Blurry Nights

Chapter Five | Rumors

George got ready for bed, trying not to pay much attention to Dream who flipped through his book. "You're new to the program, right?" He asked, turning towards George.

He nodded, head getting into his bed.

"Well, just listen to what they say. You'll be out in no time," he sighed.

"Why are you still here?" he asked, but realized it sounded rude. "Is there a reason you're here?" George rephrased.

"I—I just am," Dream said in a very unconvincing tone.

"That's not really an answer."

"Well, sometimes you can't answer." Dream let out a deep sigh. He was a bit confused; it wasn't that hard of a question,

"And why are you here, George?"

"I—" George started, but Dream interrupted.

"Exactly! You can't answer either," he chuckled, clearly winning the argument. "Goodnight, George."

"Goodnight, Dream." George smiled.

-

The alarm forced the two awake. They got dressed and showered before meeting the rest of the members. George stood behind Dream, and when they got into the main building Gibson was waiting for them.

"Follow me, Clay," Gibson said, authority in his voice. He smiled slightly at George before following Gibson. He didn't see him for the rest of the day and went to his cabin alone.

-

George was woken by shuffling, causing him to open his eyes and look around. He caught eyes with a slightly frightened Dream. "Dream? What are you doing?" George pushed himself into a sitting position.

"Uh.. fixing my covers?" he said.

He didn't believe him. "You're not even wearing pajamas."

"Not everyone wears pajamas, George." Dream sat on his bed for a moment before getting under the covers.

"Where were you? I haven't seen you since you went with Gibson, and you come back at midnight?" George asked, trying to understand where he'd been.

"Just—just meetings." Dream sounded tired all of a sudden. He knew he was lying but didn't know how to get the truth out of him.

"We can talk about this another time, I'm tired." He turned away from George, done with the conversation, but he was not.

Irritation made his mind whizz. Why was he lying? What use was it? "We can only talk here. We don't have free speech with the others."

When Dream didn't respond, he tried again. "Seriously? You're just going to ignore me?".

"George... Please, I'm tired," Dream grumbled, half asleep. He decided there was nothing he could do and let himself sleep.

-

When they woke up, Dream was still ignoring George. He didn't mean to make enemies with his only friend.

"Dream, I'm sorry..." he started, but he shushed him.

They followed the others without a word. Like before, Gibson met Dream as soon as he walked in. He didn't react in any way, just followed Gibson with his head down low.

George tried to pay attention to his lessons but he couldn't. Instead he kept looking at the mysterious door hoping that Dream would come through them and he could apologize.

-

When he got back to his cabin, Dream wasn't there. He was expecting him to show up late at night again but he never did.

He didn't do anything wrong, so it didn't make sense that he was back behind the mysterious door. Dream did say for a few days, so does that mean he isn't George's roommate anymore?

With many different thoughts, he made his way towards Sapnap and the guy who seemed to stay close to him, besides for when he was forced to make distance from him. Sapnap, his friend, and Eret switched up the day's distance, then hung together.

George would've thought the staff would catch on, but they didn't; they only inspected to make sure no rules were being broken. "I never got your name?" George turned towards the boy beside Sapnap.

He smiled. "Karl Jacobs!"

The boy seemed far too cheerful despite the situation and the strict rules. George returned the smile. "I'm George."

Karl turned toward Sapnap with a smile, as if telling him to talk to George.

"Rumor has it you're sharing a cabin with Dream? Is it true?" Sapnap asked, slightly concerned as if Dream would attack George while he slept.

"Yeah. He's actually pretty chill," he replied, hoping that maybe somehow he would change his mind about Dream.

"That doesn't sound right. Did they not tell you what happened last night?" Sapnap crossed his arms over his chest.

George shook his head. "They didn't."

"Dream attacked Gibson, then anyone else that was in his way. A large group of staff had to grab him and sedate him, it was a whole ordeal," he finished, trying to prove his point that Dream was bad, but it didn't make any sense.

"I'm telling you as a friend. Please stay away from Dream," he sighed, getting up and walking away from the table, leaving a confused Karl whose face dropped. He tried to follow after Sapnap but he held his hand out.

Karl pouted before going back over to George sitting down, hiding his face in his arms. George could only guess that Karl wanted to be around Sapnap but just knew he couldn't.

-

The rest of the day was uneventful. The other members had been talking about Dream and how he was the reason the meetings and lessons weren't happening.

He enjoyed the break from all the stuff they were banging into his head. He tried to understand their ways of fixing everyone which consisted mainly of bashing everyone down.

Blaming past events for them being gay or different in any way. Telling stories before stopping them and yelling "Gay!" at anything they saw fitting. George could smile and they would yell "Gay!".

Every day that passed, George thought the meetings were useless but didn't speak up. How was everything that happened changing them? Making them better? What George didn't expect was him to slip up during a meeting...

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Yikes! Anyways hopefully y'all are doing okay? I'm doing better, I promise Operation soon! :D

Stay Calm, Stay Alive

Onyx

things are starting to ramp up! who's excited???

~lead editor ruby