ORPHANED

:: four ::

it wasn't cold per se, however dream hadn't brought a thick sweatshirt, because he figured he'd end up skating back home anyway. dream looked over to see george was texting someone, and in respect of the mans privacy he looked away. he furrowed his eyebrows, just eight hours ago he met this man for the very first time, and now here he was, walking beside him. if it had been the case he deserved to be kidnapped.

"hey george, by any chance, you're not going to kidnap and murder me, right?"

the abrupt question caught george off guard, he began to laugh at the inquiry. "no dream, i do not plan on kidnapping you." his face returned to the screen of his phone, and his joking smile was gone.

"what about murdering me?"

george groaned and brought his hands to his eyes, throwing his head back with what dream could only assume was frustration. dream frowned at the shorter male, "i'll take that as a no." george stopped walking and dream paused beside him. "what's up?" dream knocked his shoulder into george's. the brunette only shook his head and groaned again.

he didn't want to pry, but he also couldn't stand in the middle of the pavement waiting for george to pack himself up. "well c'mon, i've know you for practically my whole life now."

george's hands dropped to his sides and he looked up at dream with sorry eyes, his lips forming a frown on his face. "i'm sorry, my roommate is still passed out at some party and i have to go pick him up. i can't take the train with you. sorry."

george looked towards the ground kicking at the gravel on the floor. "hey george," dream ruffled the hair on the top of the man's head. "it's fine. i was getting cold anyways, skating will be good for me."

george looked up from the ground and offered a thankful smile. "sorry again."

george began walking in the opposite direction and dream waved him goodbye. when george transformed from a figure, to a blur of color, dream threw down his board, and began riding to the station. on the way to the station dream thought about how thomas would be feeling, wondering if he had to deal with any customers yet. he thought about how he met george, and he thought about how when he walked into the doors of The Grind, he had no idea that he'd be given the job on the spot. today was strange, but he wasn't complaining.

as he let his mind wonder he felt a buzz in his pocket. he pulled out his phone and smiled when he saw a message from sapnap.

"how'd you survive your first shift"

dream opened the notification and shot back a simple; "i'm alive." he knew sapnap would roll his eyes at the remark and continued riding the board across the pavement.

he was right, riding the board definitely warmed him up quickly. he no longer shut out the wind and instead welcomed it on his skin. the sun was rising just like it had been yesterday when he hopped on the train to get downtown. now he was riding back to the train station from downtown with a job that he would return to after he slept.

when dream saw the train station in the distance he pushed himself along on the board attempting to gain speed. there was no need for it, dream simply liked the adrenaline that arose when his body was strained. as he approached the station, his board found its situation pressed against his hip again. as he stepped foot on the asphalt he made a revelation. he never asked which train he was supposed to take.

no big deal, right? dream had taken the train plenty of times.

after he spent an undefined amount of time studying the train routes and sheepishly asking a few elderly woman which train would take him home, he sat on the seat of an unfamiliar train praying it would take him someplace he'd recognize. hoping it'd leave him in a place he could find his way home from.

as dream looked out the window of this foreign train he observed his surroundings, scanning his memory for familiarity. he figured listening to music would calm his clouded thoughts, so in went his headphones and the stress seemed to settle. outside the window the sun seemed to peak through the clouds more notably than he'd ever seen it. a smile radiated off of his face. this was the start of his interruption in the cycle.

when the train stopped at a station close to his neighborhood he decided to ride the rest of the way home. when he opened the door to his house, he didn't expect to see his little sister sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal. "have you see the sun yet today?" he removed his sneakers and placed them at the stairs along with his board.

"no, where have you been?" dream frowned at his sister, hanging his keys by the door.

"what are you, my mom?" he crossed his arms and stared at his sister. she narrowed her eyes at him and drank the rest of the milk in her bowl. "might as well be," she scoffed in response. he took a seat beside her pulling the empty bowl in front of himself. "hand me the cereal, and what's your problem?"

she rolled her eyes and slid the cereal towards her older brother, "you were gone all evening."

he shrugged and poured cereal into the bowl, standing to grab the milk from the fridge. "and? i'm an adult."

she glared at him, "last time you were out that late you almost got arrested." she turned away from him grabbing the milk to put it away.

he shrugged, then a smile found a way to his face. "what, you were worried about me?"

he poked her in the side and she swatted at his hand. "i was not!" he smiled at her and poked her side again. she stormed away from him grumbling, "next time i'll just let you get arrested."