Love Game

Chapter 6:

Home was...home, I suppose. There's not much to say. Other than new graphite, nothing changed.

The floor I lived on was utterly untouched, including the bed I failed to make this morning. The hole in the ceiling was the same, the room I slept in- an office- was just as dark and trashy looking, and the spot where I kept my box unwanted things was empty.

Speaking of this office, I seriously needed to clean up a bit. Dust was commonplace. I wasn't going to avoid it. But the furniture has been in the same places, rotting away, since I came to live here. Desks, a couch, and many seats littered the area. I moved a broken desk out of the way to place my mattress somewhere; but otherwise, the room looks just as it did 7 years ago. Sad, isn't it? I'm the only one remotely looking after this building. It would appear that everyone else couldn't care less about it.

I like to think old places hold feelings and memories. Not to get all emotional, but I sometimes sit under the hole in the roof, gazing up at the night's sky, and wonder what kind of feelings and/or memories this building would have...

Would they be good feelings? Would it be happy that I'm here? Or would it be sad that it's no longer in professional use? Would it be missing my dad, and the days that he spent working all hours here?

The truth is, I have no clue. That's the fun part about it, though, right? You get the chance to use your imagination. There are so little opportunities to do that these days. That's why I like my job too. I like to create things, and make people happy. Creating AllMates just made me feel...complete.

Nerdy and senseless, I know. I've heard it all before.

I collapse on my mattress, and sigh. I feel Orio sit on my stomach, and ultimately settle down with me. He curls into a small ball of fur, never closing his eyes, but looking relaxed nonetheless.

"Do you think things will get better," I abruptly ask.

I smooth down Orio's fur, from the back of the neck to the base of his tail. My AllMate uses his small paws to mix my lower chest and stomach affectionately, in an attempt of comfort.

"I can't say," I hear him respond. "Hope is your biggest weapon in this kind of situation, Anna. If you believe things will get better, they eventually will."

Words of wisdom, Orio...words of freaking wisdom.

I smile to myself and close my eyes. I take in a small inhale, and lay here in boredom. Unintentionally, somewhere down the road, I find myself dreaming. And I somehow knew that I drifted off.