Bittersweet // DreamnotFound

Dissolve

*TW- Drowning//Acceptance of Death//

Dream walks over from the edge of the street to the beginning of the meadow. He brought George home last night to a very upset mom and dad. Luckily his sister was asleep so she didn't have to see her bother in that state. And, despite his hangover this morning, he still agreed to go to the river with Dream.

Also, earlier that morning when Sapnap was okay enough, Dream told him everything that happened at the party. Sapnap kissing his crush, George getting drunk, George kissing him. This obviously came as a surprise to Sapnap, but he was more concerned about his own kiss with Karl.

Dream never checked to make sure he wouldn't tell anyone though. He simply trusted him.

As Dream neared closer to the trees, he saw a figure standing by them, which had to be George. Nobody else comes in this area. This confused Dream. Why wasn't George by the river? They had never met by the trees, not even when they were kids. Did something happen? Should he be concerned? Anxiety started to bubble up in his chest.

He nervously arrived at by the trees, standing in front of George, a bit scared about the change in meeting place.

"Hey," he said, making sure his voice didn't waver. "What's with the change?"

George stood with his hands in his jean pockets and looking at the ground. Dream had a feeling- a little worry- that this wouldn't be a good talk.

"George?"

They stood in silence for a while longer.

"What did I do at the party last night," George questioned.

Dream stood there in silence, slightly panicking at the question. How was he supposed to reply to that question? He couldn't know, right? How would he?

"Well, I didn't see you most of the time, but later I found you in a backroom drunk. I then took you and Sapnap back to your houses."

"The whole story, Dream."

He looked up and met Dream's eyes, which pierced into his skull like daggers.

"I-," Dream stutters. "That is the whole story!"

George scoffs, rolling his eyes. "Can't even live up the truth."

Anger was written on ones face and distress on the others.

"I know what you did Dream; you can't lie to me."

"How?"
"Yourself practically, but Sapnap was the messenger."

"Sapnap? Why? He had to have known I didn't want you to know."
"So you were just going to lie to me? Act as if nothing happened? Never tell me?"

Dream stepped back just as George came forward. Tears threatened both of their eyes, but George was better at keeping his composure.

"Why didn't you pull back, Dream? You knew I would hate if I figured out it happened!"

"I couldn't! I wanted to but I just couldn't," Dream yelled back.

"It's not that you couldn't it's that you didn't want to! You didn't want to because then you couldn't say George Davidson kissed you! Wouldn't be able to tell the whole school and mock me. Couldn't tell everyone George is weak for kissing someone black-out drunk. That was why wasn't it Clay? Wasn't it?"

Tears were rolling down both of their cheeks now. Clay's eyes were blurry from the non-stop tears. George started to calm down after actually taking in everything he had said. His face softened. Before he could get a word out, though, Clay raced into the forest.

It was all too much for him to handle. The kiss. The argument. George leaving. It was too much.

As he ran down the path, he kept stumbling over twigs or his own feet. He would slip despite there being no mud or wet leaves. His blurry vision didn't help.

He thought he heard George's voice yelling far behind him, but most noises were blocked out from his thoughts.

The words came back, whispering about how George didn't trust him.

He ran until he got to the edge of the river. It seemed to run a lot softer today, less harsh. Clay knew George was behind him, and ultimately didn't want to talk to him at the moment. He looked ahead at the rocks.

He stepped on the rocks one by one, checking his footing since the rock were still slippery.

There was a continuation of the forest beyond the rocks Clay wasn't trying to go there. He only wanted to get far enough away from the shore that George could talk to him. The forest around him felt oddly comforting today. The sun shined on the water beautifully and cast nice shadows from the trees behind. The light on the blue, pink, purple, and white flowers made them have a softer look.

Flowers.

Clay thought about what he would do with the flower crown when he got back home. His first thought was to crush it or throw it away, but for some reason it hurt to even think about doing that. Instead, he decided on putting it in his closet to never be seen again.

He was on a slippery rock, trying to be careful but go quickly at the same time, knowing George would be there soon. That's when his foot slipped.

He started to fall.

For some odd reason, he expected George- or someone- to catch him. Catch him in the same dip position he did to George.

But, of course, he hit the pretty water.

Surprisingly the water didn't pull him towards the rocks. It was a lot deeper than George and him had expected, seemingly being able to sink forever.

At first, he panicked. What was he supposed to do? Swim up? The water seemed to push him down.

Then, he felt lighter.

The water seemed to welcome him. The anxiety in his chest dissolved. A huge weight, lifted off his chest. He felt as if he were floating, despite sinking. A relief swept over him. A gracefulness in death, a calm. He wasn't scared of dying. He didn't think anyone would care.

Patches wouldn't notice or care. His parents were out on a trip, it would be a while before they knew. His sister had her friends' houses to go to when their parents were away. He wasn't all too close to Wilbur, Tommy, or Karl, grief would pass them quickly, if they felt it at all. Sapnap had so many things working out for him currently, it would all out-weigh Clay's death. George didn't like him anymore and didn't trust him. If anything, he would probably be happy about Clay's death, or at least not sad. Clay didn't have to worry about grades anymore, or what to do with the flower crown, or hiding his feelings for George. Those things would figure themselves out when he dies.

Those were his last thoughts before blacking out.

AN-

👀...Lol anyway-

Umm, what do you put after a chapter like this? I didn't lie when I said this chapter had a lot that was going to happen. You didn't expect that one did ya?

Anyhow, tell me if there are any other trigger warnings in this chapter that I may have missed, I'm not good with noticing those other than the quite obvious ones. Hope you enjoyed (?) this chapter and the next one will be out next Sunday!

(Oh yeah! Btw this book will be ending soon!)