"People think dreams aren't real just because they aren't made of matter, of particles. Dreams are real. But they are made of viewpoints, of images, of memories and puns and lost hopes." -Neil Gaiman
Have you ever had a dream that seemed real? So re...
I want to personally thank you for giving this story a chance. If you like it please vote, and continue reading! If not feel free to leave a comment and let me know what I could possibly do to improve. This is my first story EVER, not just on wattpad, so it is going to be a little rough. You have no idea how happy I am that it is being read though!
Also this chapter has been edited by the wonderfully talented TabbyMax <3 -------------------------------------------
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I brushed my wet hair away from my skin.
It had to be stormy today. The one day I had to walk to work. My car was being repaired by the mechanic down the street. I didn't really understand what was wrong with it, but I did understand that it would make affording groceries for this month a lot more difficult.
It's not that the walk to work was long. I actually prefer walking when the weather was nice. But today it was dark, stormy and pouring ice cold rain. Add the chilly, early spring wind and it didn't make for the most pleasant walk, to put it mildly. Freezing cold water splashed up into my Keds, and I was almost tempted to turn around and go home.
Let's not even mention the fact that I didn't own an umbrella.
What kind of adult doesn't own an umbrella? I couldn't help wondering.
To be honest, most of the time I felt like I was only playing at being an adult. I was 21, which was indeed legal adult age. Sometimes I desperately wanted to forget about responsibilities. Make some friends, maybe explore the world a little more. I couldn't do that though. I had to grow up very quickly.
You see it in the papers all the time.
Couple stabbed by intruder.
Family destroyed while children hide in the closet.
Ok, that last one was perhaps too specific. Only because that's exactly what happened to me and my little brother, Oli.
You'd never think that this sort of thing was going to happen to you. It always seemed so unrealistic. That was the kind of thing that happened in movies, or TV shows like Law and Order were the stories were obviously over-exaggerated right? Yeah, stuff like that happened in real life too, but in another place, to another family. Not mine. Then again, I had to understand that those families probably felt the same way, until it did happen.
I'd just turned 18, and my younger brother was 3. I got lucky, I suppose. I was old enough to be a guardian, and I had a job and a savings account (meant to pay my way through college. Not anymore.). Because of all this, I was granted guardianship of Oli. We didn't have much family. We had no aunts or uncles, and the only grandparent I had left was in a nursing home somewhere.
I rented the first apartment I could afford. Of course, we often had scheduled visits from social services to make sure that everything was going smoothly. We made it work somehow.
It was hard, but it was better than the alternative. I couldn't begin to imagine sweet little Oli in a foster home.
Rain started pouring even harder. I could only see a few feet ahead of me. I was almost near the diner where I worked. One more street to cross, and there it was. I hoped my boss wouldn't be angry with my soaking wet uniform.
I stepped onto the road. I heard the rush of the car. I heard the sound of the wheels as it got closer, but I saw no lights. I was ready to run the rest of the distance across the street.
