𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒, 𝐓𝐍. dreamwastaken

FIVE

Clay shut the door to his cars he stared at his childhood house in front of him, his mind racing. His heart beat out of his chest as he locked the car behind him and quickly walked up the steps and to the front door, where he gently knocked a few times and waited for an answer.

The door squealed open and revealed his mother, a large her surprised look on her face. "Clay! What're you doing here?!" She stepped outside, giving her son a hug before turning back to look at him.

"Just thought I'd come by and say hello while I had some free time." He followed his mother inside, shutting the door behind him as he looked at the renovated living room he helped to fund. "House looks nice."

"Thanks," she said quickly, making her way into the kitchen where vegetables were cut up and scattered across the table. Clay followed somewhat closely behind while he scanned the spaces surrounding the front door and dining room.

"What's the special occasion," he asked, referring to the vegetables and various foods laid across the counter.

"The neighbors are coming over, I thought I'd make them something nice." She chopped up another onion before adding it to a bowl filled with miscellaneous vegetables. "You wanna stay for dinner?"

"We'll see," he said, putting it off. He wasn't going to go to dinner. He sat down at a stool next to the counter and folded his hands together, watching his mother perform her duties. "I had a quick question for you."

"What is it?"

"Do you have any of my old photo albums? Like maybe some of my old classrooms or friends?" he asked, his voice staying stern and serious.

"I'm pretty sure your father hid those in the attic." She scrapped the bowl of vegetables into a greased pan and Clay stayed silent as the food sizzled in the pan. "How come you want them?"

"For a video," he said confidently. "I haven't done a face reveal yet so perhaps I could just show them some baby pictures."

His mom smiled, setting her wooden spatula in the sink and starting the water. "Be careful with who sees those though. You don't want anyone with your high school yearbook to suddenly send out photos of you."

He smiled back, understanding the risk but not taking it into consideration- he was lying anyways. "I understand. I'll be careful, I promise."

His mom smiled in response, saving her words for another topic.

"Do you happen to have a flashlight?"

***

Clay climbed up a steep, cold latter into his family's attic as his teeth gripped harder onto the flashlight recklessly placed in his mouth. His jaw pinched and he crouched down and taking the flashlight out of his mouth and setting it on the floor.

He let out a heartless chuckle as he grabbed a few large books, and set them on the attic floor. He picked up the flashlight and stuff it back between his teeth, his jaw aching for relief. But he carried on anyways, tightly holding the photo books against his chest as he descended the ladder.

He didn't care to put up the staircase ladder as he quickly walked over to his room and dropping the books on his childhood bed- a twin bed with plaid sheets.

The dust spread throughout the air as he sat down, the spring mattress bouncing even more with the weight of his body.

He grabbed the first book and started browsing through it, starting with his baby photos and the times when he was the only child.

The first few pages in the books were one of him and eventually, ones of him and his younger sister. He smiled at the photo, reminded of how much time has passed.

He flipped another page forward and found a class photo from preschool. He immediately noticed himself in the front, his arms around his best friend at the time.

He closely scanned the photo and found nobody with even a close resemblance to Vienna. No kid with her eyes, her hair, and her facial structure.

He sighed and flipped the page, continuing to look throughout all the other photos. As he finished the photo books, he went through yearbooks; even taking those that belonged to his sister.

He left all the books scattered throughout his room as he trudged downstairs, his mom still cooking.

"Any photos you're gonna post?" his mom asked, turning the temperature down on a pot of boiling water.

Clay froze in his tracks, trying to remember a photo. "Not sure. I haven't decided yet." He sat down at the counter, holding his head up with his hands.

His mom clicked her tongue, pouring raw pasta into the boiling water. "You gonna stay for dinner?"

"I don't think so. I gotta get back home."

"You sure? We'd love to have you," she said.

"I gotta start planning another stream and Sapnap wants to call tonight."

"Alright Clay. Drive safe please."

He grabbed his keys off the counter and smiled. "I will. I love you."

"Love you."

***

"So what's the plan for the stream tomorrow?" Sapnap asked, his chair squeaking as he laid back in it.

"Alex is doing a lore stream, ask him what he wants us to do," Clay quickly said back, as if he was snapping at him.

"Jeez, alright. What's the lore stream about?"

"I don't fucking know. Everybody's kinda doing their own thing."

"Is that stressing you out?"

Clay sighed, rubbing his eyes with his hands. "No, I don't mind at all. They all do great with their lore streams."

"Then why do you sound so stressed out?"

"Just a lot of stuff going on."

"Yeah? Wanna talk about it?"

"I don't want to intrude it on you," Clay said, tapping the keys on his keyboard lightly.

"I've been your best friend for years, how is this different than you ranting any other time?"

"I'm going crazy."

"I know. You've been going crazy."

"No, like, genuinely crazy."

"Explain," he said, his chair squeaking again.

"I've been having these really vivid dreams about a girl I don't know."

"You've probably met her before, she can't be in your dream otherwise."

"That's the thing. I went to my parents' and looked at every single one of my baby photos and she wasn't in a single one. I would've remembered her if I went to high school with her."

"Maybe you saw her at a store or something?"

"I don't know. It- I'm scared to sleep. I am going crazy."

"I'm sure you're not crazy, Clay. You're perfectly sane. I'm sure you're not the first person to have something like this happen to them and you won't be the last. She was probably a character in your life that you've seen before but never interacted with."

"Yeah, probably. I just feel so lucid."

"Are the dreams giving you physical pain?"

"Only twice, I think."

"Don't be afraid to sleep. Everything will be okay and the same once you wake up."

"I think I'm scared that I'll miss her too much."

Sapnap chuckled, his chair squeaking again. "Get some rest. If your brain is forcing you to spend time with her, make the most of it."

Clay smiled. "Yeah, alright."

"So about the lore, do you think I should be evil or nice?"

"Evil. You know people go crazy for that."

"I'm gonna add him to call."