Promised Land

[6] I Was Wrong, Nothing Is Actually Fine :)

It stares at the trio of boys in the woods. The blond is leading the pack, laughing annoyingly loud, followed closely by the brunet. The third, taller boy-- with dark hair flecked with bits of gray, premature gray, at such a young age, how sad-- follows behind awkwardly.

The third boy is what attracts him the most. Its known of the existence of the two boys for so long. Its seen them since they were young, knew of what they could do before they did, so when a third boy came into the group, it intrigued it.

People like them don't bond with just anybody, and it could tell there was something interesting with the tall boy.

He has spoken of sleepwalking and face blindness. He's never spoken of home, but when it follows the boy home, it isn't a home, it's an orphanage. An orphan. No family.

It tries to remember all of them that he's encountered. But it can't think of any like the tall boy.

The orphanage is a weird place. It is run by very pious, religious people, and the boy follows their every word. Is he really religious, too? Or is it all a front, an act, to play so that the boy does not get hurt any more than he already has?

It dances between the tree branches to follow the boys. The smaller form allows him to follow people without being noticed. The boys are talking about something. School. Education.

It doesn't care about that.

It is just a predator hunting its p r e y...

Summer is coming close to its end. It's only a manner of weeks before normal school starts back up, which means that there will be less time for Ranboo to hang out with Tommy and Tubbo.

They keep trying to convince him to get a "discord" account, easier to keep in contact with him, but he says that his caregivers would be upset if he got an app called Discord. Not the word caregivers. He doesn't say who, not much more than they wouldn't like this, they wouldn't like that, I'm sorry...

Tommy says to do it anyway, but Ranboo can't.

He just. He just can't.

It's dropped shortly after that, and they try to go back to their walk on the trail as normally as they possibly can. As normal as they usually do. The air is still a little tense, and Ranboo is drowning in both his thoughts and the humidity of the late summer day.

It's for the best, that school is starting back up, that you'll see them less, a part of him says in his head. It's not a nice part of him, Ranboo recognizes, one that sounds like Father Patrick and the Sisters and everyone who has taken care of him but also himself at the same time. More time to focus and study and pray.

But this summer had been the most unforgettable one that he's ever had-- even with memory problems, it was easier to remember the days he spent with Tommy and Tubbo than the days that he didn't. He's able to get out of the orphanage and see more of their small town-- not as small as it seems when he's in the seat of a car. It used to feel so small and like he was looking at the town as a picture, as just something on the television, as they drove by, but now he can walk and go to the places they would pass by and it would feel real.

It was a weird feeling. He doesn't want to forget it. He's scribbled words to try and describe it in the margins of his journal but none of them ever fit quite right.

He doesn't want the summer to end.

Neither do the other two, but they have as much control of it as Ranboo-- none.

"We could do study sessions! At, like, the library and stuff." Tubbo suggests.

They've moved down towards the creek that winds through the park. The bridge is a little ways away and above them. The creek is as clear as ever, winding in a direction under the bridge and a direction into a sewer. Not the kind that has to deal with anything flushed, it allows the creek to dig under a nearby road.