Often enough, I don’t dream. Or at least, I barely ever remember my dreams as soon as I wake up. Sometimes I can remember pieces of it, but they’re usually things that need a lot of context to them. One time I had a dream that apparently involved string cheese and me going “No! Don’t execute her!”.

I thought it was weird because I don’t even like string cheese.

Last night, though, I thought I had dreamt the worst nightmare of my life. My old ex came to my apartment with her daughter because their house had apparently burned down. The cause was arson, someone else had done it, but Bridgette was in such a state that she couldn’t form a lot of words, just saying she needed to see me.

Then I slammed a door in her face.

Once again, and without dignity, I rose from my spot on the couch with a crick in my neck again. God, I hate sleeping on that thing, but yet it seems I find myself laying there a lot these days.

Today is Sunday, which already gives me the day off from work since only the tellers come in to take the Sunday customers. Us normal employees get the day off so that we can “rest on the last day”, or whatever our crazy boss tells us. Eh, it’s a day off, so who will complain except the tellers.

Fuck those guys anyway. Bunch of complaining egotistical little fucks in their pretty little suits and their pretty fucking “accents” and their pretty–

“Excuse me? Miss Carrolyn?” I heard Millie’s voice in the hall behind the couch.

“Yes? Millie is that you?” Bridgette answered, muffled by a door. If it was that close, and Millie has to knock, then she must have been in the bathroom.

“I, uh, I want to brush my teeth before church, Miss Carrolyn.”

“Church?” I heard Bridgette ask. Oh god, I just remembered how she feels about religion. I better defuse this situation before Bridgette accidentally goes off on my sister. If she cries once because of her, I don’t care what the police begged me to do, I’m kicking her out of this apartment.

“Millie?” I call out from the couch. Ergh, my voice is raspy. Definitely too much yelling last night.

I hear footsteps in the hallway, and Millie pops her head around the corner to see me lazily getting up on the couch, with my hand massaging that annoying crick. “Go and see if Miss Strombi is up, and ask if you can use her bathroom to brush your teeth. Maybe even a shower, if you can. Tell her I’ll wash and bring back the towel later.”

“Okay, Collin,” Millie replied, walking sleepily to the door with her toothbrush and toothpaste in hand. Our parents taught her to keep the bathroom neat and have her toiletries in her room, and she kept that little lesson to today.

So many little lessons she keeps from them. It honestly annoys me sometimes.

“Wait, Millie, before you go,” I lazily got up from the couch, rolling my neck around to get that annoying crick out finally. I walk up close to her and slightly nudge her towards the entrance of the apartment, leaving my hand on the knob first to ask an important question. “I was speaking to Celestia last night when I answered the firemen. I didn’t see her anywhere while they were here, or even after they were gone. Did she go back to my room with you?”

“Uh, yeah, she did. We heard all the screaming and I tried to hide in the bed. She kept saying everything is going to be okay, and asked if there was anything I wanted to do while I waited. I, uh… I kinda grabbed your phone and showed her some youtube videos.”

Okay… Millie knows my phone’s password and usually watches youtube anyways, as I’ve told her that’s the only thing she’s allowed to do on it other than make calls. A check of my phone’s history now and then, she usually sees funny videos that aren’t too raunchy or sometimes an educational video or two. One time she actually tried to look up a how-to video for making a special sort of DIY card for my birthday. It failed, but the idea was awesome, and I was still proud that she showed initiative like that. At her age, I was just playing on the playground and getting bullied by other people, including our parents.

So why did I get a bad feeling about her using the phone now?

“I… guess Celestia liked the cat video? I went to see Katie when she knocked on my door, and I showed her my room and gave her some blankets from the closet. When I came back, she, uh, she was still looking though youtube, but I think when I went to sleep, she played the other apps.”

I stared at the space above her, giving the side wall a deadpan glare. “So my phone’s probably dead this morning then?”

“Probably…”

I sighed. Dammit Celestia, I know you’re excited about seeing things, but give me a break here…

“Just… just go get ready. I’ll see you after church, we need to talk about this whole… situation,” I gestured with my hand back at the apartment, “and figure out where we’re going to do. Uh, do you know where my phone is in my room?”

“She hid underneath the bed while I slept, so it should be there. If I’m not back after 5 minutes because I’m taking a shower, can you get my clothes from my room? So I can just change in there and go, cuz it’s kinda late…”

I sighed again, but not for getting Millie’s stuff. How late was it? “Yeah, sure, I’ll go get it after I put my phone on the charger. And find where Celestia went,” I added.

“Thanks Collin!” she replied with a muted happiness. At least she was the only one cheery this morning. I opened the door for her, and I saw her knock on Miss Strombi’s door before I closed mine. Turning back around, I saw Katie standing in front of Millie’s room in the hallway.

Eyes red and puffy? Yeah, she didn’t have any good sleep. I can’t blame her, it was a rough night on us all.

“Hey, Katie…” I walked up to her in the hallway and crouched down to her eye level, laying a hand on her shoulder. She flinched back when I touched her, I guess she was kinda scared of how I acted from last night. “It’s Sunday. What do you usually do on Sundays?”

“I… I would watch TV in my room, before mom and I go out to eat like all the other Sundays we do…” she hesitantly replied. She looked down at the ground, “I would also play some games if mom needed to do work. Then I would work on homework before dinner…”

Those games are probably all burned down, probably. Including that ‘new game’ I remembered her talking about with Millie, calling it Mario Kart when I turned to listen. She probably has a couple good memories with whatever consoles and games she had, and now that’s all gone.

Shit, the homework’s gone too.

“Was your homework in the fire?” I asked. She twitched when I said fire, that was probably not a good way to approach the subject of last night. She nodded slowly, looking at the floor and closing her eyes, already breathing haggardly as she began to cry for probably the thousandth time. “Well, uh, I guess this time you won’t have to do your homework, right? You have a pretty good excuse for not doing your homework now.”

Katie stared at the floor, but a small smile crept up into her face. “Yeah, but, I still feel bad about not doing it.”

Ugh, I really hate how much we pressure kids these days to be the absolute best in academics. Besides, how are they going to be the best students if our education system isn’t even ranked high? I’ve seen the numbers, I’m making sure to tell Millie how to balance potential and work with how to follow their dreams and enjoy life. C’s get degrees, people, the lowest scoring person to graduate from medical school is still called a doctor.

To be fair, however, I ain’t gonna be a patient for that doctor.

“Ah, don’t be so worried. What’s one homework missing out of plenty in the year? Just keep up with the tests and you’ll pass,” I remarked. “Maybe just study a little bit harder on this lesson to make sure you get it, you know?”

“Okay, Mister Kierkas,” Katie replied, now finally looking up at my eyes. Holy geez, her eyes are red. Make sure you clean them kid, or otherwise they’re gonna be sensitive to everything today.

“Collin,” I heard a voice behind me calling my name. I turned around to see Bridgette covered in a towel, having it wrapped around herself. Aw, c’mon, you had to use one of mine? Okay, first order of business, they’re buying their own things. Also, where did Bridgette sleep last night?

“Katie, I need to talk to your mom for a sec. Do you mind if you could go to the bathroom and wash your face, at least? Gargle some water in your mouth, we’ll get you a new toothbrush later, okay?”

“Okay, Mister Kierkas,” Katie replied. She stepped towards the door, but I held her in my hand for another minute.

“Just call me Collin while you’re here, Katie. Okay?”

“Okay Mist– uh, Collin,” she affirmed.

I let go of Katie to let her step into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Turning back around, I was met with an irritable Bridgette. Well, ain’t this a throwback to the last days of our relationship.

“Today, we’re heading to the thrift store to get you guys some clothes and blankets, then we’ll head to the mall to let the two kids have some fun and eat, Millie helping to cheer up Katie, while we buy whatever we can’t get at the store. I know you’re not wanting for money like I am these days–”

“And yet you have a giant TV in the living room and a decent computer in your room?” Bridgette sassed at me. Hey, no sassing!

“Products of a different time in my life, when everything was almost about to make sense. Besides, I’m going to sell that computer any day now to some teen who wants to play all the video games he wants with it. I’d be much happier with a decent laptop anyway,” I replied, crossing my arms and glaring at the still wet Bridgette.

Normally, a woman who just got out of the shower and is covering herself with a towel that is somewhat small might excite most men. However, with Bridgette, I can’t see her in any way attractive anymore. She might have fixed herself now, and is finally taking care of her daughter instead of wasting her money off and partying with the same group of people I was in, but I just can’t see her the same anymore after we laid everything out for each other.

Plus, being burned out in two very deep yet complicated relationships kinda killed the mood for me for a long time.

“I can pay for clothes and I’ll get a sleeping bag for me while Katie sleeps in the couch, but,”

“Whoa, no,” I stopped her. “That couch is the most uncomfortable thing ever. Seriously, that’s the oldest thing in this whole building, probably, I’ve been needing to throw it out anyway. Tell you what, if you can pay the rest of what I was saving for a futon, than it’s yours for you and Katie to use in the living room whenever.”

Bridgette snorted. “Alright, fine, I’ll pay for the damn futon, now what else do you want to do?”

“Hey, don’t use that attitude here,” I seethed. Was Bridgette reversing back to what she was all those years ago? I don’t remember her being this aggressive since I saw her again two days ago.

Gah, two days ago? Felt like nearly half a year…

“Well what the hell do you want me to do, Cole?! My house just burned down, a lot of important information just… gone!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. “All the photos, gone! All of Katie’s old stuff, gone! All of our clothes, our items, our stuff! All just fucking gone!”

"SO HOW THE FUCK IS THAT MY PROBLEM?!” I screamed back. “Let’s not forget what the police said to me: you couldn’t say anything except my name, and that you wanted to come to me. I’ve told you this before, we are fucking through! I never even wanted to see your face again, and yet, here you are! Suddenly in my life, and when something went wrong, you came crawling back, like all those times all those years ago! You’re 39, when will you listen to me when I say GROW THE FUCK UP BRIDGETTE!”

“WHO ELSE WAS I SUPPOSED TO TURN TO?! My husband is gone, my family is mostly gone because of what they found out about you and me. I don’t have insurance,”

“And who’s fault is that?”

“…And I sure as hell do not hold a grudge against you after what happened.”

I scoffed. “Of course you wouldn’t hold a grudge, because you’re not the one who was taken advantage of when he was 20 years old.”

“Oh, sure, you’re the victim here, when all that happened was your shitty morals getting in the way of how I was raising Katie when you found out about her, because back then you sure were a good little religious boy…”

“And how, when I saw that you were practically neglecting her to the point where I was going to call CPS. I should have called CPS, just so Katie couldn’t have a spiteful, awful littlewhore of a bitch like you!”

“STOP!” a child’s voice yelled, Katie bursting out of the bathroom and suddenly hugging her mother’s leg. “JUST STOP IT! PLEASE!”

While Katie cried into her mother’s towel-wrapped leg, trying to cling to it as if it’ll leave, both Bridgette and I glared at each other, breathing heavily as we regained our air, having expelling it in yelling at each other. With each sob, Bridgette’s body trembled more, while I kept looking between her and Katie.

Finally, I couldn’t take the sight of Bridgette anymore. I stormed into Millie’s room, disregarding how messy the bed was since Millie hadn’t had the time to fix it this morning, like she always does, and grabbed her white frilled-bottom shirt and her jeans and shoes from the closet, before stepping back outside to see Bridgette now hugging the head of her daughter.

I walked beyond them to take the items to Millie, but backtracked to lean into Bridgette’s side, wanting to tell her one last thing.

“We’re going to get some clothes and some blankets. In two weeks, I want you out of here.”

Celestia took her ear away from the wall. She heard enough when Collin gave his ultimatum to Bridgette. She knew that there was some animosity, she figured as much ever since last night when Collin and Bridgette were arguing about where they should sleep, but she never expected Collin to be so angry at his old lover.

What exactly did happen between the two? From what she could gather, it was something about how Bridgette had treated Katie when Collin was 20 years old.

Celestia, once she had her guilty fun in exploring the new device unwittingly given to her by Millie, went back to her world last night to both muse on her findings and to let Twilight rest her magic. When morning came, she convinced Twilight to let her use her magic one last time to check on Millie, since she had a little fondness already growing for the young girl.

When she heard a child crying, she almost blew her cover to try and comfort the child, years of instinct of guiding her students as her own children overtaking her mind for a few moments. When she heard Collin try to comfort the poor child, of which wasn’t Millie, since the young girl’s voice was different than the alicorn remembered, she almost gained more respect for the man.

Almost.

She kept her ear glued to the crack under the door, as she heard every vile and spiteful thing both Collin and Bridgette threw at each other. Once she took her ear away, she glumly lifted her wings and found a spot in the corner of a desk where a large contraption like the TV was placed in the middle of the table, the spot being a good place to hide her golem until she could confront Collin for his horrid actions, slightly justified if they may be, considering what he said about Bridgette.

What sort of man is Collin? He is nice and patient with Celestia, and then can be so cruel and hateful with other people the next moment.

Celestia hoped that Twilight could figure out a way to make a permanent connection without the use of another pony real soon; she had a feeling she would be tied to this broken family for a long while.

Author's Notes:

Please let me know if there's any mistakes in grammar that doesn't look like it's supposed to be the narrative style. Also let me know if there's any information that wasn't clear, there's some things I wanted to clear up and some things i have yet to reveal.

As always, thank you for your support. Let's get this story back into some needed updates and closure, huh?