to the bedroom and started the shower.

   After peeling off my clothes, I got a good look at myself. At my old home, I didn't get the chance to shower often, and there were no mirrors anyhow. Now, however, I could see every crack and gash in my ribs, back, skull, and elsewhere. I felt my eyes tear up and wiped my face. I stepped in the shower and immediately sighed at the numbing pain of the water against my injuries.

As I scrubbed myself down, I saw diet and blood go down the drain along with some of my neon yellow-green magic that was oozing out of some of my now opened gashes. I watched the three different colors swirl around each other as they sunk into the drain. I stood in the shower for a bit, the warm water on my back massaging me. After a moment, I turned off the water and dried off.

  I was walking down the hall while putting my hoodie on when I heard whimpers coming from Under and Fell's room and put my 'ear' up against the door. Now instead of just hearing whimpering, I also heard sobs and soothing words. I opened the door and let myself in to see Under sobbing uncontrollably in Dell's arms, who was also crying and the one who was saying soothing words.

  I walked over and tapped Fell's shoulders gently, knowing that these two, like me, where very fidgety and hated touch. He flinched and looked up at me, mouthing the words 'panic attack' while rubbing Unders back soothingly. Under shook violently when he went from sobbing to coughing loudly. I grabbed Under's arm gently and lifted it up, patting his back softly to help him stop coughing. I had learned this tip when I met Geno- he had all sorts of hacks for when you're sick.

   When Under's coughing der down, he looked up at me, tears still pouring down his face, and muttered a 'thanks'. I nodded and was about to say something before I realized how bad Under looked. He was thin and frail, with large bags under his eye sockets. His eye lights had red circles in them, showing that he was in pain, and the way that his face was tinted in a dark green hue-the color of his magic- showed that he was definitely sick.

  "Under, are you ok? You look really sick." I asked, and immediately Fell nodded and looked to Under.

  "Yeah, he's been that way for a while, but it just really got worse last night." said Fell, and he gently pushed Under down and pulled the covers over him, Under looking half-lifted at him and yawning. "Get some sleep, Kay Under?"

  Under nodded and turned over, snoring softly minutes later. This showed that, indeed, he was sick, because no matter how tired he was it usually took hours for him to fall asleep.

  Helping Fell up,- his brother had gone all out last week and he could barely walk now- we made our way to the kitchen where Cross was cooking, no, burning, some eggs.

  "Hey guys. It's gonna be a bit 'fore I get done, so you can sit." we nodded and sat down in the living room, watching Nightare and Kaoki play chess until Fell turned to me.

  "Are you doin' okay, kid? You know ya don't gotta bundle yet feelings up like we do. We're here for you. You're like everyone's brother- 'cept maybe N, he's more like your pops. Either way, you know that for you, it's okay to cry. We know you've been hurt pretty bad. A... abuse, maybe? You never say anything 'bout it, but I've seen those scars. I know it has to hurt, but you never complain. It's strange, even I wasn't this tough as a kid." He ranted, and I felt tears well up.

   I wiped my eyes and laid my head against the back of the couch and onto Fell's shoulder. "I... yeah, your right, I guess. 'cept I'm not tough at all. I'm just weak, and with my disorder, I'm even weaker. It stinks, too. Not being able to do anything about it. I'm gonna always be hurt by the smallest things. And yeah, it's my d-dad." said I, closing my eyes as flashbacks came to me. Me in the hospital, my dad hitting me for the first time, meeting Fresh, next Geno, Error, and Ink. The only truly happy moments in my life.

  I woke up a few minutes later to Fell rubbing my skull gently, tracing the cracks and dents. I, instead of pulling away like I'd usually do, leaned into Fell's chest and closed my eyes, feeling my souls hum, which meant I was purring. I felt Fell chuckle and then heard soft laughter from the other side of the room. Opening one eye, I saw that Cross, Nightmare, and Naiko were all staring at me. I, instead of jumping up, just closed my eyes and Fell asleep once more.

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  "Yea, dats him, Error brah."

  "That's good, I'll go tell G. Be right back."
 
   When I heard a portal open, I opened my eyes where Fell was still asleep and I was curled in his lap.

   "Hey Dec. Nice ta see ya." Fresh. I jumped up and tackled him, even though it was the opposite of what I'd do. I heard Fell grumble and sit up and realized I had kicked his broken ribs getting down. I turned around and Fell gave me a shaky thumbs up, because Under was already over to him and helping him sit back down. I turned back.

   "What took you so long! I mean, it wasn't bad here, but still! I missed you!" I whisper-yelled. Fresh tilted his head in confusion.

   "Whadda ya mean? We found Geno 2 days ago, and immediately started lookin for you. We only woke up 'bout 5 days ago." he explained. I sighed, confused.

   "I've been here for 3 months." I stated blatently.

   "Seriously? Gosh, dis time dif. Anyways, we gotta get you to Geno so we can look fer Ink."

  "O-ok." I turned to Fell and Under. "Tell Night that my friends found me. I'll come visit, I promise." Fell nodded. I wiped a tear from my face- I was going to miss it here.

   Fresh opened a portal and stood beside it, waving me in like a gentleman. I laughed and walked through, running to Geno when I heard his voice.

  I was back with my family.
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Hey, guys!

Just wanted to say that you SO much fer #2 on #CQ!!

It's amazing how far this book has come, I honestly didn't expect it at ALL!

Now, School's getting out fer me Monday, so I will have more time on my hands. But I also have softball (which I don't want to play), so that'll take up a lot of time too.

Keep on keepin on an I'll  see ya on da flip side!

-Oopa Out!!