meet me in the woods ☾grayson dolan au

f i v e

[ 05 ]

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"Nothing?"

"Nothing at all."

"Not even a dream?"

Grayson shook his head and pulled a plain gray shirt over his chest. "None that I can remember."

Ryder smiled, happy for the boy, and leaned up to plant a chaste kiss to his lips. "I bet you feel amazing," she said.

Grayson smiled in surprise and nodded, agreeing very much so to her statement. "I feel like I've finally slept for the first time in weeks."

"Week," she corrected before leaving her place in front of him to change her dirty t-shirt into a clean one.

"Yeah, week." He made the bed before leaving back into his own room, tidying up a few things scattered across the floor. When he ended up cleaning more than just the floor, he felt that his room was different; a good different. But it was also weird. He felt like he had cleaned in search for something that he didn't know he was looking for. Like something was lost.

"What the hell..." he mumbled as he looked around the quiet room. "What is it?"

As he mumbled to himself he found it was useless, as nobody was there to help him, or make a useless comment. He was gone, and to be fair, Grayson hadn't seen him since he entered Ryder's room. He hadn't followed him in, but why?

The realization of being so independent hit him and he quickly turned into a mess of confusion.

Years without end he had followed him. He'd mocked him, spoken to him, annoyed him, followed him... but now he had simply disappeared? Of course it was what he had wished for after years of torture, but now, what can he do to celebrate?

"Hey Gray?" Her muffled voice called from her room.

"Yeah?"

"Would you like to go on a walk with me?" She asked.

Grayson nodded and smiled in delight, "hell yeah."

He could hear her chuckle from the room across from his, and it made his day a little bit brighter.

• • •

The autumn colors of red, yellow, and orange painted the trees. The air was cool and smelled faintly of a distant barbecue.