Dream with Me ✔️

09: It's Matthew Dummy

▂▂▂▂▂▂
Aurora ☪︎
▂▂▂▂▂▂

Chapter 09: It's Matthew Dummy [Edited]

"I don't get how you can be so happy all the time. Even on the darkest of days," I say, glancing out at the gated window. On the other side, the sky is decorated in clumps of dark greys and misery, with no room for light to come through. "Literally."

It's been raining non-stop all week, meaning I can't go outside at night, which equals me being annoyed and restless. Sure Seattle rains too but it's just different. Seattle is home and here is not.

"Oh please, you make me sound like a ball of rainbow sprinkles." Emrie scrunches her nose in distaste while sipping on her hot chocolate. She leans over from her chair and moves another piece on our chessboard. "Check."

"What the hell." I quickly move my king to the right. It's quite obvious on who's going to win this game and I'm almost tempted to just give up right now. "Seriously though. This past crap of a week has been messing me up."

It's been raining way too hard for me to even attempt to walk to the Diner, and I doubt any buses will come in the middle of the night. So not only am I missing another week of making money to help my mom and college, but I've also been having these erratic dreams.

All of them about the car accident, well the aftermath: the hospital. But it's not me awake and talking to my family or friends, it's just me there, sleeping while the world goes on. Sometimes I would get an empty feeling in my body and other times certain parts of my body would feel overly warm. It's almost making me question my own sanity.

She meets my eyes, noticing my genuine curiosity before nodding. "Well." she moves her bishop over, checking me again. "I wasn't always so ecstatic over everything." She pauses, giving me a chance to comment on it.

"Then what changed?" Whatever she did, I need to do it too so I can get out of this sticky mood.

"As cliche as this sounds- don't laugh at me... but it was Irene."

"Wait- What? You're kidding."

"Not really." She shakes her head, taking another sip of her drink. This is probably her third cup today, drinking it non stop since November started. She claims it gets her into the mood of the upcoming holidays.

"Okay then... what's the story?"

"I was a shy kid in high school, like crazy shy to the point some people forgot that I was even in the room." She winces as if she's thinking back at the rough memories, which she probably is. "Probably a little depressed too if I'm being honest. I struggled a lot with social interactions which made my life all... grey."

"Yikes," I reply, wincing myself. I was pretty reserved as well, but a lot of people still knew me. I'm not in contact with any of them anymore, we all mutually agreed to it. Even though my school had almost a thousand students, my class had the smallest group of kids. Many of my peers have left for colleges all over the U.S. but many more stuck around Seattle due to financial issues.

I was one of the lucky ones to get a major scholarship for Berkeley. I had originally planned on staying in Seattle to do community college and then transfer to a university near home. However, my mom and friends wanted me to branch out and apply to other schools so I can have options. We all came to an agreement where I would apply to three other schools in California.

UC Berkeley, Pepperdine University, and UC Davis. I got accepted to Berkeley and Pepperdine, but Berkeley was the one who would be willing to cover most of my tuition. My mother was ecstatic when she heard I got into Berkeley and I didn't have the heart to decline my acceptance just because I wanted to stay closer to her. I knew how much going to a well-known college, or any college at the matter meant to her.