Forgotten Bonds

Twenty-Three - Day of Inebriation

December 29th, 2008. Monday, 7:00 am. 

It was a few days after Christmas that Dick found something off with the entire household. Even the air seemed weighed down by some terrible burden. Dick could actually feel it on his shoulders as if it were trying to break his soul in half. He wasn't sure why he was feeling that way. He was perfectly fine – he had given both Slade and Wintergreen their presents. Sure he hadn't been with the Titans for Christmas, but it hadn't been too bad here. If fact... It had been pretty nice. 

And even Slade had given him something – something that was far more precious than he could ever have imagined receiving from the man. 

But as Dick walked into the kitchen that morning, he was now fully sure something was off. Wintergreen wasn't at his usual station – the stove. The old man wasn't making breakfast. In fact, the kitchen was empty. Dick poked around, checking to see if there had been any life that morning, but there was nothing different from the night before. 

Which meant Wintergreen hadn't come into the kitchen at all. 

It was then that Dick caught sight of a note on the kitchen table. He quickly scanned it, his eyes flitting back and forth as he read. Once he finished, he set the note back down onto the table and went to the cabinet. He withdrew a box of cereal and a bowl. After getting a spoon, he grabbed some milk from the fridge. Once he was settled into a chair at the table, he poured his breakfast and ate alone. 

The note had been from Wintergreen. The old man said that Slade was giving him the day off; however, Wintergreen wouldn't be able to make breakfast so Dick had to fend for himself. 

It wasn't bothering Dick... 

Much.

The only noise that flittered through the room were the crunching sounds of his cereal as he chewed and the clink of his spoon within the bowl. The kitchen clock ticked with every second. Dick dropped his spoon into his bowl and leaned his elbow onto the table, resting his chin in his hand; his gaze deep down into the hallway. 

There was no doubt he was feeling a bit lonely. He was used to the three of them sitting at the table and eating together. Yeah, most of the mornings were done in silence or light conversation, but it was the quiet companionship that Dick was so used to that made the unbending silence he was now experiencing just unbearable. 

Would he get to see the other two today? Dick wasn't used to being alone. There were some times where he wished for a moment to himself; but to be honest, he was content to have the other men around. Being alone was just awful and lonely. It left him to his thoughts and sometimes they weren't comforting or helpful – at all. 

Dick returned to his breakfast, eating in the silence; the terrible feeling he had felt when waking up only intensifying. Something just didn't seem right. Something was terribly off. 

But there was no way of finding out. Dick really didn't feel like he should check on the two men. What if they were sleeping in today? Disturbing them just didn't seem like something he could do. 

So, Dick merely finished up his breakfast, making sure to clean his dishes, and went back to his room. For a few hours or so, he tried to keep himself occupied. He played a game for awhile on his DS, but he quickly got tired of that. It just wasn't as fun without another player. He tried to mess around on his iPod for some time, but like the DS, he quickly got bored. 

Dick laid on his bed, looking out into his room; his arm outstretched over the edge of the bed. He clutched his iPod in the hand that hung over the floor. The air was oppressive. He didn't feel depressed, but it almost felt as if the air itself was terribly sorrowed by something. It was bearing down on him, trying to drag him down into the depths.