Flowers from 1970

Time Capsule

It took some time but I finally finished chapter 3. Hope you like it.

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Dream and George found other ways to communicate, with George having the brilliant idea of Dream leaving a time capsule buried somewhere in the backyard for George to find.

George uploaded his work project onto his computer and walked outside with a shovel he had recently purchased. Dream had told him it was put in the corner near the fence and had hoped no one had taken it out since it was put in.

With that information, George started to dig. He wasn't the strongest physically, but he persisted with each stab of the shovel into the cold dirt.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone looking at him. It must have looked weird, to be dining a hole in your backyard. He must have looked like he was digging a grave to dump a body in. George shrugged at the man, which prompted him to walk away.

The man looked quickly into a pocket notebook while he was walking away, and wrote something down. George was scared it was a note of him being suspicious and that he was going to report to the police.

It had been over 15 minutes, and George sighed. He took a look at the pile of dirt on the ground a shook his head. Someone must have found the capsule before him.

He was about to shovel the dirt he worked so hard on digging out back into the hole when a glimmer of light reached his eyes. There, buried in the ground was a hint of metal.

Georges's eyes widened as he ran for the shovel again, picking at the ground until he found a pill-shaped metal container. It had masking tape on it with the word " George" written.

He did not even bother shoveling the dirt back in, he ran back home to rinse off the outside of the container and shuffled into his room. It was like a child in christmas getting a present.

As soon as he got in his room the phone started ringing. George picked up, " Dream! I've got your capsule."
Dream chuckled, "So you do. Well open it, I'm curious as to how long the things in there survived."

It took George a while, as the rust created a sort of lock-in between the seams, but eventually, it popped open with such a force that George was thrown back a little with a groan.

" You alright?" Dream asked worriedly into the phone, but George could hear a hint of holding back laughter.

George got back up, " Yes. Just fine." He steadied himself again as he looked around at the floor and at the mess it had made.

A couple of things inside the capsule where scattered around the floor due to how sudden it opened. George grabbed the first thing he saw.

He picked up the small item and squinted at it, " Pow-Chew?" He tried to read on the wrapper.

"Yes!" Dream said excitedly, " I love those."

" What is this?" He held it up to his nose and sniffed it, it smelled like rotten candy. He didn't imagine that fifty-year-old candy would still be as fresh as it was back when it was made.

"It's gum. Check the expiration date." Dream orders.

The wrapper had a beryl visible blob of ink that was the expiration date. "August 22, 2972." George read out loud. "I can't believe this never attracted ants."

George put the candy on his desk and reached for something else he saw on the floor. It was a rock.

" Is this quartz?" George asked.

"Yeah. It's my favorite one i own." Dream admitted.

George held it tightly in his hand, "why give it to me, then?"

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Dream was on his bed, letting his records play in the background and stared at the wallpaper.

"Why give it to me, then?"

How was Dream suppose to answer that? He gave it to George because he wanted someone very important to him to own his favorite thing, but all of it was so wrong. He cared about someone who didn't even exist yet.

He cared about his best friend Sapnap too, but not in the way he did for George, someone he had never even met. He couldn't put his finger on the reasoning, so he let his mind go blank.

"Dream?" George mumbled into the phone.

"Oh-uh yeah, I guess i just don't think I'll need it in the future." He answered, settling for the half-truth.

" Hm, alright." George sounded like he was scrambling to pick up more items.

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In the capsule were other little things such as an old music cassette and baseball cards. After a while, George saw a little canister and held it up to his eyes. He opened it, and it was dry, cracking, and expired formerly) lime paint that was now a dark forest green.

"What did you open?" Dream asked quietly.

"Green paint." George answered dipping his finger in, and what he saw surprised him. His finger broke into the hard cracked layer and into a watery, preserved lime paint that was sure the original color.

"I'm sure it's ugly now, right?" Dream joked, but George looked at his finger covered in paint.

" No. It's perfect."

George had an idea. He spilled a good portion of the can onto his hand and spread it around with a finger.

"Are you there? What are you doing?" Dream asked, but George walked over to his bedroom wall.

He glanced at Dream's handprint, and with one movement, placed his paint-covered hand right next to it. The difference in sizes of their hands was interesting, along with the detail that Dream's handprint was old and cracking, while Georges was clean and fresh and still a bright color.

George grabbed the phone with his clean hand, "yeah, I'm here."

"What did you do?"

George stared at the two handprints, "Nothing." He mumbled.

"Oh." Dream murmured, "Well there's one more thing in there. Trapped to the inside of the capsule. You can look at it but I'll have to hang up."

"Why?" George asked, wondering why it had mattered so much that they wouldn't be on the phone when he looked at it.

"Bye, George. Have a good night." Dream bid him and before George could ask for an explanation once again, their connection cut. He had hoped Dream wouldn't suddenly do that again in the future, he didn't like to be brushed off so quickly.

George put down the phone with a sigh and checked the inside of the capsule container. Inside was a piece of paper. A Polaroid photo.

It was of Dream. Seemingly candidly taken by another person. He was smiling, with beautiful dirty blond hair and a tall stature. He was holding a pet cat and was in the very bedroom George was in at that moment.

George thought he was quite handsome. He was getting sleepy, and his eyes fell closed with the photo lying face up on his bedside table.

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Credit to original owner astr0nomika on Ao3