Flowers from 2020

Take me Home

"And then he was gone." George finished. He had told Dream all about his encounter with his future self, excluding the bits about the heartbreak and his newfound feelings.

There was silence on the other side of the line. It stretched on until Dream broke it with a "Wow..."

"Yeah," George replied. "I know it sounds crazy but-"

Dream laughed. "George are you forgetting who you're talking to? I'm literally 50 years in the past right now."

George chuckled. "I guess you're right."

Another silence took over.

"So... what do we do now?"

"Well..." George sighed, "I'm not sure."

"What does the remote say on it again?"

"All it says is 'take me home'.

"And where exactly is that supposed to take you?"

"I don't know," George said. "My future self didn't mention that. All he said was..."

"Was what? What did he say George."

"Nothing! Just that... uhh..."

"George." Dream cooed. "I can tell you're hiding something. Come on, just tell me. You trust me, don't you?"

"Of course I do, it's not that at all!" George responded quickly. "It's just..."

"Just what George?"

"It's just that... he told me I was in danger."

"Danger?!" Dream panicked, "What kind of danger? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine Dream, really. My future self said I wasn't in any kind of physical danger."

"So then... what kind of danger are you in?"

"Well, he said I was in danger of... of getting my heart broken..."

More silence.

"Heartbroken...?"

"Yeah..."

"By who?"

There it was. George knew the question was coming, yet it still caught him off guard. "He didn't exactly say who it was..."

"But you know, don't you."

It wasn't a question. Dream knew that George knew. This was it. He knew he had to tell Dream now. He had to tell him or he knew he'd regret it for the rest of his life, just like his future self had said. So he took a deep breath, and told Dream the truth.

"You, Dream ... I think it's you..."

Silence stretched on again for what seemed like hours. George grew more and more nervous as time ticked on. What if Dream had taken it the wrong way? What if he didn't want to talk to George ever again?

But then Dream spoke.

It wasn't much, but it meant the world to George.

"I would never hurt you George, you know that... I- I love you..."

And that was all it took to break what ever resolve George had remaining. Tears started flowing from his eyes and his shoulders began to shake. He just couldn't help it.

"Oh no," worried Dream, "I'm so sorry George, I didn't mean to upset you. God I'm such an idiot! Why did I say that? George I-"

"Dream!" George exclaimed, wiping the tears from his eyes. He had begun to laugh while he was crying. "You don't need to apologize for anything, Dream. You didn't upset me. It's ok."

"But then... why were you crying?" Dream asked.

"Because Dream," George continued, "I love you too."

There were a few more seconds of silence, and then George heard some light sniffling from the other end of the phone line.

"I- I swear if this is some kind of s-sick future prank or something-"

"It's not Dream, I swear. I do love you. Truly."

"Oh George," Dream chuckled as he continued to cry, "You have no idea how happy that makes me."

"I think I do." George whispered.

"And why's that exactly?"

"Because I'm feeling the same thing right now."

And then Dream was full on sobbing and laughing at the same time. And that got George crying and laughing again. They both just sat there, phones pressed to their ears, marveling in each other's happiness.

"I wish you were here George." Dream sadly whispered.

George sniffled, "I do too Dream, you have no idea."

But just as they started calm down, the device in George's other hand started glowing bright green. George turned it over in confusion, and found another handprint alongside the one that had been there originally. "Uh, Dream."

"Yeah?"

"This thing is glowing."

A pause.

"What now?"

"The little remote my future self gave me, it just started glowing."

"What, why? What else is it doing?"

"I don't know," George said, flipping the remote around to see if there was anything else on it that had changed. It didn't appear it had. The only thing different was the second hand print. "Maybe it's-"

And just then, the glow grew tenfold. "Agh! What's-" George yelled as the sudden growth in light blinded him.

"George? George! What's going on? Are you ok? Are you there?" Dream panicked.

But George couldn't hear him. When the light flashed he had dropped the phone from his other hand.

"George! Please! Answer me!" Dream begged from where the phone lay discarded on the floor.

"It's so bright!" George yelled out, before suddenly the light somehow pulsed brighter. George screamed, and suddenly it was gone. As quick as it had appeared, the light had vanished, leaving a confused George covering his eyes on his bed.

As he lifted his hands, he could see his room starting to reappear. He blinked a few times to get used to the new change in light, and when he did, he noticed that the small device he had been given was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh no, no, no!" George exclaimed, "Where is it? Where did-"

"George?"