Candace "Candy" Bueller wasn't sleeping well at all, which she noticed she had in common with another tenant in her house. She lived apart from the other person she lived with from time to time. She made breakfast for herself, she made coffee because she liked to, she watched whatever channel she wanted to watch. She lived by herself, and yet with another person. She and her other tenant did not speak, they only stole glances at one another as if it were illegal to truly look the other person in the eye. Perhaps their relationship was uneasy, uncomfortable even. But for some reason, they needed to be together, even in this botched situation, the reason only being that a mother should not, cannot abandon her son. Candace and her son had not spoken in at least two weeks, but so it can be understood, there was no change in her feelings towards him. It takes so much love to let one's child just be, to let them fall and make their own mistakes, but to always be around to pick them up at the occurrence of that fall. Candace was a staple to her loveseat, where her son would sit next to her and they would watch television together. They watched Golden Girls, they watched Pimp My Ride, they watched movies, especially her personal favorite, Little Rascals, and his, which she knew was Freedom Writers, though they would watch Vantage Point, and things of the like. But now, she sat upon her two-seater couch alone.
At this very second however, Candy was asleep, dreaming even. There in her mind, she was in a field of flowers, a little child stuffing grass in his mouth. She was so young then, barely 18 years old. She was scared, she was horrified, but looking into the eyes of her son she felt as though things would be okay. "Orie," she sang, and the baby turned his head, sitting down on the ground, his hands on either side of his legs to keep him balanced, considering the child still adjusting to the weight of his head. But he looked to his mother, blue eyes bright and joyous, mouth agape in a smile though void of teeth, though there was a petal in his mouth. As she reached for him, she felt the environment change, and suddenly she was running after a blond four year old. He disappeared around the corners of what was now an endless hallway, but his mother followed the visual of his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles underwear. Finally, she caught him, where he proclaimed that she was a cheater, and he was gone once more. She was back in her home, walking towards the source of what must have been Eminem (then, Slim Shady) on the television. Once she entered her living room she was tickled by the sight of her then, eight year old son in front of the television, dancing along to My Name Is in clothes he must have gotten from Fubu. When she laughed, the boy turned with a smile, adjusting the backwards cap on his head. As she prepared to walk towards him, once again the scene changed, he was aging faster now. Orie was 14 years old, his arm around a girl with braids in her hair, surrounded by his friends. Candace stood across the street where the block party was being held, looking at her son spit game. Orie took a tiny glance at his mom, and unbeknown to his friends, flashed her a tiny thumbs up before returning to his friends.
Now, it was as if the dream was over, but Candace knew she wasn't awake. There was her son, almost 19 years old, coming through the door of her home, covered in snow, but bearing wrapped gifts as if it was Christmas. His family was all around, but his mother jumped off the couch first and ran her tiny self over to her boy. She was dwarfed by his size, which the rest of the family found hilarious. She wrapped her arms around her son and squeezed him tight, and he returned the favor. The embrace was warm, though there was snow all over his coat. Then, the warmth disappeared. Candace opened her eyes, and she was in the street, red and blue lights everywhere, clutching something that was so cold. She looked down, and she saw her Orie Dylan motionless on the ground, staring up as if to look for the sun. Only the moon was in the sky now. Candace stared and stared at her child, waiting for him to blink. He never did. She tapped his face, begging him to come back, but where had he gone? He was still there, wasn't he? She screamed. She hollared and screamed until her face was blue and she could feel the hands of law enforcement prying her from her son, and finally she was awake. Candace awoke and clutched her hands to her mouth, taking shallow breaths, and she was shaking. When she gained the energy to leave her bed, she began to realize there were noises coming from outside of her room. There was clanking, things being dropped. She crept to her bedroom door and opened it slowly, not thinking to grab the baseball bat laying on her door frame. She came to the hallway, following the path to her living room, where she could see her kitchen.
The tenant was there, bags packed near the door, preparing to leave again. As Candace prepared to speak, the tenant made a movement to put plates back in their proper places, and it became evident to her that he had washed the dishes. On the tiny table in the kitchen was a plate stacked with pancakes, eggs, and bacon. He even bothered to put butter right on top of the hotcakes like she liked. The syrup was next to her cup of coffee, extra milk in another glass next to that. It was a balanced breakfast she had seen many times over in commercials, but never in real life, at least not for free. The tenant scrambled across the kitchen, and finally, finding that everything was perfect, she knew would be preparing to leave. Candace stepped back into the hallway so he wouldn't see her, she knew the meeting would be somewhat awkward, even with this sincere gesture. He grabbed his things and went hastily to the door, and leaving, bothered to slow down and close the door, not to wake the owner of the home, a certain Candace "Candy" Bueller. She heard the engine rev, and he was gone. Candace began walking over to her breakfast and discovered everything had been prepared and left for her, strategically. There was even a tiny vase with a few flowers in it. That was when she discovered a tiny note. She reached over to pick it up, and saw on the front, "♥ Orie". When she opened the folded piece of paper, she discovered one more thing: