Dreamcatcher

2

"Aerial? That's a pretty cool name," the boy said after the girl's monotonous self-introduction. Even her personality seemed as sarcastic and drab as her outward appearance consisting of gray, and only gray. "I'm Chase."

"Chase, hm? Well, Chase, you should probably go home and leave me alone, please." Aerial flashed the teen a hateful glare as they walked side-by-side towards nowhere. They passed neat rows of still houses and the occasional car, the only signs of life around there. "It's been ten whole minutes, for god's sake."

"What, do you think my parents'll get worried about me?" Chase said with a grin. "Loosen up. I'm just trying to get along with you, maybe connect a little—"

"You're not gonna convince me from taking the dreamcatchers."

There proceeded to be a heavy sigh, then a small "dammit". Chase truly had no brains, Aerial noticed. No wonder his parents didn't care about him leaving and wandering for long periods of time – she too would abandon him.

As the two strolled down the street in more drifting silence, Chase finally asked with a wide grin, "So, are you curious about my dream?"

"Mhm...not particularly." Aerial quickened her pace to avoid talking to him under any cost. It didn't help that he also quickened his footsteps, his mouth moving at an even faster speed.

"Well, Aerial, I want a friend."

If Aerial wasn't thinking about this teen's feelings, she normally would've let out a laugh. Turns out Chase was serious. There wasn't even any embarrassment or regret in openly admitting that to her, Aerial observed.

"...That's, well, quite sappy and depressing. Sorry – can't help you with that," Aerial shrugged. "I hate you as much as you hate me, and maybe even more."

Chase let out an amused chuckle. He looked towards the setting sun on the horizon, his curious blue eyes like a young child's. The sky was smudged with pigments of pink and orange. Each day was getting shorter and shorter, faster and faster. "You know, Aerial, I've never actually hung up a dreamcatcher before."

There came a different kind of silence than stiff uninterest. Aerial was legitimately curious, and she leaned in closer to him. After all, every kid from a young age was taught that dreamcatchers were the only way to succeed in life, to let one sole dream come true like a gaze upon a shooting star. Those who dared not to hang up a dreamcatcher often saw sleep and lives haunted in peril and disaster until their lives came to an end.

But Chase was somehow still alive. Aerial was somehow still alive.

"The house I live in is the only one on my street without a dreamcatcher," Chase explained. "Anyway, it's true – I don't have strong dreams like other people. My aspiration is stupid, and at night I flip a coin to see if I pull an all-nighter or get inevitable nightmares."

"Are you trying to connect with me?" Aerial asked. "It's different if you're a masochist, you know."

Chase shrugged. "I bet out of everybody you've talked to, you've never met somebody who's not pulling fists on you, let alone someone trying to make a friendly conversation. At least I'm pretty innocent, right?" He flashed a wide grin at the unamused Aerial. But still, she thought, perhaps he did have some brain cells after all. He was right about the "someone trying to make a conversation" part – that was for sure.

"Chase, go home."

But instead of a direct reply, the teen smiled again. It seemed all her efforts to get him to leave were reflected off without any care in the world, a childish stubbornness that blended in with his carefree attitude. Chase nudged the side of Aerial, his blue eyes glistening from the newly-turned-on street lights up ahead. "Tomorrow's my birthday."

"Well, happy early birthday. Now go home."

"I want you to come over, Aerial."

An immediate scoff. "Not a chance in hell, buddy."

"Well, you already know where I live. It's the house with the missing dreamcatcher, back where I talked with you for the first time." Back where we had fought. Chase pointed back towards the direction the two had come from. The houses they had passed were illuminated by fuzzy, dream-like light blending the bushes and houses with the horizon.

Aerial stared at the teen with an 'are you being serious with me' look. "I told you I hated you a second ago, and we've only met for – what – ten minutes? Why are you asking me to celebrate your birthday with you?" That desperate for friends, huh?

The teen shrugged again. "I don't know, really. Come if you want, if you have nothing better to do than just stealing dreamcatchers." As Aerial kept walking down the shadowed sidewalk, Chase stopped. He patiently waited until she turned back around and looked at him, then waved at her with that same damned smile.

The autumn leaves scattered in a mini-tornado on the gravel. They danced like ballerinas across the street, as if to say "we're still alive", as if to stir up some form of life in the dead neighborhood. "You know, Aerial, I figured something out."

"Hm?"

"Maybe you don't need to hang up a dreamcatcher to have your dreams come true."

Aerial watched the silhouette of Chase disappear into an ant in the far distance. Time ticked by. The sky turned a dark black-and-blue, resembling a smudged Van Gogh painting without stars.

The way Chase walked, his cheeky grin, his carefree attitude, everything – Aerial hated it. She hated his laugh and fresh innocence, the way he laughed and smiled and seemed like he didn't have any worries or stress in the world. But she knew he too was human, that he too had his struggles and dreams in the harsh world. After all, he had told them to her just a second ago.

Aerial made sure she went to the birthday party the next day, no matter what.