I'm Right Here

Chapter 4- Friends

When David woke up he was in a soft bed and the room was dark. He could hear far off voices, laughing and talking but too muffled to understand. He sat up slowly rubbing his eyes, and stretching his arms with a yawn. He looked around the room, and leaned back onto his arms to take it in. He was laying in a king size bed with a thick black comforter and the usual white sheets. He reached over to the bedside table and pulled the lamp string, letting warm buttery light flood the room. 

He was surprised by a genuine comfort laying in bed. This felt like his room and he didn't feel out of place for once. It was nice. Everything felt new, but familiar at least. Nothing really caught his eye because he felt like he was used to waking up here, seeing the bookshelf filled with collectables and the shiny silver plaque on his wall made a warm feeling spread from his chest. It took a moment for him to decipher it as pride. He pulled the blanket backs and got out of the bed, walking over to the decorative wall.

He ran a hand over one of the book shelves, looking over the trinkets and collectables. A few pokemon plushies he's always dreamed of getting as a kid made him smile. A ragged stuffed dog that was missing an eye and looked to be a hundred years old sat in one corner almost hidden in the shadows. His smile became sad as he gently picked it up. When him and his siblings had been born, his dad had been late to the hospital because it was storming. But he made up for it by bringing them all presents. David had had this dog since he was born. He's glad that whoever he had become had at least kept it.

He carefully put the dog down and stepped away from the shelf to read the plaque on the wall. Just looking at it made his chest swell and his eyes water. He was insanely proud of this shiny plate. The symbol pressed into the silver seemed familiar, a soft cornered rectangle with a sharp triangle in the middle. In big white bold letters at the bottom it read, YOUTUBE, with the same symbol again. In fine print, again in white, in read:

Presented to

Dathi De Nogla

For passing 100,000 subscribers

There's those names that Lui kept calling him. Did he work for this YouTube thing? All he could remember was it being a new thing when he was in school, but he couldn't even recall what it was. An app? A game? Before he could think about it any more there was a knock on his door.

"Uh, come on in!" David said, turning to the door as it opened. Even more warm light shown in from the hall. A tan Asian guy with a black baseball cap, and long hair peeked his head in. 

"Oh good, you're awake already. Dinner is almost ready if you wanna come on down." The stranger's voice was quiet, and his eyes were warm and dark as they watched David closely, as if waiting for him to panic like he had earlier.

"Dinner? How long was I out for?" David chuckled, crossing his arms. Hadn't it been lunch time when Lui picked him up? The guy stepped more into the room, and leaned against the wall. He was buff as all hell, his zip up hoodie looked like it was hanging on for dear life. But his face looked too kind and calm to hurt even a fly. David had no idea who he was, but for some reason he knew he could trust him with anything.

"A few hours. Lui came to check on you when lunch was done but you were out like a light so we just let you sleep."

"Oh well, thanks. I'm David by the way." David said stepping forward and reaching out a hand. The guy snorted and let out a weird breathy chuckle. David dropped his hand, embarrassed. Right. This guy probably already knew all about him.

"Nah, it's fine. Lui told me this morning that you didn't remember much." He pushed off of the wall and extended his own hand. "I'm Evan. Or, Vanoss. We're coworkers, you could say."