Bathing in Moonlight

DNF: Noise Complaint (Part Four)

George woke up on Sunday morning, feeling relieved that his classes were finished for the semester, but bummed he had to wait to go back home. His sister was going to drive to his college town and help him move some stuff back home for winter break, so he had to wait for her to arrive.

He passed the hours by slowly, watching whatever oddly addicting Netflix show that popped up first on the home page. Out of nowhere he got a weird feeling that he was supposed to do something that day that he forgot about.

Classes were over for the semester, he was all packed up waiting for his sister, and he had taken the trash out after he cleaned the entire apartment. What else was there to do?

The fish.

Dream had asked George a few days ago to feed his fish because he was going to be gone for the weekend. Shit- George had almost forgotten about the fish.

George paused the show he was watching and sat up from the couch, taking his phone out to text Dream.

George

2:45 pm

"Going to feed your little fish babies right now. Hope you're having a good weekend :]"

George walked over to Dream's apartment, rummaging through his key rings to find Dream's key. After fumbling for way too long he found it, then entered Dream's apartment.

George's mouth dropped open instantly, his eyes taking in the entire kitchen and living room immediately. Both rooms were completely empty, aside from a small fish tank in the corner of the living room. There was absolutely no furniture, and the apartment was spotless.

Dream normally kept his apartment relatively clean: some dirty clothes on the floor here and there, or empty Gatorade bottles scattered by his bedside. For the most part there were very few messes. But this was next level clean- the faux marble countertop shined reflections of the overhead light above it, the floor was matte and swept, the windows in the living room were shiny and clear.

George walked into Dream's bedroom and it was in the same state as the rest of the apartment: barren. He wondered when Dream had found time to do all of this, because George had just seen Dream a few days previous.

George slowly stepped over to Dream's fish tank, bending down slightly to peek at the fish.

"Hi fishies...do you know where your dad went?" George whispered to the fish, half-expecting them to answer for some reason.

When all George got was some bubbles from the tank filter in response, he grabbed the container of fish food and sprinkled some inside the tank. He watched as the flakes of food sat at the surface of the water at first, then slowly drifted down towards the bottom of the tank.

George took out his phone once again, this time taking pictures of Dream's empty apartment and sending the photos to him along with a message:

George

2:48 pm

"Um??? Where'd all your shit go??"

George waited a few minutes for Dream to answer, but got no response.

Dream is a lot of things- impulsive, witty, strongheaded, creative, to name a few. But he's definitely not someone who would abandon animals in an empty apartment like this.

George stood in the middle of the living room, staring at Dream's tiny fish swimming around the tank, as he decided what to do.

He ended up calling Dream, leaving a voicemail because of course his call didn't go through all the way: