As the time passed, Jeff slowly drifted into a peaceful slumber. Again, he dreamt of something other than his ceiling.
In his dream, he was standing beside Jane. Not only Jane, but EJ, Liu, Ben, Masky, Hoodie, and finally... the Offenderman.
They were all sitting under the old cherry tree near the edge of the Black Lake.
Jeff rested his back against the thick trunk of the tree, Jane lay down across the grass, staring up into the clouds.
Masky also lounged back against the tree, only a few inches away from Jeff. Masky's legs were crossed at the ankles, and Hoodie rested his head on Masky's thigh.
Offender was sitting at the edge of the lake, dangling his long legs in the water, staring down at his reflection. Liu sat beside him with his legs crossed.
Jeff was pulling out pieces of grass and slowly tearing them apart. Jane had her arms over her stomach as she watched the clouds in silence. Liu said nothing as he observed the tiny fish in the lake water. Offender was silent too as he sat in deep thought. EJ was sitting on a low branch in the cherry tree. Ben also lay on the grass, a few meters away from Jane.
Ben lay on his stomach, poking and killing the small and absolutely horrified ants that ran in all directions trying to avoid Ben's long and bony index finger.
"Stupid ants." Ben muttered in slight irritation. "I keep missing."
"I guess that makes YOU the stupid one." Jane stated with a casual shrug.
"Shut up bitch." Ben rolled his eyes.
"Take your own advise, Elf." Jane spat back
Jeff chuckled at Jane's remark, and caught Jane's attention in doing so. She didn't say anything, strangely, she simply smirked.
After a few moments had passed, EJ sighed from the branch above Jeff. "It's kinda boring out here to be honest."
"Yeah... sort of." Liu agreed. "... Only a smidge."
"You usually love it out here..." Jeff said to Liu.
Liu shrugged, not taking his eyes off the pretty little schools of silver scaled fish. "Only when it's raining."
"I feel like my left eye is bulging out of its socket. Or... at least trying to." Masky expressed softly
"Why? Is it swollen?" Offender looked over at Masky curiously.
Masky shrugged. "I don't think so..."
"Let me know if it gets worse, alright..." Offender said, nodding once before turning back to the reflection in the lake water.
Masky looked down at Hoodie. "You really need to wash that mop."
Hoodie shrugged. "Meh."
Jeff sighed again and looked up at the sky. "What do you see Jane...?"
Jane took a second to answer, but when she did, her voice was calm and soft. "... I'm not entirely sure."
"How can you not be sure? You're looking at it aren't you...?" Ben stated loudly
Jane simply shook her head a little. "Not really... I'm just looking at the sky. At the clouds. The bird that flies by every now and then."
Jeff nodded slowly. "Sounds hard."
EJ and Ben snickered. "Everything's too much effort for you, isn't it Jeff..." EJ remarked with a smile behind the mask.
Jeff nodded carelessly, desperately wanting to close his eyes.
