dreamland | dreamnotfound

19

19 - sol's cafe ; backwards | forrest

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when george woke up the next morning, his limbs were sore, sleeping against the door in a fetal position wasn't the best decision he's made, and now his neck hurts after sleeping in a weird position. he stood up, with difficulty, and stretched out, letting out a yawn. george cracked his neck and his knuckles, walking to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

deciding that a small change in scenery was good for him, he changed out of yesterday's clothes, and put on an oversized hoodie and jeans instead. george, with that decision of visiting other sceneries, decided to visit the cafe down the street.

it was early in the morning, and not many people were awake yet, so he wasn't surprised when the cafe was empty, except for the employees there. george had always wanted to try out the food there, but there were so many people whenever he passed by, and he didn't like a huge crowd of people.

"hi! welcome to sol's cafe! how may i be of service?" the cashier asked, she had neon green hair with a pink highlight, novelty earrings also hung off of her ears (rubber duckies, george observed), and her eyebrows were slit. george read her nametag, delphinium.

"hi delphinium, i'd like to have a croissant and a strawberry milkshake please." george smiled.

"oh please, delphi is fine!" delphi beamed, she inputted george's order and told him the price. he then paid for his breakfast, thanked delphi and slid down on a corner booth.

the cafe was cozy, filled with house plants, frog and mushrooms decor with golden accents, it smelled of cinnamon and apples, your city gave me asthma also played on the speakers, and george recognized that to be clay's little brother's album. it was peaceful when it was just him around.

"may i sit with you?" a gentle, yet firm voice asked. george looked up from his phone and saw a girl with curly, chestnut chair and forest green eyes wearing the simple white button up and brown khakis the employees wore, but she had an aura of professionalism surrounding her. george squinted his eyes, wondering why he feels like he has known her before, then it clicked, flora.

"sure." george smiled, flora smiling back at him and sitting infront of him.

"this is weird, but i feel like i've known you before." flora starts, "george, is it?"

"yeah, and you're flora." george muttered.

"knew it," flora smiled, "how's life treating you?"

"it's good, could be better." george replied, "a little problem with love i guess, but the croissant did cheer me up! was that your recipe?"

"no, not really. it's delphi's, she and her girlfriend mostly bake here." flora smiled, george didn't like to stereotype, but the novelty earrings did give away delphi's queerness. "but, enough stalling, can i ask you something?"

"sure, what is it?" george replied.

"so you've had them?" flora asked, and george tilted his head in confusion, silently asking the girl to elaborate. "the dreams."

"yes. have you?" george asked, and flora hummed in agreement.

"look, i'm sorry for the shit i've done back then." flora apologized, and george looked into her eyes to see nothing but sincerity. "i was...driven by their actions."

"no, it's fine." george smiled, "it's all in the past. but if you don't mind me asking, what caused the dreams?"

"it's not fine, just because i went through pain doesn't mean i get to inflict it on others." flora looked down, "and, uh, near-death experiences causes them."

"near-death experiences? why though?" george pondered.

"it's the universe's way of keeping us going, to give us a will to live i guess." flora shrugged, "i've had them after i almost took my own life."

"i'm sorry." george mumbled.

"no, it's alright." flora smiled, "i was stupid, i did it because my father overdosed."

"is he the same dad you've had before?" george asked, and flora nodded.

"he's not a bad man though, not in this one at least. he made me finish school and thoroughly supported me and my spouse, he just doesn't know how to ask for help. and when we thought he was fine, turns out he was spiralling more and more into a dark hole." flora explained, "it was sunny that found me, if she hadn't, i would've died."

"how are you and sunny by the way?" george asked, taking a sip out of his strawberry milkshake. and flora smiled widely, showing george the wedding ring on her finger.

"we've been married for 3 years!" flora beamed, "we own this cafe, actually."

"but i don't understand, in the past you both didn't have a happy ending, how come you have it in this one?" george asked flora, his eyes filled with sadness, "i'm happy for you guys, i really am. but, how come clay and i don't get that."

flora sighed, and moved forward closer to george. "george, just because you didn't have a happy ending in the past, doesn't mean you won't have it in this one. your story isn't written by a god, your fate is in your hands, and you can give yourself that happy ending you want."

"but what about the dreams?" george desperately asked.

"the dreams are just there to show you that your love runs deeper than how you thought it was. with communication, and help from each other, you can make yourselves better." flora gently explained, "you can change your ending, george."

george smiled at that, thanking flora. but they were interrupted by flora's ringing phone, she answered it and brought the phone to her ears, but george can hear the person on the other end of the call.

"flower! hi! so i know you said i shouldn't impulse buy and all that, but i was in the thrift shop and i found these adorable frog and mushroom mugs! they're so adorable! i bought them, so you can have the frog and i'll have the mushroom!" sunny beamed through the phone.

"but, isn't it supposed to be the other way around?" flora asked.

"well yeah, i'm obsessed with frogs, but i want you to have to frog so you can remember me with it! same with the mushroom mug!" sunny explained.

"okay love, get home safe." flora smiled, "i love you."

"i love you too! bye!" and she hung up.

flora looked over at george, and smiled. "all will be alright in time, george. and when everything's good, you can come bring your friends over."

"thank you, flora. i really appreciated the comfort." george said, sincere and true.

"of course, it's the least that i can do." she replied.

george smiled and stood up, pulling his phone out of his pocket once he felt it buzz. it was clay.

hi george, can we talk?