Chapter 1

Fuck. It was 11 pm, and I had run out of cigarettes. Fuck. I pushed my chair back and stretched. It could be worse, I told myself and glanced at the big screen on my desk displaying endless lines of code. I blinked, trying to understand what I had done for the last five minutes.

“let attempts = 0:(”

What the fuck did that even mean? I definitely needed more cigarettes if I wanted to finish it tonight. And some beer for good sleep. Thinking about beer made me smile. I got up and strolled towards the door, giving myself a quick self-assessment in the mirror that hung in the corridor. Hoodie and jeans…? Will do, I told myself as I left my apartment, wondering what the weather was outside. It would really suck if it was snowing.

I was lucky; the weather was okay, on the warm side, but still not too hot to bother me too much. I guess it must be late spring, I thought as I walked under the lit street lamps towards the local store just a few blocks away.

Luck was on my side again. Except for the young clerk at the cash register, who greeted me as I entered, the store was empty. There were some good sides to my nocturnal life, and one of them was that you didn’t need to deal with too many people. I grabbed some beer and walked to the counter. If, for some reason, I got hungry, I could order a pizza. I grabbed a few packs of cigarettes and fiddled with my card, keeping my interactions with the clerk to a bare minimum. It seemed like he got the message and kept quiet, only mumbling “Thank you for shopping” when I picked up my stuff and headed towards the door.

As soon as I was outside, I opened the package and lit a cigarette. I took a few deep drags and started to walk home when the dark air in front of me shimmered. Fuck. I only had time to blink before a girl collided with me, knocking me to the ground and landing on me.

“Watch out where you walk, weirdo”

She looked at me with wild eyes before giving a few quick glances around.

“Get off”, I pushed her away and got up.

She was young, sixteen at best, dressed in pink pyjamas. I frowned. It was bad, worse than I had expected, and I didn’t want to have anything to do with it. She crawled to sit up on the pavement, and I glanced at her sobbing and holding something in her clenched fist. I looked away. Fuck.

I knew I should get out of there; she wasn’t my problem. Maybe I could call the cops from my apartment. Not that it would really help, but it would make me feel better. I lit another cigarette; I should leave, but…

“Help me… Someone…please…help me”, she whispered over and over again.

This was the last thing I wanted, but… Fuck. I walked over to her, put my hand on her shoulder, and gently shook her.

“..Are you okay…kiddo?”

She looked at me with wide eyes.

“You… you can see me?”

I frowned. I really didn’t want to be involved in this bullshit again. I had my own life and no matter how shitty it was, it was mine.

“Come”

I helped her get up and led her to a bench. I had no clue what to do with her, but the bench was better than the pavement, so… I sat down and lit another cigarette.

“So kiddo…what happened?”

“You won't believe”, she said quietly, looking at whatever she held in her hand.

I shrugged and offered her a cigarette. She took it mechanically and toyed with it in her hands.

“Smoke, kiddo, it will get better”

Her body tensed, and she looked at me with narrow eyes.

“How do you…”

“Chill out, if you think I am a perv or something, I can go…”

I took my bag and started to get up.

“I am sorry”, she said quietly. “Stay”

She looked at me. Fuck, why?

“Please….”

I sat down, and she lit her cigarette and looked at me. Fuck, it was too late to leave her like this.

“So, what’s next? Shall I call someone or something?”

She shook her head. Fuck. Sure, I could call the cops, but even I wasn’t a complete asshole.

“Wanna crush on my sofa?”

                                          —---------------------------------------------

She sat on my sofa with a glass of water and looked around. It was messy as hell, but still better than a bench in the park, so..

“You are a dreamer..?”, she asked quietly.

I avoided her gaze and lit another cigarette.

“Whatever”, I shrugged.

She tried to smile. Fuck, I could have had a beer now, but I knew it would be a bad idea. Fuck

“You are… This is why you smoke so much and stay awake at night”

She looked at me with teary eyes, and I looked away.

“I …I am sorry… I should..”, she shivered and started to sob.

Fuck.

“I should protect you….”

She broke down in tears. Fuck.

“Not your fault, kiddo, it is what it is.”

“No…. I should…”

I looked away and let her cry. I wasn’t a heartless monster, but I really didn’t want to get involved in this shit more than I had already done.

“What is…your name…?”, she asked quietly.

I shrugged and opened a can of beer.

“Get some sleep, it’s late…”

I got up and grabbed the remaining cans. I definitely needed to get some sleep tonight, so… The girl looked at me with teary eyes and whispered,

“Hana… My name is Hana”

Fuck. I paused at the door to my bedroom and lit another cigarette.

“Ame…”

She smiled, and I shut the door behind me. I sat down on the chair, opened another can, and glanced at the screen. Fuck this shit. I wouldn’t finish the game code today anyway, and if some weirdo missed a chance to fry their brain with another dumb game, the world would be a better place. Not that I cared, but…

I needed a break. I shouldn’t get involved in this shit… But now it was too late. The chances of her having disappeared in the morning with some of my stuff were slim. Fuck.

                                               —----------------------------------------------

I woke up and dragged myself to the kitchen. I had forgotten to prepare coffee yesterday, so my morning sucked more than usual. Especially when I saw her sitting at the kitchen table, still wearing the ridiculous pyjamas.

Fuck. I guess I would need to find her some clothes before I sent her off. She caught my glance and tried to smile.

“I wanted to make you breakfast but…”

Her voice trailed off, and I frowned. Had the shit broken again? I gave the microwave a few good slams and tested it.

“It works.”

I grabbed a pizza from the freezer and put it into the microwave. Pepperoni… If she is vegetarian, tough shit. This wasn’t a five-star hotel.

I made my coffee and lit another cigarette, and the world turned to be a little less shitty. I sat down and we ate in silence.

“Thank you”

She looked at me, and I shrugged.

“What now, kiddo?”

She frowned.

“You are not much older than me”

“So what? I have a job, pay bills, and I can hold my shit together. You not”

She looked down. Fuck. This was a mistake; I really didn’t need crying drama in the morning.

“Have a shower, I will find you some clothes”

I got up and went looking for some clean clothes. It wasn’t difficult. I got all my stuff from Amazon in bulk so that I would have plenty of spare time on my hands. But now she would look as if she was my little sister, wearing exactly the same stuff as I did. Great…. I was tempted to have another beer, but no. I still needed to figure out what to do with her.

                                                                    —------------

“So… I will give you some cash for the way, and you are off?”

Sure, it was late, but it shouldn’t be a problem. At worst, she could sleep on the train station or something….. My morning had nothing to do with the sun or shit like that, but I called the time when I woke up morning out of habit.

There was no reason for letting her stay here any more. I had already gotten more involved than I wanted. I guess I was done with being nice for another few years.

“Ame…”

I avoided her gaze.

“My sister… She got lost there…”

“In the dream?”, I said without thinking.

She nodded and looked down. Fuck, fuck, fuck

“It sucks, kiddo…sorry”

“She is still there”, she whispered.

“Forget it..”

I looked away.

“Look Ame…”

She opened her fist, revealing a pendant with a yellow stone attached to it. The chain seemed to be broken….

“It’s hers…”, she said through the tears.

I sighed.

“At least you have something to remember her….”

She shook her head.

“No… It’s her dream stone….”

Of course, I knew what it was, but I really didn’t want to be involved in this shit again but..

A part of me started to be curious… How could her sister have been separated from it…?

She looked at me hesitantly.

“You are a dreamer… You must have learned how to dream …”

Her voice trailed off.

“You survived for so long, so…you must know how things work there”

“So what?”, I shrugged. “Would you believe me if I told you that you can bring the dream here…? Like they do.”

I tried to chuckle.

“Sure, all this Mahou Shoujo stuff….. You are not the only one who got lost on Reddit for too many nights in a row”

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Note
I wanted to write something for a while but so far every story i started was for some sort of contest or challenge with word limit so i never got a chance to explore this idea fully, until now