Chapter Text
They were there again. In that same dark hallway. Every night, Dock would have a dream of that hallway. Everything was pitch black. Sometimes they would think they saw a rock or a pebble, but it was always nothing. They didn’t think the dream meant anything, it was way too boring to mean anything. They walked through the dark hall, trying to spot a difference from before. But nothing was there. They made it to the end of the hallway, a dark purple door that was hard to spot if you weren’t right next to it. They opened the door, like always, and woke up.
Their alarm clock shrieked into their ears as Dock’s eyes opened for a brief second. They shut their eyes tight with a groan and rolled over onto their back. A hand lazily came up and slid the grey eye mask onto their forehead, pulling their hair out of their eyes in the process. They blinked up at the ceiling, a deadpan expression on their face. The beeping of the clock stopped when Dock threw their hand over it, pressing whatever button it was that turned it off. They kept laying there for a while, before pushing themself up and throwing the blanket off.
They got up, and went through their morning routine. Take a shower. Eat breakfast. Brush their teeth. Get dressed. Leave the apartment. But when Dock opened the fridge to get something to eat, they noticed how empty it was. They sighed and grabbed the milk carton in the back of the fridge. “Guess I’ll have cereal.” They mumbled to themself, mentally adding ‘grocery shopping’ to things to do today.
After pouring a bowl of cereal, Dock sat down at the small table in the kitchen and glanced around. A calendar hung on the fridge, stuck by a magnet. Oh, they noticed, it’s Saturday! Their eyes landed on the sink, filled with dishes. They would have to clean that. The spoon made a clank as it hit the bowl. They looked down at their cereal to see it empty. “Oh.”
A sudden bang of a drum rang out just as Dock got up to add their bowl to the pile of dishes. They were so used to the noise at that point that it didn’t stir any reaction out of them aside from a scowl. They drank the milk left over from their breakfast and set the bowl into the sink. Or as “in” you could get with so many dishes stacked there. More bangs came in quick succession, and Dock sighed and pinched the bridge of their nose. Exasperated, they walked over to the door on the left where the drumming came from.
Without asking, they barged into the bedroom of their roommate, Charlotte. Charlotte told everyone that she was an up and coming rock star. The next miracle to the music industry. In reality, she was a college dropout who liked to perform her new screamo songs in the middle of the night. She wanted to be in a band, but you can’t really play the drums if you can’t afford them. And those three bongos she bought instead don’t count. The two of them had been living together for five years, and while the constant bongo-ing got more tolerable, it didn’t get better.
Dock leaned against the door frame, watching as Charlotte stopped hitting her bongos with drumsticks to look up at them. She giggled at the exasperated look on their face, leaning back in her seat as she placed her hands behind her shaved head. “Good morning, Captain Boring.~” Her voice was scratchy from all the heavy metal she sang. “Hey, that rhymed!” She snapped her fingers. “I guess you could call me the rap god.”
If there was a perfect time to face palm, this would be it. Instead, Dock just laughed and said “At least you waited until I woke up to beat your bongos.” They pushed themself off the doorframe, and sat on a stool next to Charlotte. “Is this character development, Scream Queen?”
…
They both burst out laughing. It slowly devolved into an occasional snort, as Charlotte set her drumsticks down on the floor. She lightly punched Dock in the shoulder, the mood having turned playful. With one last giggle, she leaned forward and rested her head in her hands.
“So, do you have work today?” She asked before coughing into her elbow. She reached for her water bottle, covered in stickers that were either destroyed by water or boredom. She popped it open, then scowled when she realized it was empty. She tossed it back on the floor and waited for a response.
“Nah, the Big Man gave me the weekend off. Kind of stupid of him to do though, weekends are when the bar is busiest.” Dock replied, shrugging.
“So what’s the plan, Big D- wait no. What’s the plan, Docktor?” Charlotte sputtered, holding in a laugh.
Dock’s eyes went blank, their mouth open in pretend shock. They stared at Charlotte, looking directly into her eyes.
“...”
“Okay bye.” Dock said as they got up, closing the door on their way out. They could hear loud laughter from behind the door as they walked back to the kitchen.
They briefly went into the bathroom to brush their teeth, and looked at themself in the mirror for a bit too long.
They entered their room and closed the door behind them. They walked over to the wardrobe they kept most of their clothes in. It was short, but long. It doubled at the bed stand that the annoying alarm clock rests upon. Dock opened the drawers and got dressed for the day. A simple white turtleneck and some black pants.
Walking out the front door, Dock took a key from their pocket and locked the door behind them. The fresh air was nice on their face. Their almost-mullet blew slightly in the breeze. Their boots clicked on the ground as they went down a flight of stairs to the next floor of apartments. When they reached the bottom, they saw an old woman looking out at the town by the railing.
“Good morning Martha, why are you standing out here?” Dock asked, jogging up to her and joining her in looking at the town.
“Hello Doctor, I’m just enjoying the view.” She replied, her voice sounding exactly like what you would imagine an old woman sounding like.
“I’m not a doctor, my name is just Dock. Like at a beach.” Dock responded, in a tone indicating that this wasn’t the first time this had happened.
“I’m going to divorce my husband. I’m telling him today.” Martha suddenly said, ignoring Dock.
“...Okay Martha.” Dock said before promptly leaving. They continued down the steps until they reached the ground level. The sky was bright and blue, and faint music could be heard from all directions. It sounded happy and peaceful. It gave them a pip in their step as they walked.
The first place they walked through was the apartment complex’ parking lot, which was half full. Many people had already left for work. Dock didn’t have a car. They used to, but then it broke one day on the way home from a fencing lesson. They didn’t care to repair it.
In the parking lot was a group of teens, sitting on the curb and chatting. Dock walked up to the group. They like to make a habit of talking to anyone they see, unless they seem in a hurry. The teens looked up at them, awkward or annoyed looks on their faces. They didn’t know any of them.
“What is it?” One of the sitting teens asked. They had short black hair and an all black outfit. “Are we parked illegally?” They pat the ground a few times to highlight their joke, as their friends laughed harder than was needed.
“That was kind of funny, I’ll give you that.” Dock said, nodding once with their hand on their chin. “I haven’t seen you before. First time in the lot?” It was true, they hadn’t seen any of them before. And they knew a lot of people.
“Use your eyes, stupid. We come here everyday!” Yelled a standing up teen, their voice angry and loud. They had long blonde grunge-ish hair, and wore a t-shirt for a band no one’s heard of. They looked down at Dock with a scowl. They seemed to like yelling.
“HA! Maybe you should get glasses for your stupid eyes!” Laughed out a boisterous teen, who gripped a scuffed skateboard and had a confident smirk on their face. They had dyed red hair that was shaved on one side, and wore a torn leather jacket.
“You’re the newby, not us! We haven’t seen you around before, loser!” Said another teen, this one being very obviously a scene kid. They had big pink and black hair, and wore a Hello Kitten t-shirt with a long sleeved shirt underneath.
“To be fair, we usually come later in the day. So maybe they just usually have work before we get here?” A shy kid said quietly. They seemed nervous around everyone, and they were way younger than the rest. Probably a younger sibling that someone was forced to bring along. The teens stopped barrating Dock to look at the kid, the silence filled with uncertainty.
Suddenly, the mood changed. The teens nodded in agreement, one even mumbling “That makes sense.” under their breath. While Dock expected them to brush of the kid or yell at them, it seems they all listen and are careful not to make them feel bad. The loud blonde teen looked at Dock, this time without a scowl.
“The little guy said it best, we usually come here in the afternoon. But Scotty-” the skater teen casually raised their hand. “And their brother got kicked out of the house, so we decided to meet up earlier.” The blonde teen said, leaning their elbow on the black haired teen’s head, earning a shout of protest from said teen.
“Ah-” Dock said awkwardly. “Okay then, I’m just gonna go.” They pointed to the exit of the parking lot with their thumb. The scene kid snickered and made a shooing motion. Dock took that as their cue to leave.
They walked a few blocks, saying hi to people and resisting the urge to stop at cool shops. They stopped at a park, spotting an old man sitting happily on a bench. Dock walked over to him, being careful not to trip over his dog that was laying on the ground in front of him.
“Uh, hey Bill. How’s it going?” They stood in front of the old man, left of the dog. They didn’t want to sit down, seeing as they wouldn’t be there for a while.
The old man smiled, a smile so full of life that it seemed impossible for someone so old. “I love my wife so much!” Bill said gleefully, gripping his cane. Dock responded with a nervous chuckle, but he didn’t notice.
Dock quickly left, and talked to a few more people who were in the park. One of them even had a cat, and they were lucky enough to pet it. The park itself was simple enough. It had the shape of a circle, with a tree in the middle surrounded by orange and yellow flowers. A path cut through the park on either side, and circled around the tree in the center. There were six benches in the park, three on each side. It was a rather small park, when you think about it.
Stepping off the grass, and back onto the path, Dock made their way across the street and to the grocery store. It was a bit small, but to be fair, the town wasn’t very big. Grabbing a shopping cart, they pulled out their grocery list. They kept it in hand as they browsed the isles. They grabbed a carton of eggs, and carefully set it down. They spent a minute or two deciding on what type of bread to buy, before settling on whole wheat. They got some cheese, both a block and a bag of shredded cheese. They took crackers, wine, fruit, meat, and a milk jug.
They walked up to check out, and placed all the items in their cart onto the moving bit. Dock waited patiently as the employer scanned each item, taking out their card as they waited to pay.
“That’s gonna be $62.32.” The employee said in a dull voice. Dock swiped their card as the worker finished putting the last item into a bag. They wrote their signature and took the bags from the employee’s outstretched hands. “Would you like your receipt?” They asked in the same dull voice. Dock shook their head. They smiled at them, and left the store with two bags in hand.
Not much else happened to Dock that day. They got back home and put away the groceries. Charlotte had left to god knows where, giving them the chance to snoop around a bit. They didn’t find much though, Charlotte didn’t really keep secrets. So Dock spent the rest of the day doing what adults do when they have free time, hitting stuff with a sword. Scratch that- they weren’t exactly hitting stuff, and it was a fencing sabre, not a sword. They were just practicing fencing. Alone. And if Charlotte notices a missing plate in the kitchen, no she didn’t.
Finally, it was night time. Charlotte had gotten home a few hours before, and had luckily gotten tired of smacking her bongos 30 minutes in. Dock was in the bathroom, brushing their teeth before going to bed. They could swear that something about their reflection was different. Maybe their eyes were slightly darker? But as soon as they thought that, they realised how weird that was. Of course their eyes aren’t darker, it’s probably just the lighting.
Exiting the room, Dock was pushed aside by Charlotte as she zoomed into the bathroom. They were used to it by now. She was either going in there to cry in the shower about something sad that happened in her favorite TV show, or she was going to take her second shower of the day to wash off all the paint. If there was one thing Charlotte was good at, it was painting. And while she was good at painting, she was even messier at it. Not that Dock really minded, they thought the paint stains on the shower floor looked cool. But they still always had to tell her to clean it up after, since they didn’t want the landlord on their backs.
Dock just smiled and shook their head, walking back to their room. The room was mostly barren, aside from their bed, dresser, desk, and a few odd posters. They didn’t really know what the posters were for, but they liked them anyway. They had five posters scattered on the walls. There was one of an angler fish swimming in a castle, one of a dragon head mounted on a wall, one of abstract shapes, one of bright colors and funny faces, and one that was just a simple eye on a black background. They found them at a comic shop by the park over the last few years.
They subconsciously played with the collar of their turtleneck, before realising that they should go to bed. Dock changed into their pajamas, a large sweater with a sideways moon on the front, and a pair of socks that are way too big. They turned off the lights and got into bed, grabbing the eye mask on the bedside table. They pulled it over their eyes, and all they saw was darkness. And after a minute of silence, they fell asleep.
When they opened their eyes, they were in the dark hallway again. But this time, there was fog? A strange vaguely purple fog spread across the floor, not thick enough to cover anything up, but thick enough to make Dock’s feet a bit harder to see. They walked through the hall carefully, keeping an eye out for anything. This was weird. The dream never changes. They made it to the door at the end of the hallway, and opened it like normal. They walked through the door, and woke up.