Welcome to my next book!!! If you came here from Sunny Side Up, thank you (and if you haven't read that yet, go!!). I promised a new book... and here it is!!! Happy first day of pride month everybody :)))

This book is going to be a little different. First of all, it has much more adult themes (including non-con/rape, which I will obviously put a tw for). It will dig deep into the roots of trauma and mutism caused by trauma.

That being said, I'm not an expert!!! I have google and whatever I remember from AP Psych to go off of. I don't personally have experience with PTSD or mutism, which is another thing that makes this book different from SSU.

Oh, and the title... yeah honestly idk I just wanted to get this prologue out today for the first day of the month (which happens to be pride month 🌈🌈) so its a lil half assed but we can ignore that part 😌🖐

This is going to be separated into 2 distinct acts, Act I will be George's experience and the root of his trauma that causes his mutism, and Act II will be his recovery and his and Dream's budding relationship. Like SSU, it's a dnf book!! Enjoy~ 

TW: mention of alcohol/drunkenness

George's P.O.V.

Everything had been going well. I was living happily with my boyfriend, Cole, and I was making good money as a streamer. Dream, Sapnap, and I had a surge in popularity recently, and my bank account was reflecting that.

Yes, everything had been going well. I was finally happy with where I was in life, living with Cole was like a dream come true. We made the perfect couple.

~

"C'mere, Kitten!" Cole called. I trotted into our bedroom, grinning at the movie up on the tv. "Wanna watch?"

"Of course! Thank you~" I climbed into bed next to him, tucking into his side with a soft sigh.

Cole and I had started dating maybe two months ago. We first met at a cafe- I know, how cliché! He bought me a coffee, and we sat in the sticky booth and talked about ourselves.

I learned a lot about Cole, how he was fresh out of college and working at a local tech company. He learned that I was a streamer- but nothing too into detail. By the end of the hour, he had asked me if I ever wanted to do this again, and of course I said yes.

The next time I saw Cole was back at that same cafe, not a week later. He was dressed neatly, with a neat button up shirt and sleek black pants. I wore a bluish, skin tight top with a white skirt. He complimented me, made me feel pretty. Like I was worth something. More than just regular old George.

We started dating that day, a sweet, romantic fling that we both wanted to keep up. He ended up moving into my apartment after a month of us being together. It was almost too good to be true.

Well, it turns out it was too good to be true. It only took us two months to start to lose it.

It happened slowly, over time. Cole started to have a shorter temper with me. He was impatient and started going out to the bars at night, sometimes coming home drunk late at night, other times not coming home at all. Cole was an angry drunk, and sometimes he got a little rough before passing out on the couch.

I always breathed a sigh of relief once he was out. I guess this might've been my first sign that this relationship was doomed.

Oh, if only I could've listened to that voice in my head, the one expressing doubts, I could've avoided all this. I could be off living the same life as before I met him- as if it had never even happened.

If I could go back in time and have a do-over, I would've never accepted that coffee. I would turn down every seemingly innocent gesture Cole made.

Because it would be so much better to keep the horrors out of my life.

Short, but its not even a real chapter so its ok. I just needed to get that really long a/n out of the way so this works well with that

Don't forget to vote, comment, and add this book to your reading lists!! Thanks loves <3