Evan saw a strange scene in front of him.

It was the entire galaxy.

It seemed as though the world he was on had simply faded away. He was just floating in the middle of the beautiful blend of colours. The wonderful colours of the stars and the planets around him. His hands felt around, noticing that the area around him felt soft to the touch, almost like clouds. He can't seem to move from this location, surrounded by fluffy space.

He noticed a tuft of hair. Long, messy and brown. He'd recognise that hair from anywhere. That was Connor's signature messy, brown hair. He was so far away, almost impossible to reach from where he was. He lifted his hand, stretching it out as best as he could as if that could reach Connor.

And suddenly his hand was on Connor's shoulders. His tap on the shoulders made Connor turn around slowly. Before he could face Evan, Evan noticed a loud sound. Someone biting something thick. He noticed that Connor had been holding something colourful and round, still turning tmaround at an extremely slow pace.

Finally, Connor turned and faced Evan completely. Evan could now see this round object, hidden by the shadow that hid the upper half of Connor's body. Connor brought the object towards his mouth, making a loud crunching sound, and then bringing back to its previous position.

Oh.

Evan knew what that was.

That…

That's a bathbomb.

Connor tilted his hand, and released the bathbomb. This caused the bathbomb to fall quickly into oblivion, as if it weighed a million tonnes. Connor stepped out of the shadow, now his full body was into view. His eyes held a dull look, almost terrifyingly so.

He opened his mouth, as something brown stretched out. It inched forward slowly, eventually completely out of Connor's mouth. Evan noticed that the brown was a tree branch. With that realisation, a mixture of green and brown started emerging from Connor's body, his expression neutral as if this didn't bother him at all. Leaves and branches soon sprouted out, soon a whole tree bloomed from Connor's body.

Now he stood in the middle of a field, staring at this tall tree. The sound of rustling leaves filled his ears, as the warmth of the bright setting sun shone behind him. It casted Evan's shadow onto the tree, except that it didn't seem like Evan's normal shadow.

The shadow had empty eyes, tears in the corners of it. It's right arm gripping at it's left, a frown on it's face. Evan stared at this shadow, and then slowly backed away, hearing the loud rustling of grass with each step he took.

This time, he noticed Jared and Alana sitting on the branches of the tree, Jared on his left and Alana in his right. They both stared at Evan quietly, silently. This made him freeze on the spot.

Alana opened her mouth, just a little bit, but her voice was very much soft.

"Friends?" she would ask with a heavy sense of sarcasm, as her eyes stared at Evan with a dull look in her eyes. She was gripping onto the branch she sat on with one hand. The other held a cast.

"You're not my friend," Jared would reply in response to Alana's words, and in one hand he gripped the branch, the other, he held a doll resembling Evan by the throat.

Both continued shouting this at Evan, each time more hurtful to Evan. He covered his ears quickly to block out the horrible words uttered by his fruends, but they weren't blocked at all. They were echoing all around him. He shut his eyes, wishing all these yelling would cease, that he didn't have to go through with all this.

It stopped.

He opened his eyes. The two were now standing in front of him, a few meters apart, both still holding onto their respecting things, a cast and a doll of Evan. He noticed that he was in this white and empty room.

"I," he heard Connor's voice echoed from behind him, forcing him to turn around to face Connor. He noticed that Connor had red eyes, head tilted to the side as those same red eyes glared into Evan's soul, "will never love you."

Evan screamed, louder than he had ever screamed.

And then he woke up.

He sat up abruptly, feeling beads of perspiration flowing down from his face. His breathing was irregular, he was trying his best to breathe. He gripped the clothing in front of his heart, feeling tears in his eyes threatening to fall.

He tried to breathe slower, taking in larger breaths and blinking his tears back. It took him a while, but he managed to calm himself. He glanced towards the window, noticing that his room was still dark with the light of the moonlight shining on him from the window beside his bed. He glanced over at the moon, and saw it's beauty, using it's bright shine as a way to distract himself from panicking.

He then glanced over at the digital clock over on his bedside table, displaying the time in bold, red blocks.

He took a deep breath once more, and exhaled.

A strange, mysterious dream.

The thing he hated about dreams like these is that he could never fully piece them together. He remembered bits and pieces of the dreams, something about red eyes, a tree and a crying shadow, but never the entire story.

Honestly, he had been having these nightmares ever since the bonding session a week ago between him and his four friends. He didn't really know what's causing him to have these nightmares, since he actually liked the little session.

He remembered, today was a Saturday. In the afternoon, he'd have to go visit Doctor Sherman about this. Hopefully, he could talk about this to get rid of it. It honestly annoyed him that he'd have nightmares remotely related to such a fun day.

He groaned, and stuffed his face into his pillow, annoyed that he'd have to try to fall asleep while listening to the deafening silence.

—————

Evan was awake. His hair was messy, his mouth was dry, and he still felt extremely lethargic. Just lifting himself off the bed was troublesome enough. He could hear his mom running about the house to find something.

He moved his legs over to the side of the bed, feeling his legs touch the cold floor. He retreated them for a few inches, but then slowly sank them onto the floor, slowly adjusting to the cool temperature.

He stood up from his bed, stretching his arms out and yawning, hearing cracks from his shoulders and elbows as he stretched them. He then slowly walked over to the door, still a bit tired.

He turned the door knob and pushed, seeing his mom just passing by, grabbing her phone off the couch.

"Oh, Evan. Good morning, honey," she calmly called out, as she walked over to give him a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Good morning, mom," he responded, clearing his throat.

She reached into her bag, pulling out forty dollars after ferreting around for a bit, pushing it into Evan's hands as she sauntered her way to the door.

"Please remember to buy some food, Evan. Oh, and Doctor Sherman's appointment."

"Yeah, mom. Bye!"

With that, she left the house. Evan was now more awake, which made him question whatever just happened.

He didn't remember the last time she hadn't looked this peaceful. So, seeing her leave the house relaxed and calm was disorienting. But, he thought nothing of it. If she had a reason to be calm and collected today, then so be it. She finally could relax a bit, which is what she deserved to have.

He then walked back into his room, just wanting to spend the whole day talking to Connor through text and going through Instagram or something. He laid on his stomach, careful about his broken arm, and opened up WhatsApp.

He saw Connor's name, and tapped on it.

Connor had not been on since last night. That's a tad bit strange. Usually Connor would not be online since two in the morning. He actually got a good amount of sleep. Evan felt happy, that Connor was finally sleeping. He figured that Connor wanted to keep his sleep, and so he closed the app.

Now he was just real bored.

Evan ran his hand through his hair, thoroughly trying to think of something to do as he stayed at home.

—————

Evan managed to find this little app. It strangely occupied his time greatly, almost scarily so. Of course, he heated up some instant noodles for breakfast. Yes, it's unhealthy, but he didn't want to talk to delivery person today.

So, before he knew it, it was two o'clock in the afternoon. He took hold of his satchel, placing an umbrella, his keys, wallet and his phone, when he felt his phone buzz.

He turned his phone on, to see messages from Connor.

｛dude sry｝

｛i was soooo sleepy｝

｛omg i feel so bad｝

He felt so bad that he managed to make Connor feel horrible for his good sleep, so he quickly typed a message back to him.

｛No, no. It's okay! Really!｝

｛no, let me make it up to u. anything i can help with?｝

Evan thought about it for a second, before realising a perfect solution. He could ask Connor for a lift. He didn't really want to take the bus to his therapy since he'd have to sit awkwardly next to some strangers and worry about small talk. He genuinely hated small talk.

｛Uh, I have to go for a therapy session today. Maybe you can take me there?｝

｛yea, of course｝

｛be there in 10｝

And so, Evan waited, playing with an application on his phone as he fiddled around with his shirt. He was wearing this white shirt with long sleeves, with the sleeve of his broken arm pulled back to just above the elbow, and jeans, so he would occasionally find himself gripping at the hem of his sleeves.

He heard a knock on the door, which he opened to reveal Connor with a smile.

"Heya," he greeted, giving a bow, "Connor, at your service."

Evan felt his face heat up, but he shook it off, giving Connor a quick hug.

"H-hey there," he greeted back with a smile as he fumbled with the sling of his satchel.

—————

"Hello, Evan," Doctor Sherman spoke, his voice low and deep, soothing to the ear. He clicked his own pen, hovering the tip just above the clipboard, "So how was the last few weeks?"

Evan was staring at the ceiling as he laid down on the leathery chair, staring at the same black lines that covered the ceiling and made the yellowish ceiling look like tiles. He was concentrating on the cross of two line that made a plus sign when Doctor Sherman called his name.

"It, uh, it was great, actually."

"Oh," Doctor Sherman question, but not in a condescending way, more like a genuine curiosity, "how so?"

"Well, um," he started, gulping out of nervousness, "I, uh, I've made a few friends over the past two weeks, a-and they actually like me!"

He ended, hearing the sound of a pen against paper stopping abruptly. He was too anxious to move, so he just wiggled his fingers without breaking them apart, and stared even more intently at the ceiling.

"Oh, you have," Doctor Sherman questioned once again, "that's wonderful, Evan. And how does that makes you feel…?"

"I feel…wonderful," Evan started, recalling the fun time he had over at the Murphy's house, "I feel as if I am happier, more confident, more…"

He stopped. It was great, but to every good emotion, there's the bad ones. Suddenly, he feltall of the awful words spilling out of his mouth.

"…Scared. I'm scared that they'll abandon me, that, um, that I'll be…left behind."

He blinked rapidly, feeling the tears in his eyes and tried his very best not to let them flow down. He hid his arms in his long sleeves, gripping at the hem from the inside.

"No, Evan," Doctor Sherman spoke, his voice now having a hint of pity, "know that your friends don't hate you at all."

"But I can't help it… it's always been that way. I try my best to be friends, but nobody cares. Nobody ever stops to be my friend. They all just pass me by, like I don't exist."

Evan noticed that his vision was blurry from the tears that had been falling down his face. He instinctively raised his hand to wipe the tears away.

"Evan," Doctor Sherman spoke again, this time he was writing something down as well, "I understand how you feel. It's scary to realise that you're being ignored, being abandoned, but you have to trust that your friends are there to help you."

"Even if you don't believe that, they will still be there to love you."

Evan sobbed quietly, nodding.

"Now, I need you to think of something to help you with this," Doctor Sherman added, reaching into the bowl of candy beside him and pulling out two pieces of candy. He then placed them on Evan's chest.

"For example, I have these candies for patients who becomes too sad. Go on, eat one."

Evan reached for the candy. It was in a green opague packaging, but there wasn't any writing on it at all. He took the tiny candy out of it's package. He squeezed it a bit. Soft, with a rough texture. Sugar? He placed it in his mouth. Green apple, nice. He liked green apple actually. He bit into it. Soft and chewy.

"Concentrate on how soft and chewy it is," Doctor Sherman said, as Evan continued chewing. And so Evan did exactly that. He closed his eyes and focused on his jaw moving and the delicious taste of the green apple candy. Before he knew it, he calmed his heart.

"Oh, I feel, um, I feel a bit better. Thanks."

"Anytime you need a piece of candy, just let me know, okay?"

"Okay."

—————

Evan spent an hour, talking to doctor Sherman about how he was feeling. The only thing he didn't talk about was Connor, since that was a tad bit embarrassing to talk about.

Despite that, he learned a lot today. Doctor Sherman was very helpful when it came to helping Evan sort out his feelings. All Evan did was spout about how he felt about his friends, school, family and other personal stuff and Doctor Sherman could magically help him through.

He also told him about the dream, at least, bits and pieces of it that he could still remember. Doctor Sherman told him that it may be a manifestation of all his anxiety, so in order to overcome the nightmares, he'd have to do some soul searching.

He'd also have to remember to bring the letters back next session though, he reminded himself.

He ferreted through his satchel, pulling his phone out and giving Connor a quick text. Connor had asked him to give him a text once the therapy session was over so he could pick him up.

｛the session is over, Connor｝

And he waited.

｛oh okay, be thr soon.｝

He stood there, leaning against the wall, only to suddenly see Connor walking his way over from the left of the building.

He said that he had found this shop which sold these little tree keychains, and he had bought one for Evan. He dug into his pocket and pulled one out. It was a small little bonsai tree in a small brown pot, with the chain connected to the leaves. It looked so very cute.

"Oh my gosh," he squealed, gripping onto the keychain and Connor's hand, looking up at him, "th-thank you so much!"

Connor looked down at his hand, which was being grasped by Evan, and Evan looked down as well. They both noticed what is happening and pulled their hands apart, Evan gripping onto the potted plant keychain.

"Uh, yeah," Connor replied, looking away and very much flustered, "no problem."

They got into Connor's car and sat in silence, while the radio emitted a random song. In Evan's head, he was panicking. He hoped that it wasn't too weird that he went to grab Connor's hands. He really hoped that Connor didn't mind.

Connor was just trying his best not to be even more flustered as he recalled how excited Evan looked as he brought out the keychain, as he held the driver's wheel with a death grip.