Eviternity: Book 1 Jerry's World

Five

                            Morty

The cramped room that Morty and Rick shared had only one cot and even though it was too small for Rick, the tall man refused to sleep on the ground. A long time ago, Morty had suggested they shared the bed. He'd meant taking turns, but Rick had thought that Morty meant sleeping together and after the cussing out he got, he never mentioned it again.

Back and hip aching from being pressed against cold concrete for so long, Morty stood up and made a small sound of fear when his vision went black around the edges. Must have stood up too fast, he thought, glancing over at where Rick was curled up on the cot, still sleeping.

Morty crept carefully across the room, unwilling to wake up Rick, and walked down the short hallway to the 'living room', if it could even be called that. His bare feet making no sound on the cold floors, Morty made his way to the front door and collected the mail put into the small box by the outside doorframe. He didn't bother looking through the few slips of paper in his hands. Rick always took care of the ration cards and Morty wouldn't know what to do with them anyway.

He laid them down on the arm of the love seat and walked to the 'bathroom'. Calling it a bathroom seems a little too generous to Morty, because the space has no bath and no room. It's really just a one by one space with a hole in the floor and a curtain for privacy.

After finishing with his morning piss, Morty walked back out and headed to the small chest that held their rations. There was a little more than usual, because they'd still had some of Jerry's ration cards and since Jerry wasn't here to eat, Rick had let Morty have it, ruffling his curly hair and saying in his burp-interrupted speech that Morty could go get what he wanted.

He'd gotten two bits of chocolate, an orange, and a cup of clean water. Rick had looked surprised when Morty said he wanted to share.

With chocolate now nothing more than a memory, Morty took out the tough bread and malformed fruit that was standard rations. The familiar clunk of worn soles on concrete alerted Morty to the fact that his grandpa was awake, and he held the heel of bread up for Rick to grab.

"Mornin' Morty."

"Good morning, Rick."

Same greeting as always. Same morning as always. Morty grabbed his boots and pulled them on, lacing them up and hoping that the frayed laces would last one more day. He laid his hand on the doorknob when he suddenly remembered that there was no reason to leave. He didn't have to work at the glitter factory anymore.

Letting his hand fall to his side, Morty walked slowly to the love seat and sat on the edge of the arm, trying not to get to close to Rick, who sat in the middle with his long legs spread. "Um... Rick?" He only got a grunt in response. Morty decided to take that as a go-ahead. "Since we don't have to have jobs anymore, wh-what do we do with our day?"

"There is no 'we', Morty, gotta go ahead and make that known. And I don't particularly care what you do. Go do drugs, get-" he burped loudly, "- blackout drunk, find a boyfriend and get laid, I don't care so long as it doesn't affect me."

Morty wrung his hands together. He heard Rick's words but his mind was still unraveling their meanings, panic slowly pooling in his chest. Rick wanted him to leave the house. Leave the house without a clear destination or orders. He couldn't do that, didn't know how to do that, didn't know where to even begin doing such a thing. His breathing quickened and his vision blurred. He felt a wet heat roll down his cheeks and realized he was crying.

Rick put his legs together and sat up straight, making pointless hand movements as he said, "B-B-But I mean, you don't have to, you can just follow me if you want, I was going to go into- urp- town anyway. Doesn't make any difference to me."

Morty sniffed and wiped the snot off his nose with his sleeve. "O-Okay. I wanna do th-that."

Rick rolled his eyes and stood up, acting like it meant nothing, but Morty had lived with Rick long enough to notice the tension that left his shoulders. "Then put your boots on the right feet and let's go. I'm not waiting up on you, Morty."

Face getting hot with embarrassment, Morty unlaced his boots and put them on the correct feet, staggering out the door and after Rick, locking the house behind him and starting to run before his grandfather could get too far away.