Blackthorns and Wild Buttercups (Indefinite Hiatus)

{Birches} - Chapter One

(Knock, Knock)

He stirred in from his rest. However, he refused to wake from the empty bliss that begged him to stay-

(Knock, Knock)

Cory opened his optic, the room was dark but his vision quickly cleared as his eye adjusted to it. Who was up knocking at his door so earl-

(Knock, Knock)

He huffed childishly. He was tired and grumpy, alright?

"Give me a minute!" he called out to the person behind the door. After quickly removing his warm covers and stretching for a few moments he moved to the door unlocking it with the key he had gotten. Unlike the rest of the facility, the employee dorms had key locks unless you specifically asked to stay in one of the ID locked ones which were harder to get a hold of, and usually were meant for employees staying in the dorms long-term rather than for just one night.

Opening the door, he saw Hooper standing there holding a small envelope in his gloved hand, "(yawn) Good morning, Hooper. What's that?" Cory pointed towards the envelope.

"What do ya mean 'Good morning', Cory? It's like 3 in the afternoon!"

"Oh, good afternoon then, Hoop." he said tiredly as he 'eyed' the envelope.

"Wait, what are you-," Hooper noticed what Cory was staring at, "-looking at—oh, yea I almost forgot. Here."

Hooper handed Cory the envelope, "It's your new schedule." he clarified.

There were a few moments of silence as Cory peered at the clock that was hanging from one of the walls in the hallway, "Oh! Um, thanks for bringing this to me Hooper, really."

"No problem, Cory." Hooper replied back. As he turned to make his way down the hallway Cory quickly called out to him, "Wait! Hooper, I'm coming with you. Hold on a sec."

Five minutes pass, Cory returns to the door once again; this time wearing his guard uniform. After locking the door, he walks over to Hooper.

"Took you long enough," Hooper muttered jokingly.

"It was only five minutes, calm it. Mole boy," he quipped.

There was a silence before Hooper began to burst out laughing, a laugh that sounded more like a dying wheeze, "Mole boy?! Is that the best you can come up with, Camera head?"

Cory's face flushed red in embarrassment before he also began to laugh, he needed that.

After they had sufficiently calmed down, Hooper spoke up, "We should probably get going before we both get canned for causing a disturbance."

"Yea, probably." Cory said in acknowledgment.

They walked in silence for a few moments before Cory began to speed up. Noticing this Hooper matched his pace with Cory's, this continued until they were both sprinting down the hallways towards the cafeteria.

Surprisingly, they didn't bump into anyone whilst they ran. Unless you classified the fake potted plants around the facility as 'anyone'.

No, Cory wouldn't let Hooper live that down.

Eventually, the running came to a halt as they reached the cafeteria door. The race was a tie, both individuals a bit salty about the outcome, they got over it after waiting in line for a while.

The cafeteria was much different from the breakrooms, much louder, more people, generally larger, and (his favorite) more food options.

It felt homely here, like that one family reunion he had been to with Uni and another friend, Tommy. The whole event was a bit of a mess with Tommy's family being more on the crazy side, but it was fun. He sighed as he glanced down at his breakfast before taking a bite of his blueberry waffles. He wondered what Tommy was up to; after university, Tommy decided to move away and they hadn't seen him since.

Maybe after this was all over then he could tell him once they met again, he picked up his empty plate and quickly threw it in the trash before sitting back down again, that is, if they met again. Then it would only be him and Tommy...

"No Uni," he remembered. Unconsciously, his lips curled into a frown. Those two words repeated in his head bouncing around in his skull, he blanked, staring off into nothing. A faint ringing buzzed through his ears, it wasn't stopping. It wasn't sto-

A hand grabbed his shoulder pulling him out of his thoughts. In panic, he brought his head up too quickly, making his temples throb in pain for a few moments.

Eyes adjusted, he realized who's hand it was that pulled him away from his thoughts, It was Hooper.

"You alright there?" Hooper asked worriedly.

His thoughts collected, "Yea, I'm alright—just," Cory's mind buzzed but he brought himself out of it, "I had a bit of a rough night, I'm just a bit tired."

Hooper scratched the back of his neck underneath his helmet, "Oh, alright then'."

Once Hooper had finished his breakfast, he got up and began to walk towards the exit. Confused, Cory asked him where he was going off to.

Hooper looked at him a bit dumbfounded, "I'm off to training, aren't you supposed to be going somewhere too?"

Cory tilted his head to the side, now he was even more confused. Hooper sighed in realization, "You didn't read the envelope, did you?"

Cory laughed nervously and nodded.

Hooper turned around, "Well, that's your problem ain't it? See ya, Cory," he waved to Cory without turning back around.

Once Hooper had left, Cory shuffled over to his temporary dorm room and searched for the unopened envelope, quickly finding it hidden under his civilian clothes. Luckily, he had nothing he had to be present for today.

Looking at the schedule a bit further he noticed he also had training planned for him, only his was set for tomorrow afternoon and not today.

Falling down onto the moderately soft covers of his temporary dorm, he sighed.

Might as well head back home for the rest of the day.

After double checking he made sure to grab everything, he walked back into the dorm hallway and locked the door behind him.

Near the entrance of the dorms, was a small deposit box embedded into the wall connected to an ID scanning machine. Pulling out his ID, he inserted it into the machine. After a few seconds, a little light on the side of it turned green and outcame his ID; afterwards, he heard a faint clicking noise as the deposit box unlocked. Quickly, he placed the dorm key inside before gently closing the box's door.

It only took him an hour to get home to his apartment, the car ride there was quiet.

Once he got home, he spent the rest of his day lazing around. Watching TV, eating, playing a few games online, and practicing on his violin.

He finally felt at peace for a bit. Once the clock rested at 11:30 PM, he decided to start preparing for bed.

He fell into a dreamless slumber.

Today was alright.

[To be Continued...]