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Warning/s: Language
I'm relatively aware cookie run is kinda dying, but do I care? Not really.
I'll still keep writing these, or try to.
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The soft darkness surrounded me in what I described as a peaceful manner. It was quiet and calming, and it washed my worries away.
Only it wasn't really quiet, the sound of wheels rolling, cookies chattering and the ambiance peppered with sneezes was the only thing keeping this moment from being truly tranquil. I peeked out of one eye to look over at Healer Cookie, who was covering his face with his sleeve, creating somewhat of a mask barrier between him and the hay we were sitting in. The cookies transporting the hay were nice enough to allow us to hitchhike, but they were still skeptical and didn't want us near them. Couldn't blame them, Healer was absolutely horrifying.
That's sarcasm, but I still won't hold it against them.
Speaking of, he didn't seem to be having a great time with his allergies. I already asked if he could not just heal his allergies, but according to him, even he has limitations. No bringing back the dead, no fixing blindness, no ridding of allergies, and no removal of lactose intolerance; I found that kind of unfortunate.
Nevertheless, he sat on the opposite side of the cart, eyeing me up and down everyone in a while. I'm not sure if he thought he was being sneaky, or if his eyes were so puffy that he could no longer tell if I noticed but, well I noticed. I couldn't help but stare back, more discreetly, of course. His sad hair showed a bright blond color at the top and slowly turned into a bland and repulsive greenish color at the tips. His eyes, though now puffy, were pretty cool with the blue and yellow. However, it almost looked like you washed them out with a grey filter. His cloak, terrible in nature, almost seems to fit with his sorry look. Nothing unbearable to look at but, I had to look away to avoid straining my eyes.
' Looks aren't the only thing that matters, Y/n, he is nice enough to allow you to drag him to some faraway place for your safety '
"Ah, sorry lads, this is as far as I can take y'all. I'm heading west from here, sorry I couldn't do more to help." I heard the buff cookie call from the front. I nod my head at Healer, who with glee, hopped off the cart and away from the dreaded hay. I wander to the front to thank them while searching through my bag of stuff for something to offer.
A book, a few coins, a sweater, a few bags of leftovers, and a necklace. I don't remember this necklace, so I don't think it would matter if I gave it to them.
"Thank you sweet cookies, I mean it, this will help us greatly. I'd like you to have this, as a token of my gratitude, I'm sorry it's not much, we are down on our luck at the moment." I say, reaching up and handing the nearest cookie, a sweet lady with curly black and purple frosted hair, the necklace. Her face grew from a small smile to one of surprise.
"Oh goodness! Where did you get this?!" She asked, more so demanded from me. I wasn't quite expecting that reaction, and so I fed a fluffed-up truth.
"It was lost, I found it and have had it on my person for a short moment, may I ask why?" I respond, pulling my hand back from her.
She looked back to the other cookie, presumably her partner, and giggled happily.
"I had this very necklace stolen from me a few days ago. This was a family heirloom and I was so distraught when it was gone, thank you for reuniting it with me!" She told me brightly smiling now. I smiled back and nodded, "No problem"
I walked back to Healer cookie, who still looked like a mess.
"Hey, we are in a small city, one close to New Fork, we can stop for some good old medication. How does that sound?" I asked him, pointing behind me to the few stores visible. He just gave a nod and followed behind me.
The nearest drug store looked kind of sketchy, but I wasn't going to drag him to the next possibly sketchy drug store for no reason. Through the glass, I could see the shelves lined with products.
"Stay here, I'll be right back," I say, leaving him out near a bench, figuring he'd take a seat and wait. The doors rang a small bell as I enter, and I look around at the number of people in the store. A small effort was put towards fluffing up my hair in front of my face, and not looking directly at anyone.
It's not like I stole from people all the time, right? Just this once, and I promised myself I'd never do it again.
I scanned the shelf in front of me for allergy medication, before finding one of the syrups. With a slight hesitation, I grabbed it and walked towards the back of the store. There, I made a scene of reaching into my backpack, and crying out, "Aw man, I left my wallet at home." The medication was slipped in without anyone seeing it. Or as I hoped.
On my way out, I took a gander at the selection of stuffed animals. It was small and kinda crappy, but one caught my eye. It was a bright bluebird, with a heart stitched into its stomach. He said he likes blue, right?
It was soft and small enough to just slip out of the store, but I wasn't entirely sure why. I only need the medicine, but this was calling my name. I scooped it up, and with haste, I rushed out the door.
Outside, Healer sat on the bench, staring out into the road, with people walking past him picking up speed to avoid him.
With a simple movement, I grabbed his hand and immediately began to usher him and myself away from the store.
"C'mon, I did some things I'm not necessarily proud of, and the sooner we just walk away, the better." The explanation was enough for him and he followed, not like he really had a choice. I lead him around a few buildings, out of sight of the drug store I just stole from.
I slipped the backpack off and handed him the medicine, which he drank without measuring. For a moment I stared in disbelief, before grabbing the bottle away from him and recapping it.
"Will that help any?" He asked, reaching back out for the bottle I held. I pulled it back away from him, before putting it back in the bag.
"Well yeah, it should, if you don't drink ×20 the recommended dosage. Let's get moving." We both got up from the corner and started back towards the larger city ahead. It should only take an hour or two of walking from here, then, if memory serves me right, I had to head to a certain apartment complex, and we'll have concluded this portion of the trip.
After traveling a good few feet, I realized I still had the bird in my hands. I turned back to look at Healer, who looked unenthused and dragged himself along.
"I uhm, got this for you. I didn't really get it since, well I didn't pay but... Here" I handed him the bird, which he carefully inspected. His face melted into a smile as he looked back up at me.
"Why Thank you Y/n, this means a lot to me." To which he opened his arms and made a motion, offering a hug. It would be rude to decline and stuff I guess...
I gave him a hug, one that felt almost too personal to be directed toward me. Even after I let go, he was still holding on. Now it felt a little awkward, clearing my throat to clear the air. He seemed to get the hint, because he backed away, flustered.
"Sorry sorry, I'm just grateful, it reminds me of someone." He looked away, not maintaining eye contact. I just gave him a small nod. "No worries, but we really should get going now."
Entering the city gave me some relief, we were 1 step closer to getting some answers, and for me to get home. Maybe my mom reported me as missing by now, and my uncle would be more than willing to send me back.
More people filled the streets, bustling with talking and people just trying to get to their next location. Healer cookie, who now pulled his hood over his head, was walking very close behind me and avoided looking up. Maybe he was just paranoid.
The buildings surrounding me felt unfamiliar, I don't remember going down this area when I last visited. As my eyes bounced between each of the tall and colorful buildings, I failed to notice the cookie that magically appeared before me.
"Hey! Watch where you are going!" An annoyed biscuit cookie yelled into my face. I apologized profusely as I walked around them. We weren't going to get anywhere at this rate.
After the pushing and shoving from surrounding cookies, a flash of pretty light caught the corner of my eye. I looked over and saw an ice cream stand. The ice cream, while kind of scary, had large eyes and a big smile, which looked all too familiar.
"Hey wait I think I remember this place, c'mon" I rushed between cookies, running up to the stand. Gazing for a moment, it clicked, my uncle had brought me here once, the ice cream he got me gave me food poisoning, and we both agreed to never go here again.
Just around the corner, I saw a medium-sized red brick building. That had to be the one, and so I scurried over to it. The building was smaller than most of the surrounding buildings in size, but it was very fancy, with large amounts of light fixtures and flashy gold borders. This was the one.
The door pushed open with ease, as I fell into the main hall, a small desk was at the front, and a carpet led over to a hall of stairs, and an elevator. The lights glittered on the ceiling and filled me with excitement. Healer cookie, on the other hand, stumbled in after trying to catch his breath.
"Is this it?" He asks in between deep breaths, looking around at the few doors on the first row. "Which door is it?" I shrugged.
Hey, what can I say, my memory isn't that great. How would I be able to remember such a small number from over 10 years ago?
"We can just knock on each of the doors until we find him-" I started as he dramatically fell to his knees.
"No offense Y/n but, I think your medicine sucks. It helped a little but now I'm tired and knocking on doors doesn't quite sound like what I'd like to spend my afternoon on." He mumbled, before sitting against the wall in a more natural position.
There could only be so many people in this apartment, and if I got lucky, it would only take me a few tries to find the right room. I can do this by myself. The first few doors were random cookies I didn't know, the middle 2 were vacant, and the last one didn't answer. So up the stairs, I go.
The next level all had cookies living in the apartments, but none of them was my uncle. It wasn't until the level after that, the 3rd level, the 2nd door from the stairs, that I knocked and waited for a cookie.
Swinging open, the door revealed a beer-bellied, balding middle-aged cookie. He looked at me with a questioning look, before gruffly asking, "What do you want?" I recognized him, not my uncle, but his boyfriend.
"Is my uncle home?" I asked, rocking back and forth in the balls of my feet, peaking slightly behind him. He huffed and motioned for me to give him a second. The door shut, and a few moments later, it reopened to reveal a slightly more familiar face.
My uncle, a shorter less gruff cookie, with white shiny long hair. He held a cigarette in his hands, the smell was overpowering.
"Ah, Y/n. Tough bastard to show your face around here. What do ya want?" He swirled his hand around, before blowing the smoke into my face. I fanned it out of my face, and a little less enthused, I explained.
"I'm trying to get home. I don't know how I ended up all the way out here but, I have to get back. Plus.." I lean in closer to his ear and whispered, "I met a guy, he can heal and stuff." I back away again, not pleased with the scent radiating off of him.
"Maybeee he can help heal Coconut, my other cousins, my nephew, and, maybe even your daughter." My words carried a happy tone that did not translate well. His eyes went cold, and he slammed the door in my face. Through the door, he yelled, "That's not fucking funny Y/n, you shit. Get out of here."
What?
"What do you mean?" I asked through the crack of the door, not sure why he flipped the switch so quickly.
"If that's some sort of sick joke, I don't want to hear it. You know how much her death impacted me, asshole. Fuck off." He yelled back, his voice getting farther away from the door. She's dead?
Surely not, I don't remember her dying, had I not just talked to her a couple of weeks ago? She was fine then.
"I don't know what you mean, I just talked to her a while back, when did this happen? I don't remember that." I raised my voice more so he can hear it, and out of concern. A silence, only the sound of a tv show quietly playing in the background. I leaned against the door to listen in.
The door opened again, and I almost fell into the room. I catch myself and look up at the cookie.
"Are you being serious?" He seemed less angry, but still upset in a way. I nodded.
"Y/n, what's the last kid your aunt, Piña Colada had?" His voice was stern, gradually getting less upset. Wasn't sure how this was supposed to help but, that seemed like a pretty easy answer.
"She just had a kid, maybe a week ago? Haven't learned their name yet, why?" She never gave me a name, just kept me updated on the progress before I seemingly dropped off the face of earthbread.
The glint in his eye warned me but his smile felt safe, he chuckled and invited me in. I smiled back, before remembering I forgot Healer downstairs.
"Hold that thought, I'll be right back"
I rushed down the stairs, and on the last floor, my eyes fell on an asleep cookie, leaning against the wall, using his bag as support for his back and hugging the bird plush.
"Hey, Healer, I found the room. I'm sure he wouldn't mind you resting there, let's go."
Leading him up the stairs, I was regreeted by my uncle, as he held the door open for me and the healer.
The apartment was below average, and you'd think it would look nicer based on the interior of the hallways. The carpet was stained, and the furniture looked like it was scrapped together with wood and some school glue. The place gave an eerie vibe, it felt dark and heavy on my chest and made me dizzy. Alas, I didn't often live in much better conditions so, I wouldn't judge.
I sat Healer on the couch beside me, as he rested back, and gazed at the two unsightly men in front of us.
My uncle seemed to stretch his head, and lean in from his chair, staring the healing cookie directly in the eyes.
"You look... familiar."