Running Out of Time

Chapter 20 - Life Is A Daydream (And I'm Having A Nightmare)

Angelica had run off to pretend her boyfriend was still a secret and Eliza had yet another lunch date scheduled, it was a bit too much for Peggy to keep track of. Rather than spend the day alone she took up the task of helping Hamilton finally move in with Laurens. She knew it all for what it was, it was something that came with being a very best friend. Peggy had been keeping a sneaky eye on Hamilton even though she hadn't yet told Angelica that she would be doing it. So far, everything had been going just fine. She was glad that, at the very least, things were okay.

Now, the three of them were just hanging out. They had finished everything they had to do for the day. Finally, it was time to relax. Peggy couldn't help but notice how Laurens seemed to be happier than he had been before Hamilton was home. It was nice to see him genuinely happy.

--

It only took about three days for the current situation to feel as if that was the way it always had been. It was this way for seemingly everyone other than Alexander. His days felt just a little bit longer than he knew Laurens' was. Of course, Hamilton still wasn't ready to admit anything. He felt that he could hold on to some small secrets still. He didn't think it was anything that Laurens would notice anyway.

Although they had only spent a few days with each other, it had still been a good time. Hamilton wasn't about to forget the idea that, at any time, he might lose Laurens so he was determined to try his best to have fun. Hamilton didn't want to let anything hold him down, he had always been this way.

--

Hamilton opened his eyes. He wasn't exactly sure about where he was. Clearly, he was outside. He stood in the middle of the street and looked around. It was all dusty and the sky was grey. The most off putting thing was how empty everything was. Just up the street he could see what once had to be Times Square but nothing seemed to be working. As Hamilton made his way towards the square, he began to notice more. Most of the buildings didn't have windows but there didn't appear to be glass in the streets. Some of the buildings were completely empty or didn't have doors, others were just destroyed. Hamilton wasn't sure what had happened but he didn't think it would be too hard to figure out.

He stopped in the middle of the square. It seemed as though the whole city was still and silent. There wasn't even a breeze. He heard some shuffling coming from one of the buildings. He couldn't determine what any of them used to be but it didn't really matter. Although Hamilton felt that it was a terrible idea, he walked closer to the building in hopes of getting some answers.

Of course, Hamilton was ignoring the biggest question. What was he doing here? Hamilton didn't want to think about it, he knew this didn't feel like the ways things usually worked. He couldn't have died. It didn't seem like it would have happened and, besides, that was something the usually remembered.

Slowly, Hamilton made his way through what was left of the door. He couldn't hear anymore sounds but did his best to move through the space. It was hard to determine what exactly was all over the place. It seemed to be a combination of empty clothing racks and chairs.

Just before he reached the back of the room, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. At first he had hope that it might have been another person but he wasn't disappointed. The small string attached to his finger wasn't something that was there before. It stretched back into the street and down the road. Hamilton decided to try to find the end.

It felt as if he had been walking for hours but finally he seemed to be getting close. He didn't know what he was expecting as he rounded the corner. His heart fell flat as he looked at the end of his string. It was nothing. The string stopped dead in the middle of the street. Hamilton wasn't sure what to feel. For some reason, it felt as if he were going through a lot and this was the end. It felt like the end of the world and he was all alone.

--

A sense of relief came over Hamilton as he looked and saw Laurens next to him bit had just been a dream. What Hamilton didn't know was that Laurens had just had a very similar dream. Neither of them knew what it meant but they were pretty sure they didn't want to talk about it.

Laurens had something like a knot his stomach. He couldn't determine if it was a good thing or a bad thing, all he knew was that it was something. Laurens was still pretending to be asleep, he found that it usually made Hamilton get a few more hours of rest. For one reason or another, Laurens felt as though his time with Hamilton meant more than ever. Of course, it could have been the idea of a ring in the back of his mind making him think that.

--

"Angelica, I'm telling you, he's fine," Peggy explained. Both she and her sister had been woken up in the middle of the night by their own strange dreams. They decided not to go back to sleep right away, instead they thought it a good idea to have some juice.

"You're sure?"  Angelica wasn't convinced. She knew that Hamilton would be trying to hide. She knew that she would get around to telling him to tell Laurens at some point, she figured that it could ease things a little more. Angelica knew Hamilton was just a little stressed about the fact that he had been in a coma. She also knew that he wouldn't talk about it unless prompted, this appeared that it would become her job.

"I'm sure," Peggy propped her legs up on the chair she was sitting on. Neither her or her sister had actually said anything about their dreams but Peggy knew. Something the sisters collectively did every time was pick a specific type of juice to label as the bad dream juice. It may have seemed a little odd but it made them feel better.

Peggy listened as Eliza made her way down the stair and towards the kitchen. Eliza wasn't as confused as expected when she saw her other sisters already awake. That was when the three of them caught on at the same time. Something clearly wasn't right if they had all just had a dream that was enough to wake them.

Of course, it could have been a coincidence but that wasn't likely. Peggy was usually the only one who woke up from dreams. If the other two did they would just go back to sleep. The strangest part was that they discovered that the dreams had all been practically identical. Peggy couldn't help but think that something much bigger was happening.