The Withering-Dreamnotfound {Sequel Out Now!}

Sweet Dreams

Dream wakes up to the sound of clanking metal outside his window. He stretches and smiles as he realizes he's in his own bed again. After a few days of traveling, Dream and his friends finally made it home last night. He slept like a baby now that he was in his own bed again. He could smell his mother's fresh bread from the other room which pulled him out of bed. He slipped into his clothes for the day, completing his look with his signature green hoodie.
Sapnap was already in the kitchen, talking to Dream's mom. His bump on his forehead was a lot smaller. In fact, it was barely noticeable. His black eye was also almost completely healed with only a thin black line still under his eye. When he saw Dream walked in, he smiled warmly. "Good morning."
          Dream stretches as he says, "Good morning, Nick."
"Are you ready for today?" Sapnap asks.
Dream grabs a plate and cuts himself a slice of bread. "Yeah. For the first time ever, I know what I want to do." Today was his big day. It was the choosing ceremony. And after meeting Rose and her friends in the desert village, he knew exactly what he wanted to do. He quickly ate his food, then followed Sapnap outside.
It felt so nice for the boys to be home. They had missed the other townsfolk as well as the simple lives they once had. Dream saw everything so differently now. He appreciated all of the little things. Every blade of grass. Every songbird. Everything. He took a deep breath of the clean air as he let his body relax.
"I think there's someone waiting for you in the woods." Sapnap points towards the meadow. Dream squinted his eyes and saw George leaning on a tree, admiring an apple in his right hand. "Don't keep him waiting!" Sapnap says, shoving Dream towards the meadow. Dream shoves his hands into his hoodie pockets as he walks through the flowers towards the trees.
When George noticed him, he began smiling uncontrollably. "Hey there, stranger."
"Hey," Dream whispers, admiring the way George looked. When they had arrived the night before, Sapnap's dad had said how cool George's arm scar looked. George took the compliment and became a lot more confident in the way it looked. Now, he was wearing a short-sleeved blue shirt. The sun was in just the right spot to reflect a beautiful golden color onto every strand of George's dark hair. His eyes were intense, yet so gorgeous. George just had a happy glow surrounding him.
George tilts his head. "Are you ok?"
Dream smiles. "I'm perfect." He then looks down at George's left wrist that had a cast around it. "Is it broken?" He asks.
George looks down at his hand. "Yeah, and I hurt it worse when I shot my bow after the bones shattered. Thankfully, the medics were able to fix me up. In a few months, I'll be back to bowing." He continues admiring the apple in his hand. "Once I'm healed up, you gotta let me shoot an apple off of your head."
"Seriously?" Dream says, giggling to himself.
George smirks. "What, you don't think I can do it?"
"No, no. I trust you," Dream says. "It's just freaky to be shot at." They stand together in comfortable silence for a few moments before Dream asks, "How is Cat liking his new home?"
"He loves it at our place!" George says. "He snuggled up with me last night. He wasn't you, but it was still nice to have something in my arms, I guess."
"Nothing beats my snuggles!" Dream teases, making George giggle. "Hey, did you ever give Skeppy your book on Bad?"
"I did! He's already read the first few entires. In fact, he asked if we could become pen-pals. He really liked my writing." George kneels down and places the apple into his bag. "Hey Clay?"
"Yeah?" Dream answers.
"Thank you." George grabs Dream's hands. "Thank you for everything. This whole adventure really opened my eyes. I feel different now. I feel stronger than before. When you promised me that I'd make it back alive, I didn't believe you. But here I am with you by my side." George lays his head against Dream's chest. "I want it to always be like this."
Dream holds George's head against him and whispers, "It will be."
"DREAM!" Sapnap yells from beyond the meadow. "WE GOT TO GO, MAN! IT'S ALMOST TIME!"
Dream let's go of George and takes a step back. "I guess I better go."
George nods. "Yeah. I'll see you at the ceremony." George starts to walk away, but Dream grabs his arm, stopping him. He pulls George back and gently plants a kiss on his lips. George melted, feeling at home in Dream's arms. They both felt different at that moment. It was the first time they could relax while holding each other. Had it not been for Sapnap, they could've stayed there for hours. Remembering his friend was waiting for him, Dream breaks away from George. They say a quiet goodbye before finally splitting off in opposite directions.
As he caught up to Sapnap, he heard him mumble, "Y'all are adorable."
Dream smirks. "I thought you thought we were gross?"
"Don't tell him I said this, but he's kind of cool," Sapnap admits. "He was on fire when he was shooting those wither skeletons! And he still managed to get in one last shot AFTER he broke his wrist! That's badass! I wouldn't have been able to do that." Sapnap smiles. "Maybe, he's not as bad as I thought he was."
"Well, I'm glad you like him because I have a feeling he's going to be around for a while," Dream says.
"Oh hey! Did you hear that my dad is going to unite the two villages?" Sapnap asks excitedly. "While we were gone, they already started mapping out an easier path between here and there. How cool would it be to just have one giant village going up the side of this massive hill?!"
"That'd be great!" Dream says. "We'd all be able to hang out a lot more!"
Sapnap nods. "I never thought in a million years that I'd be so excited to spend time with a friend group. But I am genuinely happy that we have each other."
"And don't forget, you've got Rose," Dream teases.
Sapnap blushes. "Yeah. Yeah, I do." He laughs. "I still can't believe you were going to do all of that on your own."
"Yeah, looking back, I'm glad my best friend, a muffin, and a pretty cute guy followed me out there." Dream looks over and notices that the villagers were setting up chairs in front of a small stage. "I should probably get changed into something nicer."
"Yeah, me too," Sapnap agrees. Dream looks at his outfit and realizes that it's the same clothes he had been wearing the whole time they were gone. He must've collapsed into his bed last night.
Sapnap breaks away from Dream to head off to his own place to change. Dream followed his lead and walked back to his house. He dug through his closet, attempting to put together a nice outfit. He had shirts spread out all over the place and multiple pairs of pants on the floor as he began to feel overwhelmed. He didn't know why he wanted desperately to look good for the ceremony. Just a few weeks ago, he couldn't care less about picking his job, so why was he panicking? He couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Dream's sister, Lisa, walks by his room, but quickly walks back to his doorway after catching a glimpse of the room. "Dude, what did you do in here?"
Dream flings himself onto his bed, bouncing a little as his bed supports his weight. "I don't know what to wear."
Lisa giggles. "Since when do you care what you look like?"
Dream sits up and rubs his face. "I don't knoooow," he whines.
Lisa gasps. "Does it have to do with that guy you were with last night?!"
"Which guy?" Dream mumbles. "There were four guys with me last night when we got back."
"Um, I don't know, maybe the cutie with the dark hair that you KISSED?!" She smirks at him, her eyebrows high as she waited for an answer.
Dream scoffs. "You're so annoying."
"Do you want my help looking good or not?" She asks impatiently.
Dream sighs. "Please?"
Lisa picks up a white button-down shirt and shoves it into his arms, along with a light green shirt and his nicest pair of jeans he owned. "Put the white shirt over the green one and keep it unbuttoned. Oh, also, roll up the sleeves. I think that guy will like it." She winks as she walks out of the room, leaving Dream to get dressed. He does exactly what she says and looks at himself in the mirror. Dream was so thankful that Lisa helped him. He felt great about the way he looked. He completed his outfit with a pair of white canvas shoes and ran some hair wax through the mess of hair on his head. It was messy, but after messing with it for a little bit, it looked like a good messy.
Out of his window, Dream could see people beginning to take their seats in the crowd. In the very front row was Sapnap who was laying on four chairs. An older woman was yelling at him to move, but he wasn't budging the slightest bit. Dream laughs as he walks outside and towards them.
The older woman was pouting. "Young man, you can't just take up all of the seats."
Sapnap shifted his position to better face the woman. "Look, lady. These seats are reserved for the guys who killed the Wither, ok? We went to hell and back to save your behind. Let us have these seats."
The woman's pout becomes a glare as she stares him down. "Fine. But if I hear you use that excuse to get anything else, we are going to have some issues." She then walks to the other side of the seating area to find a free chair. Sapnap snickers knowing he won the battle.
Dream laughs beside him. "Was that necessary, Nick?"
Sapnap sits up but keeps his legs covering two of the seats while he draped an arm over the third seat on the other side of him. "Yes. Yes, it was. Today is a big day and I promised Bad that I'd get the best seats!"
Dream then spots Bad and Skeppy not too far away from the cluster of chairs, as if Sapnap made him appear by saying his name. They were looking around, probably trying to find Sapnap. Dream, being the giant he is, was able to wave his arms above his head to get their attention. Skeppy notices him first and smiles as he drags Bad along behind him.
Sapnap moves his legs as both of the boys sit down. "How are you feeling?" Bad asks.
Dream sits down in the last seat Sapnap was saving. "Amazing. I know what I'm doing. Skeppy, did your village give you a job assignment yet?"
Skeppy shakes his head. "They told me that I can wait another year since I was gone. Until then, I'm staying with my parents for a while. I really hope our villages fully unite because I love that you get to pick your job here. Maybe that'll be the rule when it's my turn."
"If you could choose, what would you do?" Sapnap asks.
"I'd become an enchanter!" Skeppy's eyes lit up as he began telling them about his plan for the future. "Since I have a year before I have to start working, I want to tale that time to build an enchantment table for our villages and learn the language written in the book. By the time I actually need to start working, I'll already be a professional!"
As Dream listens to the guys' chat, he feels two arms slowly wrap around his neck. He looks over his shoulder to find George smiling at him. "I think you're in my seat."
Dream nervously laughs as he stands up. "Yeah, I should probably go figure out where I need to be for this thing."
George reaches out and squeezes Dream's hand. "Good luck."

It took a little bit of looking around, but Dream eventually found where the other people his age were all gathering. Sapnap's dad, Thomas, was organizing everyone by their first name so that the ceremony would flow better. Dream takes his place between a girl named Bailey and a boy named Devin. Thomas walks by Dream and stops. "You're in the wrong spot, my boy."
"But my name is Clay?" Dream says awkwardly.
Thomas pulls Dream away by his shoulders and pushes him behind Devin and in front of someone that Dream had forgotten the name of. "Last I checked, your name was Dream." Thomas winks as he walks away.
Thomas starts the ceremony off by thanking everyone for coming to the ceremony. He said a quick history about the founders of the village which Dream tuned out. He had that speech practically memorized because his parents always made him go to the ceremonies. Thomas then gestures for all of the 20-year-olds to join him onstage where 13 chairs were set up for the 13 people, ready to pick their job. Dream didn't feel too nervous, but his leg was bouncing furiously. It was something he'd never done much before, but when his eyes drifted over to George, he saw that his leg was bobbing as well. Dream smiled to himself, realizing he got it from him.
Having a name that started with "D" meant Dream didn't have to wait long before it was his turn. In his village, it was customary for the person choosing their job to give a speech. Of course, Dream didn't give any thought to writing one. He'd improvise as he always does. Once it was his turn, he walked to the lectern on the stage as he waited for the crowd to quiet down. He clears his throat, then begins speaking. "Three weeks ago, I had no idea what I was doing. I wasn't really good at anything. I mean, I kind of knew how to swing a sword. Maybe I could climb trees? Let's just say I didn't really know what to do. I grew up around people that knew what they were doing and where their life was going. I thought that I wanted that. I thought I wanted to try and plan every detail about my future. But, with the help of some friends, I realized that I don't need to have all of the answers. I also learned that I don't need to pick a job that makes me miserable." He looks at Thomas. "If you'd let me, I'd like to become a warrior for the village. I want to protect everyone from any threats that may arise."
Thomas thinks for a moment, then shrugs. "I don't see why not!"
Everyone begins to cheer as Dream takes his seat. In the front row, his friends were hooting and hollering, not caring about the people giving them weird looks. As the next person went up to give their speech, they quieted down, but excitement radiated off of them. Dream was excited too. Today marked the first day of the rest of his life. And if he had those guys behind them, how bad could it be?

———
Word Count: 2624

That's the story! I hope you guys enjoyed it. The final chapter of this story is a quick thank you as well as a teaser for the next book, "The Burning", which is already starting! Go give the first two chapters some love! 💕

Published: July 16th