The Rain: Fern's Adventures: Four

Fern walks to class in the rain.

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The window fogged up slightly as Fern stared out it. There was already condensation on the window from the temperature difference inside his cozy apartment and the chilly autumn air.

The chilly autumn air, though, was being contaminated with little evil water droplets. Fern watched them fall one by one, pitter pattering on the concrete outside. The concrete was a dark gray, soaked from these evil water droplets. The holes in the concrete that were otherwise unnoticeable were now mini puddle.

Too small to jump in, though, so no fun there.

Fern sighs as he turns back around to face his room. PBNJ laid on his sage green comforter, face half hidden behind his paws. It was the first time in a while Fern had made his bed and PBNJ seemed to enjoy it.

Fern sat next to his puppy and gave him a couple scratches behind his ears. PBNJ leaned into it a bit but stayed in his cowering position.

“Scared of storms?” Fern asked, continuing to give him scratches. PBNJ stood up and waddled over to Fern’s lap, plopping down in as tight of a ball as he could. Fern’s heart fluttered, but he had to go to class. He felt terrible leaving PBNJ alone, but it was only a couple hours.

He figured a couple more minutes wouldn’t hurt and pulled out his phone to snap a photo. It took a minute with his tight jeans, but once he got the phone out of his pocket, he started snapping memories.

He took a couple Myspace style selfies, trying to get PBNJ in the photo. He also flipped the camera and took a couple photos with just PBNJ on his lap. He shuts off his phone, satisfied and knows he needs to leave for class.

“Alright buddy, look,” Fern starts. He doesn’t care that PBNJ won’t actually understand anything he is about to say, its more for his own comfort of knowing he tried to communicate to him. At least that’s what he tells himself, so he seems less crazy.

“I would love to sit here for hours and admire how cute you look curled up in my lap, but I do have a mandatory class and crippling anxiety about professors thinking I’m not putting in enough effort.” PBNJ sits up a little. Maybe he does understand him. “So, unfortunately, you do have to get up.”

Fern nudges PBNJ slightly, who just waddles off with no complaints.

“Thought that would be harder…” Fern mumbles as he stands up to grab his Docs. He slides them on as fast as anyone could slide on Docs and laces them up. Then he admires his outfit in his “skinny” mirror from Target.

He had a sage green crewneck with a fake white collar under it. Black, straight leg jeans with no rips (because of the rain). His crewneck was tucked into the jeans, as the jeans were thick enough material that it actually looked okay.

The sage crewneck had some plant embroidery on it, and his vibe was very soft compared to other days.

He still grabbed his skeleton tote, this time filled with his pencil pouch, notebooks, and laptop. It was a bit heavier than usual but that was okay with him.

PBNJ was already asleep on the bed by the time Fern left the bedroom.

Typical dog, Fern thought as he filled his emotional support water bottle. Making sure it was sealed tight, he drops it amongst everything else in his tote bag

Maybe I should invest in a backpack. He thought as he also grabbed his green umbrella before exiting the apartment.

Routinely checking on obnoxious number of times that the door was in fact locked faltered him a little and going back inside to grab his forgotten air pods also delayed him.

Eventually he climbs down the flights of stairs, opens his umbrella and starts reading to class.

Today, he decided to embrace Halloween and was playing his Halloween playlist he had made in the middle of the night one night.

“Monster Mash” was the first song to blare into his eardrums, and it made him subconsciously smile. It simply reminded him of his childhood playing Just Dance with the neighborhood kids.

He had a little skip in his step, despite the rain. Maybe rainy days weren’t so bad if you had a positive attitude.

Fern steps in a puddle that was deeper than he originally thought, soaking his boot, sock and pant leg.

Maybe not.